As the sun set over the Boston Common, a few stragglers remained at the gazebo following Wednesday's action against racism and police brutality. A small group stood around two men locked in an impassioned dialogue: Senator Edward Markey and Darrell Jones, who served 32 years in prison system for a murder he did not commit.
“I want to know exactly what you are going to do about the innocent men and women like me who have been in that prison system?” Jones asked. “I want to know exactly, so the people in prison that are stuck in there like I was, can know what you are going to do.”
In October of 1986, Jones, then 20, was convicted of the murder of Guillermo Rodriguez, who was shot and killed outside a bar in Brockton in 1985. In 2017, a judge vacated his 1986 murder conviction, finding that the trial had been marred by a racist jury and police misconduct.
“We owe an apology to two million African-American young men who we put in jail as part of the war on drugs in the 1990’s,” Markey responded. "So we just have to take all of this and ensure that we are going to put together laws so that we provide the restoration of the rights for the people who have been denied them.”
Jones cut in — “I did 32 years, Commonwealth vs Darrell Jones,” Jones said. “Commonwealth, meaning I was in there under your name as well. I want a commitment from someone in government to say, at least in every state, when you release us, you will give us a public apology, at least. We don't even get that."
In response, Markey made a promise to make an effort to ensure a public apology for victims of wrongful incarceration.
“We need a public apology for everyone that we wrongly imprisoned in this country,” he said. “And I give you my word that that's what I will try to do."
As Markey walked out of the park following their conversation, Jones said he’ll remain cautiously optimistic about change.
“I'm going to trust in his response, and I hope you guys will hold him to his commitments,” Jones said. “But when we're here talking, that's not the issue… I gave you 32 years of my life, missing my children. My family died while I was in prison. I lost my brother, I lost my grandmother, I lost my son. There's so many losses. So when I look at leaders like that, I say, what action are you going to take that we can see a result from? Because I'm not seeing a result. They've been talking about this criminal justice system for so long, and while I was in there, we had so many chances to change it.”
Correction: This article initially misquoted Markey as saying "We need a public apology for everyone that we imprisoned in this country." He actually said "wrongly imprisoned." WGBH News apologizes for the error.
