Victims Of Wrongful Convictions Serving Time At Parchman

.. searching on [ 'Parchman' 'wrongful conviction' ] ...

Here's one more case of wrongful conviction - John Randall Alexander -
http://www.wreg.com/news/wreg-john-randall-alexander-story,0,3556580.story

Here's another - Edward Earl Johnson -
http://www.google.com/search?q=edward+earl+johnson&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&aq=t&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a

Here's another - Curtis Flowers -
http://friendsofjustice.wordpress.com/2010/09/22/welcome-to-the-parchman-plantation/
http://friendsofjustice.wordpress.com/2010/06/13/2923/

Here's another - Cedric Willis -
http://reason.com/blog/2007/11/05/innocent-in-mississippi

Here's another - Cory Maye -
http://anti-state.com/forum/index.php?board=2;action=display;threadid=22641 - - and read more about...

"... we should be talking about the truly bizarre pardon record of one of Huckabee's possible competitors for the nomination, Haley Barbour. The governor of Mississippi has simultaneously ignored increasing evidence that there may be a disturbingly high number of innocent people in prison in Mississippi and handed out pardons to the convicted murderers who just happen to do work on his house."

Here's two more - released thanks to DNA testing -
http://floridainnocence.org/content/?p=2486
Philip Bivens
Bobby Ray Dixon

The University of Mississippi Law School Innocence Project lists a few more :
http://www.mississippiinnocence.org/

- Kennedy Brooks
- Dennis Fritz
- Cedric Willis
- Ron Williamson

Mississippi in March 2009 passed a law to compensate prisoners who have been exonerated , one of 26 states to do so - that's a positive.
http://www.innocenceproject.org/Content/Mississippi_Adopts_Exoneree_Compensation_Law.php

There look to be plenty of problems with Mississippi's recent convictions history. Prosecutors have been willingly putting anyone in jail just to say they secured a conviction. Lawmen who should know better have been forcing false confessions and suppressing evidence. Haley Barbour is going to need to help Mississippi come to terms with its wrongful convictions history and also, apparently, with his own self-serving pardon history. He pardons killers to work on the governor's mansion, but lets two women accessories to a more trivial crime languish in prison for years and years. That won't fly nationally.

Using the same rule set for all pardons could improve his stature. Barbour should have an intern check the internet to see what the world knows about him before he tries to pretend it isn't there. A search on [ barbour pardon record ] finds 331,000 results.

We will have opportunities to speak with young Mississippians about how to make change. Discussing local examples will help to make these conversations vital.

There do seem to be organizations already working on the general problem. Our focus on action needed in this particular instance should help move the larger process along.