Alyssa Curtis / WWL Louisiana
NEW ORLEANS — Wilbert Jones spent nearly all of his adult life in prison for a crime he didn’t commit. At 19 years old he was arrested and convicted of a rape he knew nothing about. He spent nearly 46 years incarcerated. When he was finally freed in 2017, he didn’t have much, and life had passed by.
“He’s 72 right now. Well, starting over at that age is difficult; technology has passed him by, and all kinds of things,” his wife Mary Jean Jones said.
Years after he was exonerated, he was finally awarded compensation for his wrongful conviction and imprisonment by the state Supreme Court, after going through several appeals. The Joneses say that compensation has helped them build a life. So far, they’ve received two of the possible ten payments.
‘It’s helped tremendously,” Mary Jean Jones said. “With the help of the compensation fund, we’re able to get a home which was on his bucket list.”
While they’re on their way to doing the things they have always wanted to do, that payment could suddenly be in jeopardy. A bill moving through the Louisiana Legislature calls for the repeal of the current law that allows compensation for those wrongfully imprisoned or convicted. Representative Nicholas Muscarello from Tangipahoa Parish is spearheading the bill, which has support from Attorney General Liz Murrill.
Those who work directly with people behind bars for crimes they didn’t commit—like the Executive Director of Innocence Project New Orleans, Jee Park—worry about what this could mean for those whose opportunities were stripped away.
“It provides a little bit of cash in their pockets to help them pay for rent, pay for car insurance, help them get started in life because after all, a wrongful conviction has taken away many opportunities they could have had in life,” Park said. “[Wilbert] lost an entire lifetime of learning a trade, building a career, or having a family, so when Wilbert came home, he had nothing.”
Park says the state has a moral responsibility to help people rebuild their lives after taking so much of it away. The Joneses say no amount of money can make up for what was taken, but pulling the plug on these payments would make it impossible to make ends meet.
“I dread to think about that because to be honest, we’re looking at maybe homelessness if we can’t pay for a home, that’s the main thing… We’re both of age. It’s difficult to get jobs that would pay for not only a house note but car notes, insurance, food, medicine, all these things that we’re able to do with the compensation.”
Rep. Muscarello did not respond for comment.
In a statement, AG Murrill said:
“Taxpayers in North Louisiana shouldn’t have to pay for the wrongful convictions of a local elected official in South Louisiana or vice versa. This current system has misaligned the responsibility and put it on the backs of the taxpayers all over the State for the conduct of some individual elected official. We’re working closely with lawmakers and stakeholders as the bill moves its way through the Legislature.”
Watch the segment here.
