Innocent Man Walking to Raise Awareness of The Struggle of Those Who Have Been Wrongfully Imprisoned

The founder of a group dedicated to improving the treatment of America's wrongfully accused prisoners made his way through Carson City last week as part of his plan to jog across the country.
The mission is to raise awareness of the struggle of those who have been wrongfully imprisoned, to provide funds to assist with gaining their release, and to offer hope and help to those who have been exonerated.
"This isn't just a local problem," Steve Ivanovich said as he took a breather in front of the state Supreme Court. "In 28 states including Nevada, people who serve time and (then) are found innocent get nothing.
They're just supposed to pick up their lives right where they left off, even if they've been in prison for years. That's not how it works."

Ivanovich, an Indiana native who served jail time after what he describes as an incidence of self-defense against a politically connected neighbor, said he formed Innocent Man Walking to help people in similar situations.

To draw attention and sponsors to the nonprofit effort, he has pledged to travel from the Golden Gate Bridge to the Statue of Liberty entirely on foot.

"Honestly, I haven't been cleared yet, and I'd love to see that happen," he said. "But this isn't about me anymore. It's about giving any innocent person in a jail cell some hope. I can't even describe what it feels like to be (in that position)."

While reports of people being jailed for crimes they did not commit are notoriously unreliable, even the lowest estimates seem to indicate that thousands of inmates across the nation deserve to have their cases reviewed, Ivanovich said. He said that if even one out of every 10,000 inmates was wrongfully imprisoned, that would mean some 230 people are being unjustly held nationwide.
Ivanovich began his walk on March 1 and hopes to finish within four months, he said. By then, he hopes to have raised enough money to provide housing, counseling and job assistance to anyone who can present court papers verifying that they were wrongfully convicted of a felony, he said.

He also hoped that his walk would encourage citizens to lobby for law changes in the states that don't compensate people who are exonerated after being punished. "We're going to need major sponsors," he said. "I had to sell my car just to get started. But that's OK. I've never been political in my entire lifetime until this happened, and I don't have quitting in me.
Source rgs.com staff and Wire Reports

Video of Steven Training to Walk/Run Across the US Here to bring awareness to the struggle of people who have been wrongfully convicted.
Steven's Website
Here
MISSION STATEMENT:
Innocent Man Walking is a nonprofit organization for charitable and educational purposes. The mission is to raise awareness of the struggle of those who have been wrongfully imprisoned, to provide funds to assist with gaining their release, and to offer hope and help to those who have been exonerated.

Innocent Man Walking seeks requests for assistance and provides funding to obtain necessary services for those who have been wrongfully imprisoned or those who have been exonerated. Recipients are selected based on their needs and the likelihood of their being able to those services in another manner.

GET INVOLVED!!
Learn how to get involved with Innocentmanwalking.org

Innocent - An Operation of Support For The Wrongly Convicted

Innocent ! An Operation of Support For The Wrongly Convicted. Please visit their website Innocent ! HERE
This is from their site;

Our Purpose - Response One of our purposes is to respond to every request for assistance. We may not be able to actually provide that assistance, but we will do our level best to find help for any inmate, any inmates family member, or any acquaintance of an inmate, and do it promptly!
Triage
We do our best to keep abreast of all services available to inmates in every state. This includes not only legal services, such as Innocence Projects, but other services that may be provided by religious and/or support groups.
Most of this information is available at our second web site: prisonet.com.
In addition to sending the inquirer to that site, we also check our files for any updates, and promptly respond with a personal letter.
If the letter indicates special needs, such as medical attention for an inmate, we attempt to find some one or some agency that can at least respond.

Grass-roots Support
For that inmate whose case has been accepted by a member of the national Innocence Network, we offer assistance in numerous areas, including:
serving as a liaison between the inmate and the legal team,
helping family and friends to establish an email information network, helping supporters to organize a citizens committee,providing expertise in how to work with local area media,helping to attract the attention of celebrities like Dr. Rubin Hurricane Carter,providing advice on the getting local attention with the use of
billboards,press conference,fund-raisers,government body resolutions,outdoor demonstrations,teaching how to enlist the aid of local churches and the clergy
instructions on how to organize a letter-to-the-editor campaign and even more!