Connecticut Compensates Exonerated Prisoners, Reforms Policing
by Jo Ellen Nott
Connecticut is confronting its history of wrongful convictions by compensating victims and reforming police procedures. The state has moved to award $37.6 million to eight wrongfully convicted men who collectively spent 151 years behind bars. The legislature’s Judiciary Committee ratified this compensation on February 14, 2025.
Connecticut is in a tier with Oregon, Oklahoma, and Tennessee in the total number of exonerations since 1989. These states have exonerations numbering from 40 to 46, according to the National Registry of Exonerations. The states with the highest number of exonerations are Texas and Illinois, with Texas at 486 and Illinois at 555. Interestingly, these two states show a marked difference in criminal justice laws: Texas has some of the toughest criminal laws on the books, while Illinois has made significant strides in reforming its criminal justice system.
The cases in Connecticut mirror failures of the criminal justice system nationwide, including prosecutorial and police misconduct, coerced confessions, and unreliable eyewitness testimony. The state’s total wrongful-conviction compensation will reach $128.9 million after this latest legislative session, with an average of $5.2 million per claimant.
A significant number of wrongful convictions occurred in New Haven, where five of the eight men set to receive compensation were wrongly convicted of murder. In many cases, police used flawed identification techniques, such as biased photo arrays and leading witnesses to implicate suspects.
One notable case involved George Gould and Ronald Taylor, convicted in 1995 based on the testimony of a single heroin-addicted witness who later admitted she had been influenced by police. Gould was exonerated in 2024, while Taylor died of cancer in 2011. Gould was on the February 14 agenda for a $6.7 million award.
Another case involved Richard Lapointe, convicted in 1992 after police allegedly coerced a confession from him, despite exculpatory evidence being withheld. He was small in stature and suffered from a congenital brain condition. His disability made a group of supporters, including the nonprofit exoneration group Centurion, believe in his innocence. He served 26 years before being released in 2015 and died in 2020 of COVID-19.
The state is addressing these injustices by broadening eligibility for compensation. The General Assembly voted unanimously to include cases where convictions were overturned based on “grounds consistent with innocence,” rather than requiring proof of actual innocence or misconduct. This change allows estates of deceased claimants to receive compensation, such as Lapointe’s estate’s $5.9 million award.
Additionally, Connecticut has implemented legal and procedural reforms to prevent future wrongful convictions. Police now use evidence-based practices, including random, sequential photo arrays where officers are unaware of which image is viewed by the witness. These measures are meant to reduce the influence of suggestive questioning and improve the reliability of eyewitness testimony. The state has also established a Conviction Integrity Unit within the chief state’s attorney’s office to review questionable convictions, leading to more exonerations.
The state claims commissioner, Robert Shea Jr., is aggressively addressing a backlog of wrongful conviction claims. Lawmakers acknowledge the unprecedented number and size of the current awards but stress that these cases must be reviewed not only for compensation but also to identify further legislative action to prevent future miscarriages of justice.
New Haven’s police chief, Karl Jacobson, and Mayor Justin Elicker claim that policing has significantly improved since the 1990s, with greater oversight and adoption of best practices. Connecticut has also mandated standards for eyewitness identification and recording suspect interviews in their entirety, aiming to ensure due process and prevent further injustices.
The exoneration cases in Connecticut serve as a grim reminder of the importance of due process, the imperfection of the justice system, and the high cost—both human and financial—of getting it wrong.
Sources: Centurion, CT Mirror, National Registry of Exonerations
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