2026 Impact Report
Fighting for
Freedom, healing,
and systemic change
Every June, we take a moment to reflect on the progress we’ve made and recommit to the collective struggle and the work ahead.
Take a journey with us through the last year of resistance and joy in this special community and how we’re building a future where dignity and safety belong to everyone. Together, we are reimagining what justice can be in New England.
Our Growth
What began as a grassroots effort operating out of boxes in a Boston law office has grown into a thriving nonprofit organization focused on freedom and community care.
Our operating budget has grown exponentially in the last 10 years.
700%
Growth in our operating budget over the last ten years
Our Approach
These funds, made possible by our generous donor community, allow us to continue the three-pronged approach to our work:
Liberating innocent people from prison,
Empowering individuals and families impacted by the trauma of long-term incarceration, and
Dismantling the systems that allow these injustices to happen.
A Year in the Fight
In just the past year, these numbers represent the lives we’ve fought for, the communities we've supported, and the systemic wrongs we are working to dismantle.
The Scale of Need
300+
New requests for assistance each year
424
Open applications
108
Active investigations
Legal Action
18
Cases active in court
10,000
Pro bono hours
12
Amicus briefs filed
Community & Growth
88
Exonerees & family members supported
48
Speaking engagements & educational events
261
New supporters joined
⟢ Liberate ⟣
Freedom is necessary for healing people and rebuilding families and communities. While we’ve celebrated many legal victories in the past year, we’re honored to see two of our clients exonerated, Edward Wright and Thomas Rosa, who collectively spent 75 years wrongfully incarcerated for crimes they did not commit. They were both sentenced to die in prison; now, they fight alongside us for those who remain incarcerated.
View their case spotlights and learn about their long journeys to freedom. You can read all case spotlights here.
“Freedom is breath.” — Ray Champagne, Exoneree
“Freedom is breath.”
— Ray Champagne, Exoneree
Freedom Highlights
Edward Wright
41 Years Wrongfully Incarcerated
Exonerated 2025
“It was just like getting punched in the face.” That’s how Edward Wright described being wrongfully convicted of the 1984 murder of his friend, Penny Anderson, in her Massachusetts apartment and sentenced to die in prison. For more than forty years, Mr. Wright pursued every legal avenue available to challenge his wrongful conviction, even as prosecutors intentionally hid crucial evidence supporting his innocence from him and from the courts.
Thomas Rosa
34 Years Wrongfully Incarcerated
Exonerated 2026
Thomas Rosa, Jr. was wrongfully convicted and spent 34 years in prison for the 1985 murder of Gwendolyn Taylor before his convictions were overturned based on new DNA evidence and advances in eyewitness identification science. His case reveals how unreliable forensic evidence can devastate lives and the resistance we face to revisiting a conviction, even when there is evidence that it is unjust.
Quiet Victories
While not every case leads to exoneration, even quiet victories are hard-won and life-changing:
Building a Life Without Fear: Clearing the Record
Thirty-nine years after his wrongful conviction, our client, “John Doe,” can finally move forward knowing that it will not prevent him from living or working where he chooses. “Since the day the court decided to seal my record, I’m still in awe that this day has finally come…I'm free to explore other opportunities without hesitation or being fearful. What a great feeling!” — John Doe wrote in a letter to his NEIP attorney, Laura Carey.
The Search for the Truth Does Not End with Death
The Supreme Judicial Court decided that DNA testing of the evidence in the case of our client, Shawn Tanner, who passed away in 2022 from terminal brain cancer, can finally move forward despite opposition from the Bristol County DA’s office. "Although a defendant’s death will extinguish his or her own interest in... testing... society's interest in identifying any potential third-party culprits continues... regardless of the defendant's death.” — The Supreme Judicial Court in their decision.
Spotlight
Pro Bono Partnerships
32
Pro Bono Partners
10,000+
Pro Bono Hours
It takes a team of people and countless hours of legal work to overturn even one wrongful conviction, so pro bono partners are essential to freedom. Read more about three current pro bono partners who are working with us to reimagine what justice can be in New England: The Vertex Foundation, Latham & Watkins, and Mintz.
“Working with NEIP has been one of the most meaningful parts of my legal career. This work is a powerful reminder of why many of us went to law school in the first place, allowing us to use our skills to advocate for fairness, dignity, and justice for people whose voices might otherwise go unheard. The opportunity to contribute to work that can profoundly impact someone’s life has been incredibly rewarding.”
— Hannah Edge, Mintz Associate
Members of the NEIP legal team with pro bono partners from Latham & Watkins.
