Comments Others Have Made

"The Voices of Innocence production is a stunning acheivement."

Tulane National Lawyers Guild

"In seventeen years of teaching, I have never seen such a compelling event at the law school...the auditorium was packed (and we filled an overflow room), but the crowd was absolutely silent - you could hear a pin drop. Your stories were inspiring, heartbreaking, scary, and uplifting."

Andrew D. Leipold, Edwin M. Adams Professor, College of Law, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

"Thanks for bringing us this event. This is the reason I wanted to be a lawyer, but during the first year I was distracted by everything going on in the classroom. This event has given me back the focus that I brought with me to law school."

Jennifer Brunson, Law Student, College of Law, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

 "In short, the play was inspirational."

Ahmed N. Mabruk, Vice President of Advocacy, Harvard University

A Little Past Info

Voices was conceived in the fall of 2007 when performing arts teacher Lara Naughton of NOCCA Riverfront volunteered her time to conduct a series of writing workshops with four New Orleans exonerees - John Thompson, Greg Bright, Ryan Matthews and Dan Bright. Since its initial performance at NOCCA, Voices has been staged at Harvard University, Tulane University, Loyola University, University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana, Point Park University, and the Arkansas Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers Conference. 

An ever-evolving project, Voices shares the personal stories of wrongful incarceration and the challenges exonerees face in reintegrating into society, not only raising awareness of how often injustice is a result of a poorly funded system, but also highlighting the collateral damage upon each man’s life. These moving stories leave audiences inspired to take action against the causes of wrongful conviction.

Voices of Innocence

Mission Statement

Voices of Innocence is an advocacy movement working to expose and prevent the wrongful incarceration of innocent men and women. Throughout the country we have a system failure. Innocent people are being unjustly incarcerated, and those responsible for the miscarriage of justice are not held accountable. Voices of Innocence intends to expose the flawed criminal justice system and corrupt prosecutors, attorneys and DA's who abuse the very laws they are responsible for upholding. This is not just an unfortunate pattern within the justice system, but a DESIGN.By implementing accountability standards, we will have more assurance that innocent people will not be victimized for crimes they did not commit.  Through our network of exonerees, we share our stories and inform the world, that far too often, innocent people are wrongfully convicted of crimes because of arrogance, abuse of power and fundamental disregard for justice. 

* Advocates against the death penalty

* Attorney client relationships

* Accountability and responsibility workshops

* Consultation on re-entry, prosecutorial accountability

* Innocence investigations

* Educational speaking engagements

Letter From the Founder

Dear Friends:

I spent eighteen years in prison, fourteen of them on Angola's death row, for a crime I did not commit. I want to reverse the rate of exonerees like me returning to prison by transforming our experiences of freedom. I want to empower productive, skilled workers to be leaders for social change in post-Katrina New Orleans.   

Exonerated prisoners (exonerees) and returning long-term prisoners re-enter the free world with high hopes of a fresh start but are soon trapped in the cycle of poverty and disillusionment that led to their original imprisonment. To enable us to break this cycle, I will create for us a positive understanding of life's potential and for society an understanding that recidivism (even by exonerees) is caused by lack of opportunity. If returning prisoners succeed, the whole community benefits. 

Returning prisoners are people stripped of self-sufficiency, control and autonomy. In response, I came up with the idea of an exoneree-run re-entry program: Resurrection After Exoneration. The program has been designed to empower us to regain these attributes by creating an opportunity to rise up as individuals and say "I can do this", rather than having someone else tell us "You must do this".

Through a supportive residential program we give exonerees and returning long-term prisoners a place to live and learn, and plan to run a business that sustains the home and provides us with leadership and entrepreneurial skills. We use group counseling, education and training opportunities to help with life skills. We are the first of our kind; instead of working for free for the prison, we work together to build solidarity, build our confidence, and rebuild our city. 

When I was released from death row and was among my exonerated brothers in New Orleans, we sat together and dreamt of ways to create opportunities that were not available to us when we came home. We realized we needed a transitional house and work environment in which we could slowly and successfully embrace our new environment. The idea for RAE was born.

I hope you will learn more about us, stand with us, and support us as we try and change our corner of the world. The RAE Transitional Housing and Resource Center has been purchased and renovated; it is the result of many months of labor from exonerees and volunteers working together. That is the type of team work it will take to get to the next level of transition. Come be a part of helping these men stay focused, and stay free.  

Sincerely,

John Thompson

Founder and Director, RAE