Minn. man gets $25K after 10 years in Wis. prison

MILWAUKEE — A wrongfully convicted man who asked the state for nearly $3.7 million in compensation after spending a decade in prison was given what he called a “chicken feed” award of $25,000 on Thursday by the Wisconsin Claims Board.

It was the maximum amount allowed without legislative intervention, though the board could have recommended that lawmakers consider additional funding.

“They paid more than that for me to be in prison all those years,” Rommain Steven Isham, whose conviction on a child sex assault charge was vacated after the alleged victim recanted, told The Associated Press. “I’d even be happy with $250,000. I’d get myself a nice spot of land, build a nice house for my son. Give me that much, at least.”

A board spokeswoman said the decision could be appealed. She didn’t know why board members didn’t recommend that legislators consider giving additional money to Isham, who said his time in prison left him mentally and physically shattered.

Isham had asked for $3.65 million, or $1,000 for each day behind bars, and said he was considering a possible lawsuit against the Douglas County district attorney’s office that prosecuted him in 1990.

A jury convicted Isham after the 8-year-old son of his live-in girlfriend accused him of repeated sexual assault. Isham — who had long maintained his innocence — was sentenced to 10 years in prison, and he served the term. Other prisoners reserved their harshest abuse for convicted child molesters, Isham said, and he was regularly raped and beaten. He said he was lucky to get out alive, though he suffers from post-traumatic stress syndrome.

The Duluth, Minn., man said he refused a plea deal and wouldn’t attend sex-offender treatment in prison even though it could have lessened his time behind bars because he would have been required he confess to a crime he didn’t commit.

The alleged victim recanted two years ago, when he was 28, saying he made up the abuse claims. He said he was afraid to tell the truth as the story spiraled out of control, and his abusive father pressured him to maintain the lie.

Isham said he feels nothing but love for him. He considers him a son, and believes he was coerced to levy the sexual abuse allegations by a biological father who wanted to break up Isham and the boy’s mother.

Isham’s conviction was vacated last year, but he called it a hallow victory. He was already out of prison, though the decision did mean he no longer had to register as a sex offender.

“I have nothing. All the good years were taken away from me,” he said, his voice cracking. “No job. No friends. My mind’s a little messed up.”

Isham said the only thing that keeps him sane is his 7-year-old son. He also has a 37-year-old son whom he hasn’t seen since the boy was 1 or 2.

When he got out of prison, he worked construction jobs but would get fired as soon as his employer found out he was a registered sex offender. He survives now by doing odd jobs, such as helping with roofing work or shoveling people’s driveways in the winter. Now that he’s older than 50, though, he’s worried that his aging body won’t let him make a living with manual labor.

The $25,000 will help, he said, but it doesn’t cover even a year’s salary — and the torment of prison will last a lifetime.

His ordeal nearly drove him to suicide, he said, but he turned to Christianity for strength. The day after he accepted Jesus Christ into his life, Isham said, he got a call from the Wisconsin Department of Justice agent who worked to clear his name after the alleged suspect recanted.

“He said he was going to get my case overturned because I’m an innocent man,” Isham said. “I’m just so happy that the Lord sent that beautiful man to be my savior.”

Another man also was awarded money from the Wisconsin Claims Board on Thursday. A Milwaukee man who had also been convicted of sexually assaulting a child and served three years in prison received $15,000 after the girl recanted. She told investigators her uncle began molesting her when she was 11, and when her mother became suspicious the girl blamed the Milwaukee man to protect her uncle.

Isham can sympathize. He said a person’s life changes forever after a conviction for child molestation, even if it’s later overturned. Family members become skittish, friends disappear and the prison community has a target.

The pain is enough to crush a man, he said, and he credits his young son with keeping him going.

“He’s my lifeline right now, I tell you. He’s the one who keeps me going,” Isham said. “Otherwise I would have gone off into the sunset. He’s what I live for now. My son. He’s my life.”

———

Dinesh Ramde can be reached at dramde(at)ap.org.