Remembering Calvin C. Johnson Jr.
In January 2023, we mourned the passing of our founding board member and exoneree Calvin C. Johnson Jr.
Mr. Johnson was an author, activist, and a pioneer in the innocence movement who was wrongly convicted in 1983 by an all-white jury of a rape and burglary he did not commit. He served 16 years in prison before he was exonerated by DNA testing. Following his exoneration, he continued to be an advocate for wrongly convicted people, speaking across the nation to advance our organization’s mission, serving on our board, chairing the board of the Georgia Innocence Project, and sharing his experience in his book Exit to Freedom.