Colorado Lawmakers Consider Mandatory Compensation for Wrongful Imprisonment
To the tune of $70,000 per year, plus health insurance, a state tuition waiver and reimbursement for legal fines and fees
The heart-wrenching case of a Colorado man living in poverty after spending nearly two decades behind bars for crimes he didn't commit moved state lawmakers to give unanimous initial approval Thursday to a bill setting standard compensation rates for people wrongly imprisoned.
Wearing jeans and a black leather jacket, 52-year-old Robert Dewey of western Colorado choked back tears as he told the House Judiciary Committee about spending more than 17 years behind bars for someone else's crime. Dewey talked about missing his son's funeral, dealing with fellow prisoners, and losing skills in his beloved profession of motorcycle repair.
Hide Comments (0)
Editor's Note: As of February 29, 2024, commenting privileges on reason.com posts are limited to Reason Plus subscribers. Past commenters are grandfathered in for a temporary period. Subscribe here to preserve your ability to comment. Your Reason Plus subscription also gives you an ad-free version of reason.com, along with full access to the digital edition and archives of Reason magazine. We request that comments be civil and on-topic. We do not moderate or assume any responsibility for comments, which are owned by the readers who post them. Comments do not represent the views of reason.com or Reason Foundation. We reserve the right to delete any comment and ban commenters for any reason at any time. Comments may only be edited within 5 minutes of posting. Report abuses.
Please
to post commentsMute this user?
Ban this user?
Un-ban this user?
Nuke this user?
Un-nuke this user?
Flag this comment?
Un-flag this comment?