Jim McCloskey

Nowadays, the story of innocent people locked up in prisons and being released after decades of appeals is not unknown, but still too rare.
In 1980, Jim McClosky was going through a career change. He had been a business consultant when events in his personal life made him question his life choices. He enrolled in Princeton Theological Seminary and, as a punishment from a professor, was assigned to become a student chaplain to the most violent prisoners at Trenton State Prison. It was where he was meant to be.
Like most people without contact with prisoners or their families, he believed that people who are incarcerated are there because they did something wrong. It didn’t take him long to realize that was not always the case. People at all levels of the justice system can act or get others to act in ways that are guaranteed to lock up innocent people. One of the most common reasons is trying to clear a case as quickly as possible. They will conceal evidence, convince a witness (or someone pretending to be a witness) to lie or delay actions that can grant freedom after the original charge is found to be invalid.
As he began his journey, he quickly realized that witness testimony could be inaccurate. He began with one case and, by going through the trial transcripts and accompanying paperwork, discovered a great many errors. He also interviewed people involved with the original case and found many were willing to tell him their experiences, including the reasons why they lied. Many had never revealed that information before and McCloskey writes of how those confessions affected them.
In addition, he tells of how innocent people adjust to being incarcerated for long periods of time.
As a result of his experiences, he founded Centurion Ministries which works to free innocent prisoners. The Innocence Project, a national group doing similar work, was one outcome of his works.
WHEN TRUTH IS ALL YOU HAVE tells how much jailing innocent people costs taxpayers in financial settlements afterwards, which, of course, come nowhere near the cost to the individual involved. The Epilogue details ways the system is right, how it is wrong, and what can be done to correct int.
My only criticism of the book is the subplot, his personal life in arriving at his calling which includes a lot of unnecessary information about his missteps. They detract from the main story and could have been included in much less detail. My rating reflects that.… (plus d'informations)