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How Does A City Compensate The Wrongly Imprisoned — And Tortured?

KELLY MCEVERS, HOST:

Here are a few questions most of us never have to answer. What's a year of your life worth? What about a perfect day with your mom? Is there a dollar amount that you could attach to these things? People who have been wrongfully imprisoned do have to answer these questions if they fight for compensation. Here's Noel King from our Planet Money podcast.

NOEL KING, BYLINE: Ronnie Kitchen did not kill five people, but Chicago police officers tortured him into confessing that he did. Ronnie spent 21 years in prison, 13 of them on death row. A few years ago, he was exonerated - proven innocent. When he got out, he sued the city. Before I tell you how much he won, let's talk about what he lost. While he was locked up, his mother got older. She got dementia. When he got out, she didn't recognize him.

RONNIE KITCHEN: I'm sitting across like we're sitting. I'm like, Mom, what you staring at? She'd say, I'm staring at you, child. I'm like, what you staring at me for? I'm just trying to figure out who you were. So I got up and ran in the bathroom and started crying 'cause can't let her see me like this.

So I go sit down and she say guess what? I'm like - what? She say, my baby coming home. I'm like - who? She say Ronnie.

KING: As Ronnie remembers it, when his lawyers asked him, how much do you want to sue for, he said $68 million dollars. He says he basically picked that number out of a hat.

KITCHEN: it was some crazy Seven million for a year. It was some crazy number. I think I wanted 3 million - 3 million each year or something like that.

KING: Three times 21.

KITCHEN: Yeah, it was something like that.

KING: He settled with the city for a little more than 6 million dollars. He bought a nice house in Philly, lives there with his wife and daughters. He loves cars. He has a Jag and a Porsche. The money helped him start an auto accessories business. He still works. But when I ask him - was that 6 million enough? - he says no, nothing could ever be enough.

Ten million dollars.

KITCHEN: Kiss my ass.

KING: A hundred million dollars.

KITCHEN: It's not enough.

KING: A billion dollars.

KITCHEN: Still not enough. You can't give me my mother back. You can't give me my mother.

KING: Ronnie sued, got his money. There are a couple dozen Chicago men who were also tortured into confessions, but didn't get to sue. The statute of limitations in their cases had run out. Earlier this year, Chicago compensated those men. It cut them each a check for $100,000, including Will Porch (ph), a debonair, little guy who lives on the South Side of Chicago.

WILL PORCH: Hey, would you like something to drink? You know, I have plenty of everything (laughter).

KING: Will tells me he served 14 years, seven months, three weeks, two days and seven hours. He says his conviction broke his father's heart.

PORCH: Yeah, I hurt that man. I really hurt him.

KING: Will was slow to spend his hundred thousand dollars. First few weeks, the only thing he bought was a cheap wristwatch. Eventually, he bought a gray 2014 Nissan Altima. Will knows that some guys, like Ronnie, sued the city and got a lot more than him. I put the question to him. Could any amount make up for this?

Is there any sum of money that they could give you?

PORCH: I would say 25 maybe. And I would like five years of no taxes.

KING: Twenty-five million and five years no taxes, and what do you give them in return? You forgive them?

PORCH: We would be on the path of forgiveness. Yeah.

KING: One hundred thousand, 6 million - to these guys, it's all the same - not enough. Noel King, NPR News. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.

Noel King is a host of Morning Edition and Up First.
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