Illinois leads the country in prison exonerations, according to the National Registry of Exonerations and the Center for Wrongful Convictions.
In Illinois, the number one reason for wrongful arrests is police misconduct.
To solve the problem, the Illinois Police Training Institute has started a new training program.
I dug a bit deeper into this new training, what it includes and the particular challenge Illinois faces, beating out Texas, New York and California in wrongful convictions.
The majority of people who are wrongfully convicted are mainly young black men.
“I’m always humbled because I can’t imagine going into a room with 102 police officers after being incarcerated by that system for something that I didn’t do,” Wrongful Conviction and Awareness and Avoidance Training Director Marcus Beach said when introducing exoneree Antione Day to a group of trainees.
“I have 14 years in the system,” said Day, who was sentenced to more than 60 years for a crime he did not commit.
Attorney and police misconduct are to blame.
“They knew I was not six feet and light-complected, so it should have stopped somewhere but it did not happen,” Day said.
Day says he is about five inches shorter than the accused – with a noticeably darker complexion. He supports the work the Innocence Project does.
Day comes out to the training institute whenever he can to tell his story.
“100%, I never hesitated because this is so important,” Day said. “I mean, I dedicated my life to change because, we’re never going to get justice in this country. But, we can get the legal system to be legal.”
It was once optional, but now all Illinois police recruits are required to take Wrongful Conviction Awareness and Avoidance Training.
“We’re building a solid foundation for our criminal legal system that’s going to be represented for the next 20 to 30 years here in Illinois,” Beach said. “These are the young men and women who are coming into this profession. They’re going to carry it forward and improve the relationships with the communities and the way that hopefully wrongful convictions are ended by this training.”
The Illinois Innocence Project has helped free almost 300 people.
Nationwide, more than half of those who are wrongfully convicted are Black – 53%.
In Illinois, that number of Black people that were wrongfully arrested and convicted jumps to 77%.
I got to see firsthand these recruits show appreciation to speakers like Day for sharing his story.
“Hearing their stories…I can’t believe that happened to them,” University of Illinois Police Department recruit Daniel Hamlet said. “So it makes me, you know, I want to put myself in a position that that doesn’t happen to anybody else.”
While courts, attorneys and juries are all to blame, everything starts with the arrest.
“Like someone said, we’re the first ones on the scene so our perspective is very vital to the investigation,” Hamlet said.
Official misconduct accounts for almost all of the exonerations in the United States.
Police officer involvement represents almost half of the exonerations at 43%.
When we look at Illinois, police officer misconduct that ends in wrongful convictions jumps up to 80%.
The top wrongful arrests are for things like murder and drug possession.
“We have one chance to do it right,” said Joseph Gallo, director of the Police Training Institute. “We need to make sure these recruits understand that.”
Day knows the alternative all too well.
“I’m a mama’s boy, my family. … He took all that away from me,” Day said. “I don’t hate cops, I love cops. Some of my family members are cops. But I hate dirty cops, I hate people that bully the community and take advantage of people. I hate that.”
With the training now mandated in Illinois, they are open to training other recruits in other states.
“I have my days, my nights, my nightmares sometimes, you have these dreams and these dreams can destroy you,” Day said.
He says continuing to play his music helps and tries to focus on the years ahead and spending time with family.
