Last Saturday night, we at NEIP were thrilled to be present at Joan Baez’s concert at the Wang Theater. Joan has teamed with the Innocence Project to use her fall tour as a platform to raise awareness of the costs and causes of wrongful conviction. Joan has made issues of social justice a focal point of her expansive and outstanding career, and we are grateful to have her as a supporter of the innocence movement.

During the concert, Joan set time aside to speak about the Innocence Project: “I’ve teamed up with the Innocence Project. They are lawyers who work pro bono to exonerate prisoners who were never guilty in the first place. It’s very successful, you can read about it, you can join up.’”

She went on to highlight some of the issues of criminal justice reform that often come up in cases of wrongful conviction, and that she is passionate about: “it’s about racial profiling, racial inequality, mass arrests, torture... prison in general.”

She followed this up by singing her song “Billy Rose” as a tribute to these issues.

At this event, NEIP highlighted the case of Alfred Trenkler, who has been in prison for 25 years for a crime he did not commit. We were thrilled to collect over 100 signatures on our petition to get his case re-opened. You can sign the online version of the petition here:

http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/new-trial-for-alfred-trenkler

It was a pleasure to talk to concert attendees, many of whom, like Joan, are passionate about issues of criminal justice reform. We were moved and inspired by them, and greatly appreciate the interest they expressed in our cause and this case.

Joan Baez will be performing tomorrow night in Westbury, NY, and her tour continues through November!