They Were Unjustly Imprisoned. Now, They’re Profit Centers.

The New York Times, November 27, 2022: They Were Unjustly Imprisoned. Now, They’re Profit Centers.

“Across the nation, exonerations — and cash settlements — have risen steadily thanks to DNA-based reinvestigations, conviction-integrity units created by prosecutors and the vigor of innocence organizations. Now, the billions in payouts have attracted companies offering high interest cash advances while exonerated people await their claims. Many firms are backed by private equity investors eager to bet on nearly certain short-term profit.

“Many of the advances offer a tantalizing provision: If prisoners fail to collect a payout, the advance is essentially forgiven. But if the claims come through, which they usually do, the company makes a healthy profit when the exoneree pays in full, often from a settlement that far outstrips the size of the debt.

“Mr. Burton was a good investment. Wrongful conviction cases are exceptionally good bets because they have often gone through years of appellate court scrutiny and have been vetted by the lawyers handling the claims, said the president of USClaims, Donna Lee Jones.

“She said that in the eight years since the firm began taking such cases, she has seen a rise in demand. This year, a record 367 cases have been added to the National Registry of Exonerations, which usually records some 200 each year.

“A total of $2.65 billion nationwide has been paid to people on the registry who have brought civil rights suits, according to Jeffrey Gutman, a law professor at George Washington University. The average payout is $3.7 million for the 716 exonerees who collected compensation, or $318,000 per year in prison, he said.”