A Michigan man, Richard Phillips served 45 years in prison after he was convicted of murder. The man, who is the longest-serving US prisoner to be cleared used to sell his paintings from the prison to raise money. He was apparently waiting with a hope that he would be compensated under a Michigan law that pays the wrongly convicted.
And, to everyone’s surprise, this happened when the 73-year-old was exonerated in 2018. Accordingly, Phillips will be given ₹ 10.5 crore from the state, the attorney general’s office confirmed on Friday. Other such inmates who have been exonerated on grounds of the wrong conviction will also receive compensation from the state.
“We have an obligation to provide compassionate compensation to these men for the harm they suffered,” Attorney General Dana Nessel said in a statement, reports Indian Express.
Another prisoner, Neal Redick, who served nearly 16 years in prison for criminal sexual conduct in Genesee County will be given a compensation of ₹ 5.5 Crore by the office. They will also pay Ray McCann ₹ 28 lakh who served in jail for 20 months. He pleads guilty in pressure to a homicide investigation in St. Joseph County. Both the convictions were thrown out in 2007 and 2017 respectively.
Phillips was proven non-guilty in the charges of shooting that he was convicted for in the year 1971. According to the Michigan laws, any wrongly convicted person gets a compensation of ₹35 lakh per year spent in jail. Hence, making the total amount of compensation for Phillips around ₹ 10.5 crore.
“The attorney general’s office made a decision to pay him every penny he’s currently owed. I am very happy with how things have turned out,” said Phillips’ attorney, Gabi Silver.
This isn’t funny at all. The gross miscarriage of justice cost the innocent man 45 years in prison apart from trauma and irreversible damage to his reputation. This paints a grim picture of the American justice system indeed.