Art exhibit honors Louisiana men wrongfully jailed, notes threat to Compensation Fund

BATON ROUGE, La. (Louisiana First) — An art exhibit on display in Baton Rouge is honoring the lives of Louisiana men who spent years—sometimes decades—behind bars for crimes they didn’t commit. But beyond honoring the wrongfully convicted, the exhibit is also raising questions about justice, accountability, and proposed legislation that could cut compensation for exonerees.

“Exonerated: Portraits of the Wrongfully Convicted” is a collection of 23 sculptures created by artist Becky Gottsegen. Each bronze bust represents a man who was wrongfully imprisoned in Louisiana. One of them is Jerry Davis, who was incarcerated at the age of 24 in Jefferson Parish and spent 40 years in prison.

Gottsegen said her work is meant to humanize those too often reduced to statistics. The U.S. Census Bureau estimates that between 4% and 6% of those incarcerated are innocent. Many of the men portrayed in the exhibit were convicted during a time when poor Black men were often targeted by the justice system, according to Gottsegen.

“If there was a poor Black guy on the street who maybe wasn’t the most honest or together person, they’d stick a serious crime on him,” she said.

She hopes her work starts deeper conversations about justice, and about what happens after someone is exonerated. Although Louisiana law currently allows wrongfully convicted individuals to seek up to $480,000 in compensation, that right is now under threat.

In the 2025 legislative session, lawmakers are considering a House Bill that could shorten the timeframe for filing compensation claims and dissolve the Innocence Compensation Fund, leaving future and ongoing claimants with fewer options.

“Some of these men have been receiving compensation over a number of years,” Gottsegen said. “If the fund is dissolved, there will be nothing left for them. They say it won’t affect people who already received some compensation, but it takes years for that process to even begin.”

Gottsegen hopes to bring the exhibit to Baton Rouge’s Main Library at Goodwood next, to continue raising public awareness around wrongful convictions.

“To know what horrors they’ve been through and nobody really cares,” she said. 

“Exonerated: Portraits of the Wrongfully Convicted” will remain on display at the Cary Saurage Community Arts Center through Wednesday, May 14.

The artist encourages visitors and community members to contact their local representatives and speak out about the experiences of wrongfully incarcerated individuals and the importance of protecting their right to fair compensation.

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