New laws crack down on jailhouse informants

HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) – An effort to more tightly regulate the use of jailhouse informants is gaining momentum across the country in the wake of exonerations of people wrongly convicted of crimes.
A new Connecticut law approved in July will create the nation’s first statewide system to track the use of informants and how they are rewarded, which will help defendants challenge informants’ credibility.
Advocates cited the cases of two men who were wrongly convicted of murder based in part on the testimony of lying inmates.
Illinois, Nebraska, and Texas are among other states that have enacted tougher jailhouse informant laws within the past two years.
The American Civil Liberties Union says that about one in five of the 365 people exonerated nationwide by DNA evidence were convicted with the help of jailhouse informants.