QUOTE OF THE DAY: “Being imprisoned for a crime you did not commit is a serious public health issue,” CHJ Fellow James Causey observes in reporting on the mental and physical health risks of incarceration. People who enter prison with mental health issues are often denied adequate health care, he wrote, and many are subjected to solitary confinement, poor living conditions, and neglect that can worsen mental health. Inadequate nutrition, lack of medical care, and infectious diseases like tuberculosis, hepatitis C, and HIV also create serious health issues for people in prison. The constant threat of violence is a significant aspect of how prisons jeopardize public health, Mr. Causey observes."
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PASSAGE ONE OF THE DAY: In 2023, Glynn Simmons was released from prison at age 70 after nearly 50 years wrongly imprisoned in Oklahoma. He is battling stage 4 liver cancer, Mr. Causey reports.
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PASSAGE TWO OF THE DAY: "Glenn Ford spent 30 years on Louisiana’s death row after he was wrongly convicted of murder by an all-white jury. He was exonerated and released in 2014 when evidence emerged that another man had confessed to the crime. Sadly, Mr. Ford died from complications due to lung cancer in June 2015. He was 65 years old.
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PASSAGE THREE OF THE DAY: "Anthony Ray Hinton was wrongly convicted and sentenced to death in Alabama. When he was exonerated and released after three decades on death row, the State of Alabama offered no apology or support. In a 2015 interview with BBC Radio, he called out the role of racial bias in wrongful convictions. “When you’re poor and Black in America,” he said, “you stand a greater chance of going to prison for something you didn’t do.”
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STORY: "Black Americans Nearly Eight Times More Likely To Be Wrongfully Convicted of Murder," published by ABC News, on April 11, 2025.
SUB-HEADING: "Glenn Ford died of lung cancer the year after his exoneration and release, published by ABC News, on April11, 2025.
GIST: "Wrongful conviction and imprisonment is a “serious public health issue,” according to a new report from the Center for Health Journalism at USC—especially for innocent Black Americans, who are about seven-and-a-half times more likely to be convicted of murder than innocent white people.
Based on its database—which currently documents more than 3,600 exonerations since 1989—the National Registry of Exonerations found:
7x
Black Americans are 7 times more likely than white Americans to be falsely convicted of serious crimes
7.5x
Black Americans are 7.5 times more likely than white Americans to be falsely convicted of murder
19x
Black Americans are 19 times more likely than white Americans to be wrongly convicted of a drug crime
Across all crime categories, researchers found that Black people who are wrongly convicted of a crime are likely to spend much longer periods of time in unjust incarceration than white people who were innocent.
More years wrongly lost to incarceration compounds the heavy toll that incarceration takes on mental and physical health for Black people who are wrongly imprisoned.
“Being imprisoned for a crime you did not commit is a serious public health issue,” CHJ Fellow James Causey observes in reporting on the mental and physical health risks of incarceration.
People who enter prison with mental health issues are often denied adequate health care, he wrote, and many are subjected to solitary confinement, poor living conditions, and neglect that can worsen mental health.
Inadequate nutrition, lack of medical care, and infectious diseases like tuberculosis, hepatitis C, and HIV also create serious health issues for people in prison.
The constant threat of violence is a significant aspect of how prisons jeopardize public health, Mr. Causey observes. People in prison risk physical harm from being beaten, stabbed, raped, or killed by other incarcerated people as well as prison guards.
In a new study, EJI researchers found that people in Alabama’s prisons die by homicide and suicide at much higher rates than Alabama residents who are not incarcerated.
Mental and physical health conditions caused or exacerbated by years—or decades—wrongly incarcerated continue to imperil exonerees even after they are released.
In 2023, Glynn Simmons was released from prison at age 70 after nearly 50 years wrongly imprisoned in Oklahoma. He is battling stage 4 liver cancer, Mr. Causey reports.
Glenn Ford spent 30 years on Louisiana’s death row after he was wrongly convicted of murder by an all-white jury. He was exonerated and released in 2014 when evidence emerged that another man had confessed to the crime. Sadly, Mr. Ford died from complications due to lung cancer in June 2015. He was 65 years old.
Richard Phillips struggled with financial difficulties when he was exonerated and released from prison in 2018 at age 71. “When he was incarcerated in 1972,” Mr. Causey explains, “a new Ford car cost $4,000, a can of soda was 10 cents, and the average cost of public college was $500 annually.”
While Mr. Phillips eventually received some compensation from the state, many exonerees receive nothing—no financial assistance, no health care, no support—to help them as they grapple with the tremendous strain of re-entering society after years wrongly imprisoned.
Anthony Ray Hinton was wrongly convicted and sentenced to death in Alabama. When he was exonerated and released after three decades on death row, the State of Alabama offered no apology or support. In a 2015 interview with BBC Radio, he called out the role of racial bias in wrongful convictions.
“When you’re poor and Black in America,” he said, “you stand a greater chance of going to prison for something you didn’t do.”
The entire story can be read at:
https://eji.org/news/black-americans-nearly-eight-times-more-likely-to-be-wrongfully-convicted-of-murder/PUBLISHER'S NOTE: I am monitoring this case/issue/resource. Keep your eye on the Charles Smith Blog for reports on developments. The Toronto Star, my previous employer for more than twenty incredible years, has put considerable effort into exposing the harm caused by Dr. Charles Smith and his protectors - and into pushing for reform of Ontario's forensic pediatric pathology system. The Star has a "topic" section which focuses on recent stories related to Dr. Charles Smith. It can be found at: http://www.thestar.com/topic/charlessmith. Information on "The Charles Smith Blog Award"- and its nomination process - can be found at: http://smithforensic.blogspot.com/2011/05/charles-smith-blog-award-nominations.html Please send any comments or information on other cases and issues of interest to the readers of this blog to: hlevy15@gmail.com. Harold Levy: Publisher: The Charles Smith Blog.
SEE BREAKDOWN OF SOME OF THE ON-GOING INTERNATIONAL CASES (OUTSIDE OF THE CONTINENTAL USA) THAT I AM FOLLOWING ON THIS BLOG, AT THE LINK BELOW: HL:
https://www.blogger.com/blog/post/edit/120008354894645705/4704913685758792985
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FINAL WORD: (Applicable to all of our wrongful conviction cases): "Whenever there is a wrongful conviction, it exposes errors in our criminal legal system, and we hope that this case — and lessons from it — can prevent future injustices."
Lawyer Radha Natarajan:
Executive Director: New England Innocence Project;
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FINAL, FINAL WORD: "Since its inception, the Innocence Project has pushed the criminal legal system to confront and correct the laws and policies that cause and contribute to wrongful convictions. They never shied away from the hard cases — the ones involving eyewitness identifications, confessions, and bite marks. Instead, in the course of presenting scientific evidence of innocence, they've exposed the unreliability of evidence that was, for centuries, deemed untouchable." So true!
Christina Swarns: Executive Director: The Innocence Project;
