This website uses cookies so that we can provide you with the best user experience possible. Cookie information is stored in your browser and performs functions such as recognising you when you return to our website and helping our team to understand which sections of the website you find most interesting and useful.

Elation greeted Dontae Sharpe as he walked out of prison a free man, 26 years after being wrongly convicted of murder.
But proving his innocence was only the first step down a long road. As he tries to rebuild his life - and to hold the system accountable - there's still one thing eluding him.
This film was created by Chelsea Bailey, Hannah Long-Higgins and Shrai Popat
Additional filming by Eric Preston, Fusion Films and Spencer Zachary. Graphics and animation by Sarah Scott
Dontae Sharpe is currently a RISE Fellow with Forward Justice, where he advocates for criminal justice reform in North Carolina.