By Gerron Jordan Baton Rouge’s Archie Williams was wrongfully convicted of rape and attempted murder in 1983 and sentenced to life in prison at Angola State Penitentiary; once known as the bloodiest prison in America. 36 years later, DNA evidence…
By WDSU Digital Team NEW ORLEANS — The Innocence Project in New Orleans has helped get more than 3,500 masks to those in Louisiana’s prisons. According to organizers, the masks will be distributed to inmates and staff. Group members said…
By Frank Neuner I serve as the chair of the board of directors of the Innocence Project New Orleans. On Jan. 11, 2011, IPNO freed Calvin Duncan, and he came home after more than 28 years in prison. For most…
(Staff Pick) New Orleans native Malayne Schmidt shared her Virginia Beach, Virginia sunroom office where she works as a designer for an architectural firm. (Second Place) Accompanied by her goats — Marco and Greta — at her Bywater home, Angelique Thomas…
Social workers help ensure every person has resources and opportunities, and that work hasn’t stopped during the global COVID-19 pandemic. In fact, it’s adapted and increased because creative, passionate people have dedicated themselves to it. Angelique Thomas, LMSW (SW ‘2016)…
IPNO’s Monday Memo: TAKE ACTION NOW Six days before the Department of Public Safety and Corrections (DOC) shut down its prisons from visitors, I visited with one of our innocent, life-sentenced prisoners. He was recovering from an illness and explained how he…
How would your life and the lives of your family be impacted if you were wrongly imprisoned for one week? One month? One year? How would that wrongful incarceration affect your career, financial stability, physical and mental health? How much…
By Richard A. Webster ALEXANDRIA, La. — An emergency broadcast alert blares from Elvis Brooks’s cellphone, warning him that a tornado has been spotted in the area. “Seek shelter now,” the electronic voice urges. Brooks shrugs off the threat, though his…
By Sherman Desselle HARVEY, La. — On a chilly Thursday evening in Harvey, Malcolm Alexander plays a game of catch with his black female Labrador, Innocence. Alexander is jumping for joy just like his dog after hearing about her newest…
By Emily Bazelon In 2011, Michael Shannon was wrongly convicted of murder, even though two jurors voted to acquit him — a result of a Louisiana law rooted in discrimination. But for defendants like Shannon — and the holdout jurors…
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