February 10, 2021

Maryland moves toward clear plan for paying people who were wrongly convicted

By Ovetta Wiggins on February 10, 2021

The Maryland General Assembly is poised to create a state-mandated system to compensate people who are wrongly convicted and imprisoned, removing barriers to getting paid that exonerees have faced for decades.

The Senate unanimously approved the legislation on Wednesday, and the House is expected to move quickly on the measure as well.

“This bill gives exonerees a chance at finally getting justice,” said Michelle Feldman, the state campaigns director for the Innocence Project. “It’s not just about the money, it’s about closure.”

The bill is named in honor of Walter Lomax, who spent 39 years in prison on a wrongful murder conviction and has become a champion for prison reform and compensation for exonerees.

It would set the amount that exonerees would be paid for each year behind bars and allow an administrative law judge to provide other benefits, including a state identification card, housing accommodations for up to five years, health and dental care, educational training and reimbursement for court fees.

The first state to pass a police ‘Bill of Rights’ could become the first to repeal it

The judge would decide whether an exoneree is eligible for compensation, instead of the state Board of Public Works, a three-member panel made up of the governor, comptroller and treasurer that normally deals with state contracts. The payments would be equal to the state’s annual median income, averaged over five years, for each year the person spent behind bars.