Exonerated Chicago woman opens home for formerly incarcerated, wrongfully convicted women on W. Side

More than six years after her release from prison, exonerated Chicago woman Marilyn Mulero has opened a West Side home for women who have been wrongfully convicted or who have spent more than a decade behind bars, fulfilling a promise she made while incarcerated.

Standing outside the Wrongful Conviction Trauma Center during its opening in Austin, Mulero said the residence is intended to provide support and stability for women returning to society after lengthy prison sentences.

“We can help them get the counseling, the treatment, that they need, help them get integrated back into society,” Mulero said. “I don’t want them to feel like they are still in prison. I want them to feel like they’re home.”

Mulero was sentenced to death at age 23, without a trial, for a crime she did not commit. Her conviction was later overturned, and she was released from prison six years ago. Although she has since been fully exonerated, Mulero said the transition back into society has been difficult. She has experienced homelessness twice after her release.

“We’re still broken inside because there’s pieces that are not bendable. And we have to work on it on a daily basis,” Mulero said. “This is the perfect place where we can start. We can relate to one another’s pain.”

Mulero is among several dozen people whose convictions have been overturned after authorities determined their confessions had been forcibly obtained by former Chicago police Detective Reynaldo Guevara and his now-deceased partner, Ernest Halvorsen. Three years after it was filed, Mulero’s lawsuit against the city remains pending.

Lauren Kaeseberg, legal director of the Illinois Innocence Project, said the effects of Guevara’s work extended beyond the cases he directly handled.

“People say he’s a bad actor, a bad apple, but he planted a bad seed,” Kaeseberg said. “And I think a lot grew from that and so there’s a lot a lot of wrongful convictions out of those neighborhoods.”

The home will initially house eight women, with residents expected to begin arriving soon. Mulero said the facility has the capacity to accommodate up to 15 women if needed.

Visit wrongfulconvictiontraumacenter.com for more information.