Texas, which leads the nation in freeing inmates wrongly convicted for crimes, has instituted a new law to turn their misfortune into fortunes. Under the plan, emancipated prisoners will get $80,000 for each year they were incarcerated. In addition, they will receive lifetime annuity payment worth between $40,000 and $50,000 per year. By far, it is the most lucrative compensation package for inmates, according to The Associated Press. Thomas McGowan – who described the 23 years he spent behind bars on a bogus rape-robbery conviction a combination of “a nightmare,” “hell” and “slavery – said he is both nervous and excited. “It’s something I never had, this amount of money,” he told AP. “I didn’t have any money — period.” McGowan and others will also receive a variety of social services, such as job training, tuition credits and access to medical and dental treatment, AP reports.

Another African American walked out of a Houston jail a free man after spending a major chunk of his life behind bars for a brutal crime he never committed. In the most recent case, Ernest Sonnier was convicted 23 years ago and sentenced to life in prison for supposedly kidnapping and repeatedly raping a woman in the Houston neighborhood of Alief. His release came as a result of the dogged follow-through from the Innocence Project, which noted that Sonnier’s freedom was snatched even though the forensic evidence gathered from her body and clothes showed that someone with a different blood type had raped her. The case against Sonnier was based exclusively on the testimony of the victim, who picked him from a lineup six months later. “It’s just sloppy science, at best,” Alba Morales, who represents Sonnier, told The New York Times. Genetic testing in recent months revealed that two other men, both felons and known associates, were likely involved. One of them is now awaiting trial for a different rape. Still, Donna Hawkins, a spokeswoman for the district attorney’s office, said the state was not ready to concede Mr. Sonnier’s innocence. Prosecutors do admit, however, that the new evidence suggests that Sonnier may not have been involved. “There is a lot more legwork that needs to be done before we draw any conclusions,” Hawkins said. On Friday, Harris County District Court Judge Michael McSpadden ordered that Sonnier be released pending further investigation.  “The evidence was on the table that I wasn’t the guy, and they failed to do justice,” said Sonnier, who had nearly a quarter century of his life taken away. “It’s lost. It’s lost. There is no way to make it up.” This isn’t the first time the state of Texas and the Houston Police Department Crime Laboratory has deprived an innocent person – particularly an innocent Black man – of several years due to a sloppy criminal investigation. In fact, the Lone Star State leads all others in convicting people who were later exonerated through DNA evidence, according to the non-profit, non-partisan Innocence Project. Sonnier is one of four others who have been released from prison but are still waiting for to have their convictions overturned, The New York Times reports. Houston’s crime lab has been labeled both corrupt and sloppy. In a review of cases processed at the lab, hundreds were deemed tainted because of incompetence, inadequate training and resources, lack of guidance and even intentional bias on the part of a crime lab. The problems, exposed by independent investigators in 2002, date back some 30 years.