"The Capital of Free Russia;" "Healing Justice" | 60 Minutes Full Episodes

lithuania's capital is clothed in the colors of Ukraine and Putin is reminded in international court is waiting with his arrest warrant since the 2022 Invasion Lithuania has become a refuge for Putin's fiercest critics you would be in a Russian prison just for doing this interview you oh for sure for sure good job it's rare for 60 minutes to follow a story for 15 years but tonight you'll be reintroduced to Jennifer Thompson a rape victim who mistakenly identified an innocent man who was sent to prison and then I'm going to tie my string Jennifer has created something called healing Justice a program that brings together crime victims family members and innocent men Dear Chris you failed in life why did you confess I will never have confessed why can't you just be quiet you are a angry black man you will never know love you will always be a prisoner I'm Leslie stall I'm Bill Whitaker I'm Anderson Cooper I'm Sharon alony I'm John wortheim I'm Cecilia Vega I'm Scott Pelly those stories and more tonight on 60 Minutes today is election day in Russia but there's no suspense 71-year-old Vladimir Putin will be named the winner as he has been over the last 24 years this time as often his Challengers died one after explosion on a plane and Alexi navali Putin's leading rival who died last month in an Arctic prison camp Putin has killed nearly all internal opposition to his unprovoked war in Ukraine and yet many courageous Russians continue the struggle outside the country we met some of them in a city you might think of as the capital of free Russia it's 500 miles west of Moscow the city of vilnus in Lithuania where there's no love lost for Russia Lithuania is a democracy of about 3 million people and a NATO Ally vilus the capital is clothed in the colors of Ukraine the city changed the Russian embassy's address to Heroes of Ukraine Street and Putin is reminded the international Court in the hay is waiting with his arrest warrant since Putin's 2022 Invasion Lithuania has welcomed more than 2500 Russian Exiles it is our policy to provide shelter to all Freedom Fighters Montas adomus served as lithuania's Deputy foreign minister from 2020 until last August I haven't seen so many Ukrainian Flags since I was in Kei why do your people feel so strongly about this our uh Freedom our independence our sort of security is being defended in the battlefields in Ukraine ukrainians are dying so that we can be safe there are many more Russian dissidents who would like to come to Lithuania can you accept anymore yes I think we can accept of course uh we will accommodate as many as needed and provide them with possibility to work for for the freedom and democracy in Russia one of the Russian Exiles in Lithuania working for freedom and democracy is a crusading mom two years ago Anastasia shevchenko fled Putin's regime you this is a terrorist regime they are threatening other countries with oil gas nuclear weapon and grain they're threatening us with our children with our parents with our lives and so on more than anything it was her daughter Alina severely disabled at Birth that made chevchenko an activist against Putin back then the family was in southern Russia and Alina was in a Russian government nursing home Alina could not speak could not communicate no she was like um um one week child like a baby she was 17 but even you know to feed her it was a whole science because she needed blended food uh you need to hold her in special position shevchenko cared for Alina much of the time because the Russian Nursing Facility was short on staff and supplies I was struggling to get medication for my daughter begging in the pharmacy that she needed it it's it was very important for her health and they said no we just don't have it because the ministry forgot to order it this month and you need to wait I decided I'm not going to keep silence I don't know I'm going to stand out and to speak out she spoke out through a Russian democracy group called open Russia it was tolerated 10 years ago and chevchenko organized protests in her hometown but in 2019 the Kremlin cracked down chevchenko was arrested and her lawyer warned her she would be shocked by what the police had already done he showed me the screenshots of me uh in my bed and I realized that they had installed the video camera into the air conditioning unit above my bed and they have been watching me for 6 months in my bedroom a Russian court ordered Che Chinko into house arrest she couldn't visit or care for Alina it wasn't long before her daughter developed pneumonia by the time a judge granted chevchenko a pass to the hospital Alina was unconscious I spent maybe 10 minutes holding her hand because that's what I do when my children are ill when you hold their hand they they feel better but this time she was cold she didn't feel me and she died in an hour in 2021 chevchenko was given a 4year suspended sentence but when Putin invaded Ukraine the next year she decided to flee Russia from her southern city she took her two surviving children on an 1100m drive a us-based democracy group arranged Lithuanian visas what does