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| Exonerated Prisoners Face Many Hurdles |
| By Associated Press |
| Published: 05/13/2003 |
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Scott Hornoff could use some financial help. Anthony Robinson wants more psychological services. Jim Bromgard would like to come to peace with the years he lost. The men have different needs, but they share one thing: They were imprisoned for crimes they did not commit, and face numerous hurdles as they try to rebuild their lives. 'I went to prison an 18-year-old kid and I came out a 34-year-old man starting from zero,' said Bromgard, of Kalispell, Montana, who was freed last year after a DNA test cleared him of child molestation charges. Bromgard was part of a group of 34 wrongly convicted men in New York this weekend to kick off The Life After Exoneration Project, a nationwide program to help former prisoners readjust to daily life following wrongful convictions. Organized by the Innocence Project of the Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law and the DNA Identification Technology and Human Rights Center of Berkeley, Calif., the project brought the men together to learn what social services they need most. The groups plan to use the suggestions to establish a nationwide support network for the exonerated that includes housing assistance, job training and mental health services. Several of the participants said financial assistance is a top priority, particularly since they lost most of their savings and borrowed from friends and family to fund the legal battles that proved their innocence. Hornoff, a former police officer from Warwick, Rhode Island, was dismissed from his job after his wrongful murder conviction. He spent more than six years in prison and has never been able to collect benefits or back pay. 'I still depend on my family for financial support,' said Hornoff, who now speaks at colleges and police academies about problems in the criminal justice system. Anthony Robinson of Houston, Texas, said wrongly convicted prisoners suffer emotionally, both when they arrive in prison and when they are released. 'There needs to be some concern about the psychological injuries and the double trauma of reintegration,' said Robinson, 42, who spent 10 years behind bars for rape and was exonerated while he was on parole. |
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