Current Projects

Legislative Successes: 

• Obtaining a compensation statute for Louisiana's wrongfully convicted in 2005, and then working with the Louisiana District Attorneys Association in 2007 to secure beneficial amendments to the law, including an extension of the deadline for the filing of applications.
• Extending the deadline for indigent prisoners to apply for post conviction DNA testing in 2004, 2006, and 2008. The most recent extension allows prisoners to apply until 2014.
• Passage in 2009 of a bill providing compensation to exonorees in Mississippi.
• Passage in 2009 of a bill providing DNA testing for Mississippi prisoners in whose cases it could prove innocence and ensuring the preservation of DNA evidence. 

IPNO also focuses on reforms that can be implemented on an administrative level and that can be promoted by inter-agency  dialogue amongst IPNO, district attorneys, public defenders and law enforcement in each jurisdiction in which a wrongful conviction is brought to light.

Administrative Successes: 

• Bringing all sides of the New Orleans criminal justice system together in a working group to improve evidence storage and preservation practices in the New Orleans ASPIRES (Accountability, Strategic Planning IntegRation of Evidence Systems) group. IPNO also recently authored a $1.4 million grant proposal on behalf of all the ASPIRES members to complete a catalog of the city's evidence facilities and perform DNA testing on available evidence.
• Producing a detailed public comment, in collaboration with Louisiana's exoneree population, in support of a proposed amendment to the rules of professional conduct for prosecutors that requires them to take an active role in correcting the criminal justice system's past errors.
• Working with NOPD to streamline public records requests.

Recent Public Education efforts include:

• Founding Resurrection After Exoneration (RAE), the first exoneree-run re-entry program for returning prisoners in the nation. The founding Director of RAE is John Thompson, a New Orleans exoneree who endured 18 years of wrongful imprisonment. IPNO obtained an Echoing Green Fellowship for John to launch the project, and in 2009 nominated him for a Petra Fellowship, an award in which he received. The fellowship recognizes the "unsung heroes" who contribute to the rights, autonomy and dignity of others. IPNO currently supports and works in conjunction with RAE.
• Founding and finding funding for an innocence clinic at the University of Mississippi, the first innocence effort in Mississippi (aside from IPNO's work in the state). The clinic now has a full-time director with support staff and is taking cases. IPNO continues to take on cases in southern Mississippi.
• Founding and facilitating Citizens for Second Chances (CFSC), a group of family members of prisoners arrested as juveniles and sentenced to life without parole who are working to allow parole eligibility for Louisiana's juvenile lifers. 
• Producing and distributing a report on violations of the Brady rule by Orleans Parish prosecutors. The report describes how the office of District Attorney Harry Connick systematically suppressed evidence in criminal cases, which in turn unnecessarily cost taxpayers millions of dollars, ruined innocent lives, and exacerbated New Orleans's crime problem.
• Distributing "Exodus", our semi-annual newsletter that details IPNO's work and discusses issues surrounding wrongful convictions in the region. In the past year, Exodus has included a two-page insert, "Beacon", detailing the progress of RAE. Click here to be added to our mailing list.