this tell us about Russia today it's enough to write something on social media just one sentence and you can be imprison for years they are listening to your phone calls they watching you in your bedroom they're controlling you breaking that control is why Sergey devidas also left Russia for Lithuania in 2022 you would be in a Russian prison just for doing this interview oh for sure for for sure in Moscow devidas helped lead one of Russia's largest human rights groups called Memorial it won the Nobel Peace Prize two years ago but now it's banned he told us almost every day there are more and more arrests we hear news about new political arrests and aart from the legal side of it more often than before there's violence and torture Deus heads Memorial's project to support political prisoners he told us he has confirmed 680 in prison today but he believes the actual number is multiples of that since 2022 Russians can be sentenced to 15 years just for criticizing the war on the street or in the media one of the consequences of the war he says was a complete Wipeout of independent mass media a Prohibition of any opinion that's not under control of the government independent newsrooms in Russia have been forced to close government controlled newscasts report only the Absurd lie that the war is selfdefense against Nazis this host says we are on the side of good against the forces of absolute evil embodied by the Ukrainian Nazi battalions people are scared so they feel lonely they feel terribly lonely Tatiana fagh Hower and Alexander pev were talk radio host on a prominent Moscow station they were allowed to speak their minds until the day Putin launched his War it was my morning show I said it's uh half 6 good morning War Began War began and within two weeks their station was forced to close now poef and fagh Hower are in vilnus streaming daily into Russia on YouTube Putin silenced Facebook X and Instagram but YouTube may be too popular for the Kremlin to block so far this is the only chance to talk about the war honestly because the propaganda tries to create this feeling that you are completely alone if you are against the war why does this mean so much to you really I would hate myself if I am silent or pretending that everything is okay if Russian radio and TV stations are allowed only Kremlin talking points we saw a Lithuanian station telling the truth not on a channel but on platform number five to a captive Russian audience because part of Russia kenrad on the left is separate like Alaska from the lower 48 the mosow kenrad train must travel through Lithuania the cars are sealed for the transit but at a stop in vilnus Russian passengers were confronted by posters of atrocities each read Putin is killing civilians in Ukraine do you agree with this the gallery testified as the train waited half an hour there's no way to know how much truth climbed aboard and no one is allowed off the train in part because Lithuania worries about Russian agents Putin is Infamous for attempting to attack his enemies in foreign countries and I wonder if the Russian dissidents are safe here in Lithuania of course it is a major concern for us and we spent considerable um effort in in making sure that dissidents are safe here and safer than they would be infected in in many other countries have there been attempts well I'm afraid I I I can't release that information in more detail but uh let's put this way that Russia is constantly probing and constantly trying and this past week Russia may have gotten through Leonid volov was attacked with a hammer outside vilus volov on the right was a top Aid to Putin's late rival Alexi naalii volkov's arm was broken the attacker fled President Vladimir Putin's reelection this week will bring him to his fifth term which will cover the next six years R he enjoys support from nationalists who want to believe that today's Russia is an exceptional Nation but Putin also has weaknesses it's it's estimated he's lost 300,000 troops killed and wounded and Russia has a population less than half that of the United States and an economy about the size of Italy my hope is a country where government takes care about citizens Anastasia chevchenko is free in vilnus but she's wanted in Russia for breaking her probation these days she's streaming her own YouTube show and sends medicine food and letters to political prisoners she's become another voice to the isolated and the lonely and those like her daughter who will never escape the new Iron Curtain she was alone no one next to her I really feel very guilty about it but I wouldn't change anything in my life I think why not you know the society in Russia is based on fakes we have fake democracy by Constitution it is a democracy fake news fake elections and I want to be the opposite want to be open I want Russia to be open how safe are Russian dissidents in Lithuania people ask me come on are you actually safe there at 60 minutes overtime.com don't think I am 15 years ago we reported on a woman named Jennifer Thompson a rape victim who was devastated to learn years after her assault that she and the police had identified an innocent man who was convicted and sent to