Bill Would Create Fund For Exonerated Prisoners

State lawmakers want to give exonerated prisoners money for their wrongful incarceration.

The legislation is now in the Senate after its unanimous passage by the House.

Rep. Greg Steuerwald (R-Danville) says Indiana should provide exonerated prisoners an option: they can sue the state (as they can now) or take a payout from a fund created by his legislation.

“They cannot do both," Steuerwald says. "If they take from the fund and are eligible, they receive $50,000 for each year that they have been wrongfully incarcerated.”

Steuerwald says working with the Innocence Project -- a national group that seeks to overturn wrongful convictions -- current Indiana exonerees who are already suing the state will get the same option: continue with their suits or take the money, paid out over five years.

The Republican lawmaker’s bill also extends to exonerees transition services the Department of Correction already offers to offenders about to be released, such as mental health and substance abuse treatment. He says the wrongfully incarcerated haven’t been offered those services in the past.