We are two men who spent 42 years in prison for crimes we did not commit. AMA (Ask us anything)

How many times have people steered away from you because you were in prison?

Have you had difficulties finding a job?

What was the first thing you did once you were out of prison?

C: I haven't had anyone sneer away from me because they have been more interested in how I survived being in prison for something I didn't do. The first thing I did when I got out of prison was to do whatever people suggested that I do because I hadn't adapted to the so-called "free world" yet.

R: The first thing I did when I went Steak and Ale but the second thing I did was go to Hooters.

What kind of compensation did you get?

C: A slap in the face. You can't compensate for all the years that I spent in prison. But, on the other hand, where is my security? Because, we are not able to receive social security.

R: They needed to perhaps have more support in place for those like us who have been gone so long and wrongfully convicted. I had to wait for a long time for compensation and for support.

Mr Harrison and Mr Clark, I've read articles on the psychology of being an innocent person in jail and how there have been a very select few cases where the accused and imprisoned person started to believe they had done the crime just to make their situation more bearable. My questions are: Did either of you ever resort to that kind of self-treatment, trying to pretend like you had done it to justify being in prison? Also, do you think either of you could ever get over the hatred towards others of being wrongfully accused?

I am truly sorry what happened to the both of you, I wish our justice system could improve itself so this never had to happen to another man or woman again.

C: I began to question myself about how I could have done something that I couldn't remember? Because, I could not understand how I could have been convicted of these crimes and how I became involved in these crimes. But, I realized that I was not going to be a victim while in prison so I began to use the fact that I had not committed the crime to make it easier for me to be able to survive by knowing I have already been convicted for any crime I may have to commit to survive in prison.

Did your family believe in your innocence? Have they welcomed you back with open arms?

C: My family has always believed in my innocence but have always been bitter because they were not financially able to provide me with adequate representation.

R: Yes, my family always believed. My mother, my sister, my children. They always believed and gave me support because they knew me back then. After 20 years and me still there for something I didn't do and my family seeing the commercials saying "innocent until proven guilty" but I was still there....so they let doubt slip into their minds, except my mother. They asked for me to accept their apology after I was released. My mother passed away a year before I was released but she always believed that I was innocent.

I am a college student in Kansas who does news segments for a local TV station. I aspire to create documentaries as a future career. Not the kind that are dull or, to be honest, boring, but the kind that emotionally/mentally move people. Shot in the dark here, but It would be an honor to film a mini-doc about you gentleman. Any chances of this happening?

R: Yes. Please contact the Georgia Innocence Project. :) http://www.ga-innocenceproject.org/contact.html

This might be a bit sensitive but how do you feel hearing Mike Tyson say after leaving jail, the he wished he "actually" did rape the girl in question? At any point, did you become so bitter that you actually wished you did commit the crime?

C: I can relate to that. That was not abnormal for him to think that way. I had no animosity against the victim but I was mad.

R: We were both victims. I forgave her but I knew who committed the crime when I was in prison. I forgave him too.

What are your feelings regarding the justice system? How would you change it? Thanks for the AMA!

R: I would change somethings like advertising "you're innocent until proven guilty" because you're actually "guilty until proven innocent." I sat 24 years a "guilty" man so how is that commercial right?

C: I would make sure that the District Attorneys do their duty to first thoroughly and completely investigate all cases prior to ANY indictment so that attorneys can have an actual, full and complete opportunity to accurately represent their clients. If they don't investigate what the police give them, then attorneys are not presenting all the evidence.

Have you spoken with the prosecutors or jurors who were involved in your original trials? If so, what happened?

R: Yes, I spoke with the Public Defender for my case, who is now a judge, and the attorney that represented me during trial. Long conversation with both and all of us were happy. The Lord covered me the entire 24 years that I was there. I never spoke with the District Attorney.

C: I spoke with the DA but I am still angry with the DA because he is still patting himself on the back for having a "fair trial" and "doing their best." How can they still pat themselves on the back when I was innocent?

How would you react if you saw the victims of crimes that weren't yours in public?

