Thank you for attending!
Watch and share the full event video below
Thank you to everyone who joined us for the New England Innocence Project’s annual storytelling event and fundraiser, Voices of the Innocent on September 14 at City Winery Boston. We heard stories from innocent people impacted by wrongful convictions and their loved ones and learned what it takes to persevere in the fight for freedom. Thank you for sharing this memorable evening with us!
Funds raised through this event directly support the work of the New England Innocence Project by providing forensic testing, investigation, experts, an experienced legal team, and social service advocates to free innocent people, bring them home to their loved ones, and help them rebuild their lives in freedom. With your help, we can also educate and advocate for systemic change to prevent future tragedies.
Photos by Ellen Rogers Photography
View the Community Conversation
Following the main program at our annual storytelling event, Voices of the Innocent, we hosted a community conversation with the storytellers -- Jabir Pope, Nancy Wagner, and Yesenia Valentin -- as well as our 2023 Arc of Justice award winner, Andrew Ryan of The Boston Globe. The conversation was hosted by Stephanie Hartung, Senior Staff Attorney at the New England Innocence Project.
2023 Voices of the Innocent Honoree
2023 is a year to acknowledge all that wrongfully convicted people must overcome to achieve their freedom and thrive in a new world. This year, in recognition of his detailed, thorough reporting that authentically captures the difficult and beautiful experiences of people directly impacted by a wrongful conviction, it is our distinct honor to present the 2023 ARC OF JUSTICE Award to:
Andrew Ryan
Photo Credit: Pat Greenhouse, The Boston Globe
Andrew Ryan is a reporter on The Boston Globe’s Quick Strike investigative team.
Over the last few years, Andrew Ryan’s research and reporting has captured the journeys of several people attempting to overturn their convictions and about the community of wrongfully convicted people who support each other in freedom. From the releases of James Lucien and Shaun Jenkins in 2021, to the exoneration of Barry Kamara in 2023, Andrew Ryan has been present for significant milestones in this community, even attending the 2022 Innocence Network Conference, along with exonerees and freed people. His reporting did not only cover individual cases, but he examined “the sins of Boston police past,” revealing that 80% of exonerations in Suffolk County in the last 3 decades have involved law enforcement misconduct.
Within this community, journalists can be seen with skepticism, having played a significant role in cementing biased, uncritical – and ultimately erroneous – narratives of people charged and convicted of crimes. Through careful, detailed reporting, Andrew Ryan gained the trust of even the most skeptical, including beloved exoneree Ray Champagne, who sadly passed away shortly after being interviewed about his work with Sean Ellis and Victor Rosario to create the Exoneree Network. Andrew Ryan’s writing of Ray’s obituary at such a difficult time was a salve for this community.
We are grateful for the honesty and integrity with which Andrew Ryan approaches his reporting and for shedding light on the injustices faced by wrongfully convicted people.
Program Book
Our 2023 Sponsors
THANK YOU TO OUR SPONSORS
Changemaker
Justice Champions
Freedom Contributors
ACLU of Massachusetts
Brown Rudnick LLP
Burns & Levinson
Cooley LLP
Jones Day
Loevy & Loevy Attorneys at Law
McDermott Will & Emery
Morgan, Lewis & Bockius LLP
Sidley Austin LLP
Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP
Transformational Prison Project
Verrill
Hope Supporters
The Boston Foundation
Choate, Hall & Stewart LLP
Daniel Medwed & Sharissa Jones
Deloitte
DLA Piper LLP (US)
Elkins, Auer, Rudof, & Schiff
Gail Roberts, Ed Feijo & Team
JoAnn (Roberto Luongo) DeNapoli Charitable Foundation, Inc.
Locke Lord LLP
The Morrison & Foerster Foundation
Red Sox Foundation
Silva Kettlewell + Pignatelli LLP
Todd & Weld LLP
Turco Legal
White & Case LLP
Wolf Greenfield
For questions or more information about becoming a future event sponsor,
please contact Jordan Salvatoriello at jordan@newenglandinnocence.org.
A Look Back
View our 2022 virtual event
Voices of the Innocent: Journey to Freedom is a special virtual event hosted by the New England Innocence Project and featuring intimate stories from along the journey from those most impacted – from the crushing blow of a wrongful conviction and the struggle to maintain hope, to the long fight for justice and the trials and triumphs of rebuilding in freedom.
About the New England Innocence Project
The New England Innocence Project fights to correct and prevent wrongful convictions and ensure justice within the criminal legal system for innocent people imprisoned for a crime they did not commit.
We provide free forensic testing, investigation, experts, and an experienced legal team to exonerate the innocent and bring them home to their loved ones. We also use our expertise about wrongful convictions to provide education and advocate for legislative and judicial reforms to prevent future tragedies.