5/15 wrongfully convicted individuals
teddy moseley sentenced to 11 years in prison and granted clemency after serving 10
|
|
my own experience
On my tour at the Correctional Reception Center in Orient, Ohio, we were directed to a building where inmates are first brought when arriving to the Correctional Reception Center. As one of the secretaries was talking to our group about how she classifies and registers the inmates, I noticed a man no more than five feet from me filling out paper work. He was an older man, salt and peppered colored hair and wrinkles in the grooves of his face. He was working just as other staff members in the building were but there was one thing that caught my eye; this man was wearing the same blue uniform the inmates wore. He had no handcuffs or shackles around his wrists or feet and frequently would respond to questions the secretary would ask him. After leaving the building and walking back to the lobby, I asked the tour guide why the man was wearing the blue uniform while working in which she revealed that the man has served 31 years in prison and two weeks ago she received a phone call informing her that his DNA was not a match in the crime he was convicted of. She explained to us that the man was only moments away from being injected with a lethal shot when the efforts of the Ohio Innocence Project gave prosecutors a second glance at his possibility of innocence. I cannot imagine serving 31 years in prison for a crime that I did not commit. That is 31 years of staring at dull gray walls, 31 years of being a witness of rape, murder, and drug/alcohol trafficking, 31 years of serving someone else’s sentence.