⟢ Empower ⟣
Exoneree Network Impact
Every individual’s release looks different, but one thing stays the same: individuals and families impacted by the trauma of long-term incarceration need support to stabilize and rebuild their lives. The Exoneree Network has dedicated substantial resources to address this universal need within our community.
88
Exonerees and Family Members
29
Programs
$83,000
Cash Assistance
Within this past year, the Exoneree Network has supported:
The Real Lives Behind the Data
“The Exoneree Network gave me every opportunity to be successful and zero opportunities to fail.”
— Kevin
“If the Exoneree Network hadn't greeted me at the Courthouse doorsteps the day I came home, I would have been homeless, penniless, and all alone... At every stage of my transition back into this new world, the NEIP/Exoneree Network has aided, assisted, and supported me — job, technical training courses, as well as assistance with housing vouchers.”
— Raymond
“As much as my family loved and supported me, they couldn’t connect with me because they couldn’t understand that struggle. The Exoneree Network doesn’t have that hurdle...Five years from now we should have 50 of these Freedom Houses.”
— Clarence
Building Community Partnerships
We are working to build and participate in a reentry ecosystem with other directly impacted people and values aligned organizations to support families holistically in freedom.
Spotlight
Community Partner: Second Chance Cars, Inc.
For so many people coming home after wrongful incarceration, transportation is a lifeline. It means getting to work, making it to medical appointments, showing up for family, and reclaiming independence.
“It is hard to imagine a more noble cause than supporting the reentry of someone who has been robbed of their freedom. Owning a car will provide the owner with agency, both psychic and practical, and ripple out to all those they come in the community with, including employers, family, and friends.” — Dan Holin, Second Chance Cars Executive Director
Our hearts were full in December 2025 as Second Chance Cars, Inc. surprised Omar Martinez—a Boston College Innocence Program client and a cherished member of the Exoneree Network—with an affordable, reliable car.
⟢ Dismantle ⟣
Policy:
Our Amicus Work
Over the last year, in coalition with pro bono and community partners, we filed 12 amicus briefs in Massachusetts courts.
12
Amicus Briefs Filed in Massachusetts
We offered quantitative and qualitative research from our work in wrongful convictions. We weighed in on cases involving unreliable forensic science, official misconduct, racial profiling in policing and jury selection, and eyewitness misidentification, among other issues that are commonly found in wrongful conviction cases.
Our amicus support is crucial to the fight against injustice because a more just decision in an individual case can create broader change across the criminal legal system, creating more freedom.
View a snapshot of the issues we raised in courts this year.
Spotlight
Advocating for elder & medical parole legislation
"I have witnessed good men die..."
— Albert Brown, 39 years wrongfully incarcerated
We testified at the MA State House in support of S. 1722 and H. 2693, Acts relative to elder and medical parole.
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.
Amplifying the Movement
We’ve received a lot of important media coverage this year on cases and issues vital to the fight. Check out our online press room to read more. Click any article below to read further.
Community Mobilizing: Resistance & Joy
Explore some of the many ways we have brought our community together over the last year to support freedom, empower individuals, raise awareness, celebrate joy, and end the trauma and harms of the criminal legal system.
⟢ Voices that Shaped 2025-2026 ⟣
In the last year, our journey was enriched and guided by a diverse array of voices that collectively shaped our direction and growth.
Our team is a unique blend of talented experts, leaders, dreamers, lawyers, creatives, fundraisers, and multidisciplinary professionals whose incredible insight and passion has been key to our success.
⟢ What We're Building, Together ⟣
Our vision for the future is built around our commitment to people and communities, including:
Life-Giving Freedom
Supporting freedom through every available avenue, including parole, clemency, resentencing support, ending life without parole, and more.
Healing and Thriving
Providing housing, financial, and mental health support, while building partnerships to develop a holistic reentry ecosystem.
Justice Reimagined
Continue building a coalition around dismantling harms of the criminal legal system and investing in community, rather than police and prisons.
Spotlight
A new look. The same commitment to freedom.
We just launched a new look and a newly redesigned website!
Over the past year, we’ve had the opportunity to reflect on our values and how we show up in the world, to help inform an in-depth redesign process. The result is a new look that is more than a visual change; it is a reflection of the urgency, resilience, and hope at the heart of our work. The website also allows for new ways for supporters and advocates to engage with and support us.
Your Support Means Everything
Your support—whether it’s financial, showing up to an event, sharing our work, or standing alongside our community—fuels collective care, challenges systems of oppression and systemic racism, and helps build a future where no one is disposable.
thank you to those who have supported or partnered with the New England Innocence Project this past year!
© 2026 New England Innocence Project. All Rights Reserved. 501(c)(3) Non-Profit Organization.