Innocent Man Freed After 12 Years: Darien Harris Fights for Justice and Accountability

Wrongfully convicted at 18 due to false testimony, Darien Harris endured years of abuse in prison. With the help of the Exoneration Project, he now seeks to hold the system accountable and assist others facing similar injustices. By Ashleigh Fields Darien Harris was 18 years old when Chicago police arrested him on homicide charges.& & Due to the false testimony of a blind man, Harris, a first-time offender, was charged as the shooter in a murder case. Star witness Dexter Saffold lied about his vision impairment on the stand, resulting in Harris receiving a 76-year sentence.& “I feel like mentally and emotionally there are parts of myself that I can’t get back,” Harris said in an interview with The Defender.& Surviving Abuse and Isolation: Harris’s Harrowing Prison Experience Darien Harris (Credit, Facebook). Harris spoke about the abuse he endured while imprisoned in Cook County Jail. He described inhumane treatment like being dragged away from security cameras for frequent beatings, a continuous lack of clean drinking water, punishment for requesting mental health services, mail tampering and long-term confinement in a cage for 24 hours a day and seven days a week. Harris says his stint was “horrendous.” “You are disconnected from...