California Western -- Innocent Man Denied Release from Prison after
Serving 16 Years in Wrongful Conviction
Innocent Man Denied Release from Prison after Serving 16 Years in Wrongful Conviction
California Innocence Project exoneree Reggie Cole's release from Calipatria State Prison indefinitely postponed after misinformation given to family and friends
SAN DIEGO, April 7, 2010 -
Reggie Cole was scheduled to be released from Calipatria State Prison yesterday after serving 16 years of wrongful incarceration. The California Department of Corrections confirmed the date several times with the California Innocence Project, based at California Western School of Law. In actuality Cole was not released at all.
More than thirty of Cole's family members, friends, and attorneys waited Tuesday morning for hours in the boiling sun at the El Centro Greyhound bus station where Cole was scheduled to be transported by the Department of Corrections. Instead, the group was told by correctional officers who had escorted another parolee to the bus station that Cole had been transported directly to Los Angeles to report to his parole officer. Disappointed, the group headed back into the desert for the long drive to Los Angeles to meet Cole at the Office of Probation and Parole.
Later yesterday afternoon, the Department of Corrections informed California Innocence Project staff that they miscalculated his parole date and Cole will not be released until June 17.
"This is cruel and unusual punishment," states Justin Brooks, director of the California Innocence Project at California Western School of Law. "Reggie should never have been in the position of having to defend himself in prison. He should not even be on parole. To tell him that he's going home today and have his family drive hours into the desert just to be told to go home and wait a couple more months is outrageous."
Although his murder conviction was reversed in July of 2009, Cole was serving additional time for the November 2000 self-defense murder of Eddie "The Devil" Eugene Clark while serving time at Calipatria. The California Innocence Project has represented Cole alongside San Diego criminal defense attorney Christopher Plourd.
Lawyers could not obtain the name of the Department of Corrections official who decided at the last minute to reverse Cole's release date. It is believed that Cole was actually in a van on the way to the bus station when the call was made for the officers to return him to prison.
"We are going to address this with prison officials and get to the bottom of this," promises Plourd.
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