prison while the actual rapist had gone on to attack several more women not an un common story in this era of DNA exonerations and Jennifer Thompson has tried for years to do something about it Thompson knows firsthand that wrongful convictions scar not just the unjustly convicted but also the original Crime Victims who are often overlooked so she's doing something no one else has tried and perhaps only she could pull off bringing together crime victims and innocent men from different cases for what she calls healing Justice what I'm going to ask you to do is turn your bowl upside down what we saw on day one of a multi-day group Retreat Jenifer Thompson is leading sure didn't look like healing 10 men and women plus an observer nice job Leslie smashing bows with a hammer nice so what I'm going to ask you to do now is I'm going to ask you to repair it it was quite something to realize that gluing pieces back together at one table were two women who had been raped at the ages of 15 and 12 sitting across from two men who in unrelated cases had been wrongfully convicted of sexually assaulting children and had each spent more than two decades in prison anyone need a little blob of glue at the next table another woman who survived a sexual assault sitting beside a man exonerated for rape and murder and at our table the partner and daughter of a murder victim everyone here part of a case where the wrong man was sent to prison for years and years you have said that wrongful convictions aren't a single bullet mhm you said they're bombs a wrongful conviction doesn't hurt like a person it's not just Raymond Tower got hurt like his whole family got shrapnel and the victims got shrapnel and the community received shrapnel because a child molester was still in the community there's just so many people in a wrongful conviction Cas I think it's hundreds of people for every single wrongful conviction case that are hurt Jennifer Thompson was one of them she was a college student in 1984 when a man broke into her off-campus apartment and raped her at knife Point Jennifer worked with police to create a composite sketch then identified a man named Ronald cotton in the photo and physical lineups police showed her Jennifer testified in court against Ronald cotton and was relieved when he received a life sentence but after 11 years in prison DNA testing proved Cotton's inocence and identified the actual rapist whose photo had not been in the lineup Ronald cotton was exonerated and Jennifer was racked with guilt as she told us in 2009 Shame Shame terrible shame suffocating debilitating shame Jennifer turned that shame into action she apologized to Ronald cotton in person and then then started speaking around the country to police and prosecutors sometimes together with cotton about how to make wrongful convictions less likely but over the years as exonerations of the innocent have multiplied finally we free with nearly 3500 freed so far free based on new evidence including DNA Jennifer began focusing in on what was being overlooked what do you think most people feel and see when they see an innocent man come out of prison it's the day that that man or woman who's wrongfully incarcerated and their families are rejoicing I know you didn't do it I know I know it's the day they've been dreaming about they've prayed for they're on the court steps and their arms are raised high and it's a day of Celebration but for the Crime Victims for the murder victim family members sitting back here saying hey hold up a second this is another nightmare on top of a nightmare the victims have been forgotten victims she says like Tamisha Carrington artist who was 12 years old when a man broke into her bedroom and raped her he grabbed me by my throat and put a knife to my throat and said if I scream he was going to kill me and my mom grabbed me from behind put me in a choke hold Penny burnson sexually assaulted at age 36 as she went for an afternoon run along the shore of Lake Michigan and he said now I'm going to kill you now you're going to die and Loretta zillinger white who was raped at age 15 on the way to school one morning after she'd missed her bus it's hard people expect you to just put it behind you and not think about it again and they don't realize that it's going to affect you for the rest of your life all these women like Jennifer had identified a suspect the police showed them only to learn years later that those men were innocent and they were gripped by a whole new nightmare I felt so bad for for him because I felt like I sent this man to prison that's all I could think about I got scared I felt like that he was going to try to come out and kill me that Ian I just I shut down did people blame you oh absolutely the first time I went out in public a friend came up to me and said I can't believe you're showing your face they were saying that I needed to go to prison um I need need yes that I intentionally sent the Roman to prison oh my gosh yeah it was bad yeah memory experts have long understood how Crime Victims can get it wrong in our earlier story about Jennifer's case Professor Gary well showed us a simulated crime scene and then a lineup