Rape survivor builds retreats for victims and men cleared after prison

At a rented retreat center in Virginia, crime survivors and wrongfully convicted men sat together with glue, broken bowls and a hard assignment: put the pieces back together.

CBS News’ “60 Minutes” reported that the exercise was part of a three-day Healing Justice retreat led by Jennifer Thompson, a rape survivor whose own mistaken identification helped send an innocent man to prison. The nonprofit brings together people from different cases who were harmed by wrongful convictions, including victims, relatives of victims and exonerees.

Thompson was a college student in 1984 when a man broke into her off-campus apartment and raped her at knifepoint, according to the report. She worked with police on a sketch, picked Ronald Cotton from photo and live lineups, and testified against him. Cotton received a life sentence.

After Cotton spent 11 years in prison, DNA testing proved he was innocent and identified the real attacker, whose picture had not been included in the lineup, “60 Minutes” reported. Thompson later apologized to Cotton in person, and the two went on to speak publicly about preventing wrongful convictions.

Thompson told “60 Minutes” that wrongful convictions injure far more people than the person sent to prison. She said victims can be left with guilt, fear and public blame when they learn the person convicted in their case was innocent.

The Virginia retreat included women who had survived sexual assaults and later learned they had identified innocent men, as well as exonerees who had served long prison terms for crimes they did not commit. “60 Minutes” identified participants including Tomeshia Carrington Artis, Penny Beerntsen and Loretta Zilinger-White, who were assaulted at ages 12, 36 and 15, respectively.

The group also included Andrea Harrison and her father, Dwayne Jones. Harrison’s mother, Jacqueline, was raped and murdered in 1987, when Harrison was 3. Larry Peterson spent more than 17 years in prison for the crime before DNA testing cleared him, according to the report. Harrison told “60 Minutes” that the question of who killed her mother remains unresolved.

Among the exonerees was Raymond Towler, who was freed after 29 years in prison. Chris Ochoa, also at the retreat, said he had given a false confession in a rape and murder case after abusive interrogations, according to “60 Minutes.” Howard Dudley served more than 23 years in a child sexual abuse case before being cleared; the report said prosecutors had withheld evidence that likely would have helped him.

“60 Minutes” said more than 3,800 people have been freed after new evidence, including DNA, showed wrongful convictions. Memory expert Gary Wells told the program that when the real perpetrator is not in a lineup, witnesses can select the wrong person, whose face can then replace the attacker’s in memory.

Thompson founded Healing Justice in 2015. The organization now advises prosecutors’ offices on how to treat crime victims during exoneration cases, and it has held 17 retreats, according to the report.

At the retreat, participants smashed bowls, repaired them and painted the cracks with gold-colored paint in a kintsugi exercise. Thompson described the Japanese concept as a way of seeing broken places as part of a person’s strength.

The group also wrote letters from their harsh inner voices, then rewrote them with compassion. A Healing Justice social worker was present as participants spoke in circles about prison, assault, grief, blame and fear.

By the final stretch, “60 Minutes” reported, the atmosphere had softened. Participants played improv games, worked on art projects and talked across the divide that wrongful convictions can create. In one exchange, Zilinger-White asked Towler whether exonerees blame victims. Towler told her she had done nothing wrong.

This story draws on original reporting from CBS News.