James Woodward of Dallas, Texas has been behind bars for over 27 years with the sentence of raping and then murdering his girlfriend. As of today, Woodward is now released. This is because of a somewhat new program called The Innocence Project. the Innocence Project is based out of New York and is "dedicated to exonerating wrongfully convicted people through DNA testing."
Dallas is the branch with the most inmates released from this program. Woodward, along with 16 other former prisoners have been released since 2001. These men are lucky to have records of such DNA to prove their innocence.
Although not everyone is enjoying this program. Dallas District Attorney Craig Watkins said, "When individuals intend to cause a person to be convicted for a crime they did not commit, that's an embarrassment for our profession."
One downfall to releasing these men is the culture shock that they experience. Woodward has had a rough start with regaining back his lifestyle. He needs a state issued ID, but that requires a birth certificate or a social security number: He has neither. He is shocked by the price of gas, acceptance of AIDS, and the popularity of PCs and cellular phones.
These culture shocks would happen to any prisoner who had just been released, it is just unfortunate to know that Woodward should not have had to experience it.
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