C: I wouldn't react. Just another person.

R: tips his hat "How are you doing, ma'am?" And then just keep on going because we were both victims. I can relate to her hurt because I can relate to mine.

Who funds the Innocence Project? I would like to give some funding ;)

http://www.ga-innocenceproject.org/donations.html [ GIP is a VERY small non-profit, independent of the New York Innocence Project.]

C: Thank you for your support.

R: Continue to donate more so that others, not just me and Clarence, can come home. Because without the Innocence Project, we would still be in there.

I just want to say that after a combined four decades of unnecessary time served, there's no need to apologize for having car trouble..

Thank you! We appreciate that!

How did you find out about Reddit and IAmA ?

R: The hot blonde. ;)

C&R: We are having a great time!

[deleted]

C: I always believed that I would prove my innocence if I survived long enough for the future to catch up with my case. I'm a sci-fi freak, and I always believed that I would be cleared through the use of DNA. The Bible says the blood of your brother cries out. That's DNA.

R: Prayer kept me sane. Faith. With me having life without parole. My mother and the support of other convicts in prison. I tried to prove my innocence by habeas corpuses and all, but I kept getting denied because I couldn't argue with the attorneys.

is the hottie GIP intern single?

C: She wouldn't be safe between these two guys if she was. ;)

What's the worst thing that happened to you guys in prison?

C: I had cancer. I had my right kidney removed. I was in contact with tuberculosis: everyone in the prison got TB pills.

I lost my mother and my sisters and all of my faith and belief.

R: The Lord called up some of my loved ones when I was in prison. Getting sick in prison from tattoos.

describe in detail how it felt to walk out of prison after all those years

C: More frightening than walking into prison because I had no idea how society would accept my release of such crimes as those in which I was falsely accused of.

R: Joyful. Grateful. No anger. No hatred, animosity, or revenge. I didn't have any negative and bad thoughts because I didn't want to go back.

What is your opinion on the death penalty, in light of seeing the justice system completely fail both of you?

C: I don't believe in the death penalty because the courts have yet to show that they are able to prove beyond a reasonable doubt the guilt of the accused.

R: Me neither. I don't believe in the death penalty. There have been innocent people executed who shouldn't have been. For example, Troy Davis and others. You cannot take a life for a life, nor an eye for an eye.

What was your experience like working with the Innocence Project? How long did they represent you? If it was an extended period of time, did you struggle with the fact that the students you were working with finished their time with the program and left you behind?

R: [Note: Robert worked with the Innocence Project out of New York but GIP was local counsel] Once GIP learned of me being in prison, I was home before I knew it. The intern working on my case kept the case even after she graduated...until I came home. My experience was wonderful. More support than the entire time that I was in prison.

C: In prison: I used to wait for the mail to get a letter from GIP because I was writing them letters every month to hear their response and the hope in which the interns provided me. The interns never left me. Every single one of the interns that worked on my case came to my wedding and still, as of today, have not forgotten nor have I forgotten them. And GIP will always be a part of my life because I am completely a part of GIP.

Were you ever asked to come to terms with an admission to your crime in an effort to increase your chances of parole? If so, please describe any thoughts that you might have experienced during that period.

C: Yes. I was asked to participate in a sexual offender class in which I got highly offended and locked down because they said that I overreacted because of my refusal to participate in such stupidity.

R: If I had been eligible for parole, I would be able to answer this question. But, I had life without parole. I did not have parole to look forward to.

What would you change about the American prison system?

C: Food and the sleeping conditions. The food is not for humans. And the sleeping conditions are inhuman. And it only makes the incarceration inhuman.

R: Education. There is less education in there now than when I went in. There is not enough supporters out here. Lack of communication with your loved ones. Need more help with the bacteria in jails because the conditions are unhumanizing.

Have you seen The Shawshank Redemption?

C: Yes. But, the Memphis Three movie (Paradise Lost) was more realistic and, also, raised questions, once again, about our justice system.

R: Yes. It was a good movie and I could relate to his feelings of incarcerated and wanting out.

What were you hoping to do with your lives pre-conviction?