now you know now after we've talked probably not to pick anyone no no actually I know I actually know who it is because if I had come upon that I think it's this guy Am I Wrong Am am I wrong yeah wrong yeah it's none of them so this is Studies have shown again and again when the actual perpetrator is not in the lineup Witnesses often pick the wrong man who then comes to replace the original offender in their memory of the crime in Jennifer's case and Tamisha and Penny's the real perpetrators revealed by DNA years later had not been in the original lineups 20 years later when they come to me and say by the way oh I can't imagine the person who raped you never went to prison and the person we thought is innocent see you and oh by the way it's all your fault not the system's fault I mean here was my narrative rape victim falsely accuses an innocent man and sends him to prison everything's wrong with that because a false accusation denotes a lie deliberate why would a crime Survivor why would a victim want the wrong person to go to prison that doesn't make any sense at all you know when you hear what you're saying then we get it but we don't hear it as you said there's a blazing headline man is freed person who fingered him got it wrong that's it and the system now doesn't get held accountable for how it failed me and it failed my family and it failed the innocent person it failed the innocent person's family and it failed everybody that failure Jennifer told us is also devastating for families of murder victims even when they played no role themselves in identifying the wrongfully convicted person that's what happened to Andrea Harrison and her father Dwayne Jones Andrea's mother Jacqueline was raped and murdered in 1987 when Andrea was just 3 years old it was one of the most horrendous crimes um she was brutally raped tortured someone found her body walk in their dog a local man named Larry Peterson spent more than 17 years in prison for the crime before DNA testing proved his innocence and he was released did you know that he was going to be released did they tell you no no no for many many years someone was tried convicted and put away yes ma'am mhm and then you find out that the DNA doesn't match I mean you go back into flight or flight yeah you got scared absolutely absolutely we did can you tell us of what who the person who's who who hurt my mother what happened to Jackie who did it whoever that person is they're still out there but since Larry Peterson's exoneration with the case now cold they feel the original crime and victim have become an afterthought it's always been what do you think about Mr Peterson that is not my charge I care about Jackie I'm worried about about Jackie what about Jackie but even while victims and their families are left reeling in the wake of wrongful convictions Jennifer knows from her friendship with Ronald cotton and her work with other exonorees that heady Blissful first day of freedom is just the start of a tough yearslong struggle to rebuild Raymond Toler exonerated after 29 years in prison 29 years plays in a band with other exonorees and says he struggles with the lingering stigma and hurt of being charged with such a heinous crime tell us if it's not too painful what the crime was it's painful I know I'm laughing over it but it it is painful but it it was rape of 11 and 12 year old kids when DNA testing finally proved toler's innocence and won his freedom he says it was thrilling but also daunting the adjustment was difficult yeah I couldn't even really go out the door by myself you don't feel like you fit in anywhere I at least I did Exon stories are often filled with egregious police and prosecutorial misconduct in Chris oo's Case abusive interrogations that led to a false confession to rape and murder for Howard Dudley evidence withheld by prosecutors that likely would have cleared him of child sexual abuse for which he served more than 23 years I always dream know being there with my kids see the football game see them on the basketball court didn't get a chance to see none of that so I would like for everybody to introduce themselves so Jennifer came up with a novel idea so I am Jennifer Thompson I am a victim Survivor my name is Raymond Raymond Toler I'm exer re my name is Loretta she started an organization called healing Justice that brings together exonorees my name is Chris an Exon and Crime Victims my name is Penny all from different cases I am tsia as well as family members my brother was in xener my name is Andrea healing Justice paid to bring them from around the country to this rented Retreat Center in Virginia where they will spend 3 days sharing stories playing games keep changing up and eating all their meals together this is the 17th Retreat healing justice has done how effective is it when it's not the same crime very effective there's something powerful in healing when an Exon can hear what the victim in their case must have felt like and for Prime survivors it's really healing to also hear about the experiences of Exon the biggest thing I lost was trust 3 days of emotional release rebuilding trust and healing when we come back Jennifer Thompson's goal