Feb 25 2009
Bill Calls for Increase to Exoneree Compensation
Texas exonerees currently receive $50,000 for every year they spend incarcerated on a wrongful conviction. However, after paying taxes and possible attorneys fees, the amount they actually receive is far less than the $50,000 promised to them. That is why a new bill calls for an increase to the compensation amount. The Fort Worth Star-Telegram reports:
House Bill 1736 would increase the lump sum that exonerees could receive from the state to $80,000 for each year of imprisonment. Exonerees are currently eligible for $50,000 per year.
Exonerees would also receive a monthly annuity payment based on an amount equal to their lump sum payment spread out over their lifetimes, as well as 120 hours of tuition at a technical, community or four-year college.
Furthermore,
HB 1736 includes money for mental healthcare and a provision that, in the event of the exoneree’s death, his or her family becomes eligible for the lump-sum compensation. Currently, the prisoners’ claims die with them.
What’s more, the Bill could actually present a financial savings for local jurisdictions.
One condition of the existing and proposed law is that, when exonerees seek statutory compensation, they forfeit their right to a civil-rights lawsuits.
Many exonerees opt for lawsuits rather than compensation because the compensation is inadequate, he said.
“After income taxes, many [exonerees] have debts and attorney fees, and that takes down the amount they actually receive quite a bit,” Glasheen said. “I think the proposed compensation is enough to convince the majority of them to settle their claims.”
To read the rest of the article, click here. To locate the contact information for your Representative in order to express your support for the bill’s passage, click here.