Required Viewing

Set your TiVo, silence your cell, and proceed to your nearest theater to see After Innocence, Jessica Sanders' documentary following seven wrongly imprisoned men on their re-entry to society following exoneration through DNA testing. An avid watcher of Reading Rainbow and fan of Lavar Burton - I endorse the "you don't have to take my word for it" school of thought: this movie won the Special Jury Prize at Sundance last year and a slew of other impressive awards.

I attended a screening and Q & A with the director (who, by the way, was wearing a great jacket), her co-producer (who's pretty cute himself), and an exoneree (in fact, an entire panel of good looking, well-dressed folk). Like all the men in the film, this guy's story is heartbreaking and frustrating. What's really incredible about all the men, though, is that none of them are exceedingly bitter about the injustice of spending so many years in terrible places, under terrible conditions, for crimes that they absolutely didn't commit.

Herman Atkins, an exoneree, attended the screening and took part in the Q & A tonight. At the time of his release in 2000 the state of California "offered" (if you knew who, how, and exactly how to hold your breath when asking for it) $10,000 in compensation to people who had been exonerated on the basis of DNA testing. He became active in efforts to improve this compensation - I certainly agree that $10,000 doesn't exactly make up for spending 13 years in prison. Remarkably, these efforts paid off and the compensation for people wrongly imprisoned is higher now. Also remarkably, when he filed for his own compensation under the new laws, the state told him that the statute of limitations had run out and he wasn't eligible to be compensated.

The exonerees are from all walks of life, all colors of skin, all brackets of taxes. One exoneree featured is a white police officer who spent 6 1/2 years in jail before the real killer turned himself in and confessed to the police to reopen the investigation. What's also surprising is the reluctance (at best) and defiance some prosecutors have toward DNA testing that will free innocent people from prison or death row.

Enough. Go see it! If you live within driving distance to an airport this film is coming to a theater near you in the upcoming months. Put it on your calendar!