when she created the nonprofit organization healing Justice in 2015 was to help all groups harmed by wrongful convictions healing Justice now advises prosecutors offices around the country on dealing more effectively and empathetically with Crime Victims in exoneration cases and they've recently gotten a grant from the justice department to expand those efforts but it's what they call the healing side of their work that is most meaningful to Jennifer she did coursework in trauma recovery and worked with psychologists to design a program to safely bring together victims of crime and exonorees they work in small groups on the wounds Left Behind when the justice system gets it wrong nice remember the breaking and gluing back together of those Bowls did anybody notice how fast and easy it was to break it and how hard it is to put it back together again that was just the start of this retreat's opening exercise and perhaps a metaphor for the whole Endeavor so what I'm going to ask you to do now is to paint your broken places with gold this is actually 24 karat gold paint she told us it's called kugi kugi kugi mhm what is that it's a Japanese concept that even in our broken places we're still beautiful because we're strong at our broken places and we're not disposable but before they can paint their real wounds with gold they have to look hard at the breaks that need repair that I lost part of my heart so sitting in a circle using a Rock to give whoever holds it the floor and with a healing justice social worker always present they talked about their losses I lost believing in myself I had so much confidence I had so much that first you know slaming the doors everything got real right then you know I seen people suicide uh death by cop just getting beat up killed you know the talk comes back and I have to keep remind myself you know right here I'm in the Pres right now uh the hardest part for me is hearing what the exies went through in prison it's so hard to hear but it's so necessary so what I want to do today is do an on day two of the retreat Jennifer L an exercise on how the harsh words used against each of them end up becoming internalized you might have been called a liar you might have been called a rapist and those words really do take on a life of their own I'd like for you to write a letter to yourself from the space of the critical mind that Loop that plays in your head over and over again you had them write letters what was the purpose I've done this before um when they're writing it they're not happy and then I had them read it out loud to the circle they didn't like it Dear Chris you failed in life why did you confess I will never have confessed why can't you just be quiet dear Raymond you are a angry black man you will never know love you will always be a prisoner and then there was Loretta dear Letta you deserve to be raped and beaten you really don't deserve to be aive live you aren't Brave nor strong you are a failure as a woman and a mother Letta Jennifer told us faces one of the most excruciating situations for a victim in an exoneration case when the DNA clears one man but doesn't identify who the actual as salent was I'm stuck she told us she relives the assault daily and can't get the exonerated man face out of her memory so even though he was cleared through DNA his face is still there yes the DNA said it wasn't him you didn't believe it no I feel guilty cuz I feel like I did something wrong so you're having both the feeling that he was the one and that you did something wrong yes oh my God you really are stuck I don't know who did this for Andrea Harrison whose mother's killer also remains unknown it's a familiar struggle what was told to me was that he was the person who murdered my mother and so that was a belief of mine for a lot of years I can't get that out of my head on his side of it I mean that's sad it is sad it is sad the justice system failed him just like it did us until now Andrea and her father had not been willing to attend a retreat with Exon present do you think that the exonerated person and the victim are almost pitted against each other when they shouldn't be they're both victims of the same perpetrator who knows someone sitting in jail for what he or she did that's right at the end of the day when an innocent person's in prison a guilty person's not we should all be concerned about that and maybe they go off and do it many more times in my case the person who wasn't caught committed six more first deegree rapes before he was ever apprehended I just love that we're here working on this in the circle after reading the critical letters Jennifer turned the tables so I want you to write a second letter now to yourself from the self compassion voice the voice that you would use for the person you love the most so they rewrote it they did they turned oh yeah and then they read that out loud in their faces they smiled when they read it dear Raymond you have a kind heart you are loved Raymond your dreams have come true and you are free to dream more and create you are a great mother grandmother wife daughter sister friend and so on and on keep going you got this I've seen you