#588 In Memory of Jason Strong | Jason Flom with Jason Strong

**Jason Strong** (0:02)
America has 2.2 million people in prison. If just 1% is wrong, that's 22,000 people. That's a lot of people's lives destroyed.

**SPEAKER_2** (0:13)
If the system want to take you out of society, they will do it. No matter what laws they have to break, saying that they are enforcing the laws, but they are breaking the laws.

**Jason Strong** (0:27)
Having to hear those people say I was guilty of a crime that I did not commit, and then hear my family break down behind me and not be able to do anything about it, I can't describe the crushing weight that was.

**SPEAKER_2** (0:39)
I'm not anti-police. I'm just anti-corruption. A lot of times we look and we see something happen to somebody, and that's the first thing we say. That could never happen to me, but it can.

**Jason Flom** (1:14)
Welcome back to Wrongful Conviction with Jason Flom. This is the opening episode of season five, and I'm absolutely honored to have today's guest, Jason Strong. Jason, welcome to the show.

**Jason Strong** (1:27)
Thank you very much. I appreciate you having me on. I'm honored to be here.

**Jason Flom** (1:30)
Yeah, I'm really happy you're here for a number of reasons. I'm sorry you had to go through this. So Jason, before all this happened, and your life was turned really into a living hell for 15 and a half years, how was your life?
You grew up in Illinois, right?

**Jason Strong** (1:48)
No, actually, I spent most of my life in Texas.
I was born in Arizona, lived in Texas most of my life, and I moved to Illinois to try to, well, actually, I moved to Wisconsin first with my grandparents to try to get a different start, because I was on a bad road, doing drugs, drinking, acting up. So eventually, I moved to Illinois with some friends, and then I got my own place there. But I never really did change. I still lived like a rock star. I was working in an adult bookstore, did a lot of drinking and partying and drugs. But at the end of the day, I was still a good person. I wasn't robbing people, I wasn't killing people, I wasn't in any gangs or doing anything ridiculous.

**Jason Flom** (2:31)
You weren't hurting anybody other than yourself.

**Jason Strong** (2:33)
Exactly, exactly. But I was living in the fast life, and I wasn't thinking about it. So it's just one of those things that some people do that when they're young.
I was living like a rock star, but I wasn't a rock star.

**Jason Flom** (2:44)
But that being said, so you're hanging around, trying to figure it out. How old were you at this time?

**Jason Strong** (2:50)
24

**Jason Flom** (2:51)
24 So yeah, so you're getting, you know, I mean, it's funny because I think a lot of people in their mid-20s start to figure out what it is that they're really doing. I know for me, it's true. That's when I sobered up and started, you know, trying to really build my life up instead of down.

**Jason Strong** (3:07)
Before I got locked up, so I got locked up in December of 99 And before that happened, I mean, I was trying to think about what do I want to do? You know, I was considering going back to school and pursuing something in the world of art. You know, I didn't really know exactly what, but I mean, I wanted to do something with art. I've always been creative. So, but I never got that opportunity.
It was taken from me by the fact that I got arrested for this crime.

**Jason Flom** (3:34)
And that's a crazy story. I mean, it was your misfortune. You didn't know it at the time, but you were living in a county that turns out to have the highest number of wrongful convictions in Illinois, which is one of the states that has the highest number of wrongful convictions. But other than Chicago, this area that you lived in was a bad spot. It was a hotbed for police misconduct and wrongful convictions as a result. So there you are knocking around, trying to figure it out, having your party in times, whatever you're doing.
And this comes out of the blue. All right.

**Jason Strong** (4:09)
Yeah, it was December 20th. I was hanging out with my girlfriend and her friend.
We were smoking a bowl, having a few beers, and I get a knock at the door thinking it's my buddy just coming over to hang out. Open the door, it's a bunch of cops standing there with guns drawn. They push into my room, throw me down on my bed, handcuff me, and the nightmare began.