Category Archives: Transhuman News

Joelle Farrell, Inquirer Trenton Bureau Posted: Sunday, March 17, 2013, 3:01 AM

Two men spent more than a decade behind bars before DNA evidence exonerated them. After their release, one married, held a steady job, and earned a pension. The other is on welfare and lives with his mother.

What separates their situations? Mainly, a river.

While individual traits and circumstances surely played a role in the former inmates' differing destinies, prison reform advocates say it was crucial that one received a hand up from the state upon release and the other did not.

Since 1997, New Jersey has compensated the wrongfully convicted with at least $20,000 for each year of incarceration. Lawmakers are considering raising the minimum to $50,000 per year and adding benefits, such as reintegration services, that are available to paroled inmates but not exonerated ones.

Pennsylvania has no similar law.

After serving 18 years for the murder of a McDonald's night manager in Duquesne, Pa., Drew Whitley of nearby Braddock left prison in 2006 with less than $100 earned working in the prison laundry, said Bill Mousher, an investigative reporter and director of the Innocence Institute of Point Park University, which worked on Whitley's case.

"Drew Whitley got absolutely screwed; he's got nothing," Mousher, an assistant professor at the Pittsburgh school, said last week. "I saw him last fall. He was not looking good. He's basically destitute."

David Shephard, the first New Jersey inmate to have his conviction overturned by DNA evidence, in 1995 received $250,000 from the state after serving more than a decade in prison for rape.

The money helped him repay his family for lawyer fees, court costs, and other hardships caused by his incarceration. It gave him a cushion to restart his life at age 33. He began working in maintenance for the City of Newark, later landing a job in family services with Essex County.

More:
Freed by DNA , 1 thrives, 1 struggles

Dogs may be man's best friend, but their poop can be a pedestrian's worst enemy.

That's why The Fairmont Museum District apartment complex in Houston is taking an innovative step to confront a centuries-old problem.

The 236-unit residence at 4310 Dunlavy St. has contracted with PooPrints, a Tennessee company that offers canine DNA testing as a way to track down the person whose dog left a tell-tale turd.

"I think it's a great idea," said Fairmont leasing manager Molly Kalish. "The main reason we decided to try this new program was because we had a specific issue on one of our floors with accidents."

The building has a large number of dog owners, partly because of its pet-friendly policy and its location adjacent to a city dog park, Kalish said.

So far, Fairmont management has brought up DNA registration with only a small number of dog owners who live on the floor where the accidents occurred. Others will be asked to sign up as part of the building's pet policy when they renew their leases, Kalish said.

To register a participating tenant's dog, apartment staffers use a kit provided by PooPrints to collect DNA through a cheek swab.

The pet's DNA sample is then sent to PooPrints' laboratory in Tennessee, known as BioPet Vet Lab, said PooPrints spokesman Eric Mayer.

When someone's dog leaves an offending sample of waste on an apartment property, it will be tested for a potential match among the apartment's registered dogs.

In the event of a match, the owner will be given a warning on the first offense but will be fined $500 for a second offense at The Fairmont.

Read more from the original source:
Poop police now have DNA test to find dog owners