stumble and I've seen you bounce right back dear Letta you know that it's never too late to follow your dreams you should never stop believing in yourself you didn't deserve to be hurt by anyone or anything I will always be your biggest fan and supporter I love you well that was different so why is it that we speak to ourselves in a way that we would never speak to the people that we love something I need to change you know is that it was actually harder to write the happy letter for me I do believe the good things about myself but I don't think I really say them to myself enough and the reality is if we really want to to do good in the world hating ourselves serves nobody at all who's ready after two emotion filled days came a scene we weren't expecting catch it the group gathered together for improv games RI it riit acting like animals smiling and laughing you play a lot of games the games are just really a way of inviting that child to come back and play again if you feel safe you can pretend like you're a monkey you can do all kinds of ridiculous things and it's okay because everybody else is doing it too I know but not you so guilty we noticed a loosening and connecting later that night over an art project the kind of impromptu conversation Jennifer says this Retreat is all about how can somebody look at me and think that I would do something so heinous like that that's part of the trauma for me when you hear some of our stories do you ever like blame us like me being a exam and yeah do you ever see yourself blaming the victims for you didn't do anything wrong it's not your fault the next morning as they gathered in the circle for the third and final day I feel blessed I feel l a feather the mood had shifted dramatically I feel um open I feel courageous I feel nurtured even though it's painful to let it out I think you guys do it because you know it's going to help the next person yeah and it has so how did the retreat go very enlightening very powerful we took off the mask that everybody sees what questions did you ask each other exies to Crime Victims and back around I asked what happened to you and everyone was honest and everybody was honest I asked right away I shook Mr Howard's hand and I feel for this man and my other two friends back there that are Exon I see it now cuz we only looked from our side of the table we never seen it from their side I had that fear even when I came here I didn't know if I be coming into hate because I was exer because you know nobody believed me for you know 30 years I I think we believe it thank you we believe it I had questions myself for an exonerate and I was able to build up the courage to even ask Raymond because I still hold this guilt and I was finally able to let it go after talking to him I knew he was speaking from his heart and it took 30 years for him to let me get that guilt off of me wow I thank you do you have any guilt for what happened to Ronald no not anymore I feel so sad that for 11 years he was in prison for something he didn't do but I'm also really sad that I got raped at knife point and chased around you know neighborhood in the dark while didn't have any clothes on I feel deep amount of sadness for these cases and for everybody who's impacted by them may you keep spreading your love to everyone that needs it so as the retreat Drew to a close they clasped hands and shared wishes for one another Penny may you continue on your journey of healing what happened in your case that allowed you to heal I think always be healing but I think what has helped me more than anything is the relationships I built along the way with people that that have been harmed and hurt just like me CU you're helping other people Jennifer may you always be in our lives and may you always be courageous as you I'm helping other people but what they don't realize is they're also helping me I didn't know that move they're healing they are healing and I want to walk with them on that Journey wo the last minute of 60 Minutes is sponsored by United Healthcare there for what matters now an update of our story agency and crisis about the Federal Bureau of Prisons particularly its women's prisons this past Monday FBI agents raided one of them FCI Dublin in Northern California so notorious for sexual abuse and retaliation against those who speak up it is known as the rape club we ask Bureau of Prisons director Colette Peters if the government owes the inmates more than a safe environment is your job to apologize for what happened in Dublin I don't know that my job is to apologize um is it heartbreaking and horrendous to have something like that happen uh when you are proud of your profession as a Corrections professional absolutely the Bureau of Prisons still hasn't publicly apologize for the abuse at Dublin but it has removed the latest Warden and three top administrators I'm Cecilia Vega we'll be back next week with another edition of 60 minutes [Music]

Channel: 60 Minutes

Views: 119,053

Keywords: 60 Minutes, CBS News, Russia, vladimir putin, lithuania, DNA, exoneration, prisons, criminal justice, jail

Id: g8GStcv7jQ8

Length: 43min 15sec (2595 seconds)

Published: Wed Mar 20 2024