We’ve launched our end-of-year match campaign. Today through December 31, your gift to the New England Innocence Project will be doubled (up to $50,000) thanks to a generous supporter. That means your donation will go twice as far to fund our legal work and help exonerees and freed people rebuild their lives in freedom.

This holiday season, the Exoneree Network, a program of the New England Innocence Project, is partnering with YardTime to make the season brighter for the kids of those who have been impacted by the long-term incarceration of a parent or loved one.

Shawn Tanner had a dying wish to have the evidence used to convict him of a 1988 murder in Dartmouth, MA, tested for DNA so he could clear his name. While initially the Bristol County DA’s office agreed to the testing and a Superior Court judge ordered it to be done in this case, when Shawn died of terminal brain cancer in 2022, the DA’s office fought to stop all testing and asked the Court to vacate their order, rather than allowing the truth to come to light. 

We are excited to share that the Exoneree Network has launched a new partnership with Second Chance Cars, Inc., a Massachusetts-based nonprofit. Thanks to this collaboration, our community members will have the opportunity to obtain an affordable used car, thereby easing their access to employment and increasing their earnings.

Among other things, the legislation would give people over 55 years of age the chance to seek parole after serving 15 years in prison and would improve the current medical parole process, which has failed sick and dying people. So many people in our community have been sentenced to die in prison, aging over decades with increased medical issues. With this legislation, they can have the chance to come home and receive the care they need and deserve.

We were hard at work this Wrongful Conviction Day, a day to shine a light on the causes and devastating impacts of wrongful convictions. It is a day to celebrate the sweetness and joy of long-overdue freedom, but also a day to remember and stand with the many people, both inside and outside the prison walls, who continue to fight for freedom, truth, and justice.