C: I wanted to be a family man and own my own business.

R: Since I was partially working for my family's business, I wanted to open my own restaurant.

Are you guys in like amazing shape?

C: YES! I probably could do 100 push-ups if the price is right but let me stick with 50 and have fun. :)

R: No. After not having to pick up iron every day, there is nothing to keep me in shape out here.

What is your (Clarence and Robert) relationship now? Did you know each other in prison?

We did not know each other in prison. Since we had the same lawyers at GIP who brought us home, we can relate to each other. We are friends. It's the reason we were both late today; we were together.

Law student here: What is one thing you wish your public defender had said/asked?

R: I didn't have a Public Defender. I wish my lawyer have had the test done on me during the trial. The DNA testing back then might have still proven me innocent.

C: "How did you become involved in this case prior to the police's photograph line-up and the identification?" Because I spent 18 years asking myself that question.

How has this changed your views on religion in any way?

Did either of you ever consider suicide at any point?

R: It only built a better and stronger relationship with the Father. It should be as strong in prisons as it is outside.

C: I believe that prison is the crossroad on which the Lord takes people to bring them to him to do his will.

Did you guys ever lose hope?

How often were you updated about your cases throughout the years?

Do you ever go back to jail to visit inmates you became friends with?

C: No, I go back to prisons to speak to prisoners as a motivational speaker.

R: Yes. I have a cousin that is in prison.

How did the other inmates treat you? Did they know you are innocent?

C: Most inmates never accepted that I was in prison for those crimes because they believed it did not fit my character or personality.

Did you meet anybody else in prison who you thought was genuinely innocent? Did lots of people who actually had committed crimes claim they hadn't? Thank you for answering so many of these questions so well.

C: Not everyone claimed they were innocent. Nor can they maintain such a claim without being actually innocent because only the innocent can maintain their innocence. Because, years, time, and insults will cause such a person to give into their guilt.

R: No. Lots of men who were in prison admitted that they were guilty and I met a few that were innocent. There were more in there that would admit that they were guilty of their crimes than innocent.

Do you feel, personally, that being having dark skin had any influence in your prosecution?

C: Not being a black man but a POOR man not being able to afford adequate representation.

There's a kid named Ryan Ferguson locked up in Missouri for a crime with no evidence and all witneses proclaim that the prosecutors forced them to name Ryan, though they have all recanted. I'd like to help him but i'm not sure how. Any recommendations? Do you know his story?

GIP: They need to contact their local Innocence Project. You cannot contact the Innocence Project on their behalf; they need to write the letter themselves.

Did you become involved in prison politics?

R: Yes. In trying to get better things to work with (like preventing germs and disease and living conditions), I wrote letters, talked to the wardens, etc. With other prisoners, I asked other inmates to help me work on my case.

C: Yes. I got involved in a lot of riots about food, beds, space, treatment, and petitions for prison rights. And, I got the name "ChainGang." It means "institutionalized" and a "veteran."

after your extended stays out of the public, are you finding it difficult to adjust to life outside? has counseling been offered to help you 'normalize'? how long before you got a normal date with a lady?

R: How do you define "normal"? But, in all seriousness, my son's mother showed up from wherever after I was released. But, she is gone now. I haven't met a normal woman yet.

C: 17 days after I was released from prison, I was "confined" into marriage.

Have you ever been on a vacation? Where would you like to visit?

What are some new hobbies you've acquired since being out of prison?

C: I actually haven't been on vacation. I go on speaking engagement trips but would love to have a vacation somewhere such as Las Vegas because I still like to gamble because gambling is how I ate in prison, because if I didn't win, I didn't eat. This is because I was unable to make commissary since I didn't have financial funds coming to me in prison due to the fact I had shut everyone out from the so-called "free world."

I am glad your innocence was proved. No innocent man deserves prison. What was the first thing you thought when you stepped outside into the fresh air? What was the first biggest initial shock For you mr clark and mr harrison?

C: I was overwhelmed and did not know how to actually accept the fact of having freedom. It was too much to accept.