The High Cost Of Wrongful Convictions: Stories Of Maurice Hastings

It seems like a story like this one pops up every year nowadays:

The city of Inglewood will pay a man 25 million dollars after he spent 38 years in prison for crimes he didn't commit. On Tuesday, the city agreed to settle Maurice Hastings' wrongful conviction lawsuit. Hastings was convicted of sexual assault and murder, then sentenced to life in prison without parole in connection with the killing of a woman in 1983. He was exonerated decades later, due to DNA evidence. Hastings' lawyers call this the largest settlement for a wrongful conviction in California history. Prosecutors initially sought the death penalty during Hastings' trial in 1988.

To me, a story like this begs the question: What is your life worth?

Could you put a price on it?

How much money would it take for you to spend a year, 10 years or 45 years in prison?

Last year, an Ohio man's family was awarded $3-million after the man was wrongfully convicted of murder and spent 45 years behind bars.

He was released in 2021 and had roughly one year of freedom before passing away last year from cancer.

Here's the news piece from the wire:

"The state of Ohio will pay out three-million dollars to the survivors of a Cleveland man who was wrongly imprisoned for more than 45 years. Isaiah Andrews was convicted of killing his wife in 1974 though later discovery showed that evidence of another suspect was never given to defense attorneys. Andrews was released from prison and was later found not guilty of the crime at the end of a 2021 retrial. He died of cancer in April of 2022. The Ohio Controlling Board gave its approval for the payment yesterday."

It's a tragic case all around. One man spent nearly his entire life in prison for a crime he did not commit. Another man, a murderer, got away with the crime. And Isaiah Andrews never got to properly mourn the loss of his wife.

It also brings up the ethical question: How much is a life worth? Or more accurately, how much is freedom worth?

Because Andrews is no longer with us, we cannot ask him if the $3-million was worth spending his life in prison. But I suspect the answer would be "No way."

His family is fixed financially for life, at least if they use the money wisely. But he spent 45 years falsely incarcerated.

I wouldn't take the deal. I'll never be worth $3-million, or even $15M for that matter.

Hey, some things, like freedom, are priceless.