Contact your MA Senator today!
If you live in Massachusetts, please contact your Massachusetts State Senator today and ask them to co-sponsor two amendments to the budget filed by Senator Patricia Jehlen, Amendment 891 and Amendment 892, which will increase funding to the Exoneree Network and help ensure exonerees receive adequate compensation.
To ensure these amendments are included in the Senate budget proposal, Senators need to hear from their constituents this week. Please act today!
WHAT TO DO:
1. Please call or email your Massachusetts Senator today and ask them to co-sponsor these two critical amendments today.
You can find your Massachusetts Senator's phone and email (enter your home address, then click their name): https://malegislature.gov/Search/FindMyLegislator
Here’s a script you can use:
"Hello, my name is [name]. I live in [town], and I am your constituent. I am asking you to co-sponsor two amendments to the budget filed by Senator Patricia Jehlen. Amendment 891 increases funding for the Exoneree Network, a program of the New England Innocence Project that supports individuals and families impacted by wrongful convictions and long-term incarceration. The Exoneree Network provides critical financial, housing, technological, and psychological support to our communities. With the loss of federal funding for essential social services and with more people coming home from prison, the Exoneree Network’s funding remains a lifeline for people.
Amendment 892 seeks to overhaul the wrongful conviction compensation scheme in Massachusetts to provide a faster, fairer process for compensating innocent people convicted of crimes they did not commit. Right now, exonerees in Massachusetts face years of litigation after they are exonerated to receive anything from the state for what they suffered. In addition, there is a $1 million cap on exoneration, regardless of how many decades they spent in prison for a crime they did not commit. This Amendment is supported by the Massachusetts Attorney General and must be passed now to ensure that exonerees currently waiting for compensation can receive what they deserve. These two Amendments are important to me, and I hope you will co-sponsor them and help them pass next week. Thank you!"
2. Then, share this action with your network by sharing this blog post link and/or sharing our social posts so we can get as many people across the Commonwealth as possible to champion these amendments.
Providing support to exonerees in freedom is one of the most important things that we can do. We cannot hope to change the law without you, so please contact your State Senator TODAY.
Thank you!
The New England Innocence Project Team