Innocents Assistance Fund: Help Harold Wilson

The Innocents Assistance Fund has undertaken a new project to help recently exonerated Harold Wilson. The message below came in from IAF:

For nearly two months now, Harold Wilson has tasted the freedom that has eluded him for 16 years. As you know, Harold was acquitted at retrial on November 15, and his case raised many of the problems associated with the death penalty in Pennsylvania- ineffective representation for the poor, prosecutorial misconduct, and the impact of race.

If you follow the stories of the exonerated, you know that life on the outside is often as hard for them as life on the inside. The exonerated struggle to gain life's basics while, at the same time, adjusting to a world that has passed them by while they were incarcerated.

With this in mind, and recognizing that we just recently raised funds for William Nieves' family, we appeal to you now to help Harold with some of life's basics. His needs are many, and the Innocents Assistance Fund feels that it can try to assist him with some of those needs.

We are asking you to help us with a clothing drive and a "driving drive" for Harold. First, he is in need of some basic clothing items. They are:
a winter coat- size 3X
work boots for construction- size 13 wide
"possibly" a suit- 46 Tall jacket, 46" waist, inseam? (he's 6' 1")

In addition, transportation is often a struggle for the exonerated. They don't have thousands of dollars or any credit to buy a car. Since he lives in Philadelphia, Harold has access to public transportation through SEPTA, so the Innocents Assistance Fund is holding a "driving drive" to sponsor monthly (or weekly) SEPTA passes for Harold. A weekly pass is $18.75 and a monthly pass is $70.

If you can help with the clothing drive or the driving drive, please send the items or checks to:
Innocents Assistance Fund
c/o Central Pennsylvanians to Abolish the Death Penalty
315 Peffer Street
Harrisburg, PA 17102

The Innocents Assistance Fund is a project of CPADP, an IRS-registered 501-c-3 organization, and all donations to the Fund are tax-deductible.

You can read, listen to, or view an interview with Harold at Democracy Now's website: http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=05/12/20/1434244

Finally, there is currently a bill before the state House of Representatives, introduced by Rep. Michael McGeehan (D-Philadelphia), that would compensate the wrongly convicted. Contact your representative and senator today and ask them to do right by the exonerated. Find the contact info for your legislators at:
http://www.legis.state.pa.us/