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6/22/2021
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Senate passes Coyne bill to compensate wrongfully convicted
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 STATE HOUSE – The Senate today passed legislation to grant wrongfully convicted prisoners the opportunity to seek compensation and damages. The legislation, sponsored by Senate Judiciary Committee Chairwoman Cynthia A. Coyne, would allow individuals who were incarcerated for more than a year to seek redress through Superior Court.
“Individuals who have been wrongfully convicted have suffered a unique kind of injustice. The state has taken from them years of freedom, which they can never get back. The personal loss is impossible to quantify, but the state has an obligation to provide a some remedy to people who were wrongfully convicted,” said Senator Coyne (D-Dist. 32, Barrington, Bristol, East Providence).
She continued, “The Judiciary Committee heard heartbreaking testimony of lost time with children, damaged reputations and relationships, trauma that endures for years, and even advanced aging. With advances in forensic science helping to exonerate the wrongfully convicted, we need to ensure those who endured this ordeal get some compensation for a justice system that failed them.”
The legislation provides for the award of $50,000 for each year served in a correctional facility, which is in line with many other states. Nationally, 10 of the thirty-six states with compensation laws offer $50,000 per year. The claimant will also be eligible for release from child support payments owed to the state that became due. Attorney fees would be capped at $15,000.
Rhode Island is one of 14 states that does not compensate exonerated convicts.
The legislation, 2021-S-0672aa, is cosponsored by Senators Stephen R. Archambault (D-Dist. 22, Smithfield, North Providence, Johnston) and Frank S. Lombardi (D-Dist. 26, Cranston) and Senate Majority Leader Michael J. McCaffrey (D-Dist. 29, Warwick). It will now be sent to the House of Representatives.
For more information, contact:
Greg Pare, Director of Communications for the Senate
State House Room 112
Providence, RI 02903
(401) 276-5558
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