What happened to Korey Wise in prison?
Short answer – during his time in prison, Korey Wise experienced extreme physical and emotional abuse, including solitary confinement. In 2002, Wise was exonerated along with four other men who were wrongfully convicted of the same crime.
Introduction
When They See Us was the 2019 Netflix drama that catapulted one of the worst injustices in US history into the spotlight.
It was the story of the Central Park Five.
The story followed Antron McCray, Kevin Richardson, Yusef Salaam, Raymond Santana, and Korey Wise from their false conviction for the assault and rape of a Central Park jogger back in 1989.
While audiences were left enthralled—and horrified—at how the real life story unfolded, they were also left with questions.
One of those questions always seems to be: what happened to Korey Wise in prison?
Since his exoneration and release, Korey Wise hasn’t talked too much about the darker side of those 14 years of his life.
What we do know comes from the show’s producers, Wise’s friends, and what was revealed in the lawsuit when he and the other four men took on the justice system.
We’re unpacking it all here, and a little backstory for those who haven’t caught up with the Netflix miniseries just yet.
The Backstory
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After the brutal attack on a 28 year old woman in Central Park in 1989, 15 year old Yusef Salaam was brought to the police station for questioning.
Korey was his friend, and he figured at the time that Yusef’s mom would want him to have someone there with him.
As it turned out, Yusef taking Korey to the station with him would become the biggest regret of their young lives.
Wise was hauled into the interrogation room.
No lawyers, no parent or guardian, and a frightened 16 year old kid with a learning disability and hearing impairment—it was a recipe for injustice in the face of aggressive police interrogation.
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By the time the interrogation was over, Korey had given a written and recorded confession that didn’t match the actual crime.
His friend had done the same—and so had the other three boys.
Decades later, Salaam talked to the New York Times about the guilt he carried for Wise, even being there that day.
“He never got an opportunity to breathe. That reality, pain, I think is a better word, is knowing that he came because of me. “I’m sorry” doesn’t seem adequate.”
Wrongful Conviction
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With a blatant lack of evidence—save for what would later be recognized as coerced confessions—the case was still a slam dunk for prosecutors.
All five boys—Korey being the oldest—were found guilty of the Central Park Jogger’s assault.
The Central Park Five, as they had become known in the media, were 1989’s most reviled villains.
At sentencing, the younger four–Antron McCray, Kevin Richardson, Yusef Salaam, and Raymond Santana—were sent to a youth correctional facility.
At 16, Korey was sent to adult prison, where he was sentenced to five to 15 years.
In an interview with show director Ava Duvernay, Wise said: “There is no Central Park Five. It was four plus one.”
Duvernay observed that the general public doesn’t realize just what it means to be incarcerated in an adult prison for a 16-year-old.
What happened to Korey Wise in prison?
Wise started his prison sentence and New York City’s notorious Rikers Island.
He was a 16-year-old child thrown into a world of violence and abuse at the hands of seasoned criminal adults.
The show also shone a spotlight on the passivity of some of the prison guards, and their failure to uphold the rights of inmates.
Often, they turned a blind eye when he was assaulted.
When he wasn’t left to the mercy of adult convicts, producers of the show When They See Us understand that Korey spent long stretches of his incarceration in solitary confinement.
According to show execs, he agreed to solitary confinement to avoid the beatings and violent assaults of the other inmates.
While Wise did build a friendship with a guard named Roberts, who tried to look after the teenager and protect his rights, there was very little for the young man to look forward to in his bleak new world.
He applied for transfers to be closer to his family in New York, in the hopes they could visit more regularly—and to escape the violence he was subjected to–but every transfer seemed to take him further away from home.
And the violence didn’t stop.
“He probably should’ve died in there,” said When They See Us show editor Spencer Avarice.
Fortunately, Wise had a will stronger than anybody expected—and he knew in his heart that he was innocent.
He maintained this throughout his sentence.
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How did Korey Wise get out of prison?
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In an absolutely improbable situation, Korey ended up in the same prison as convicted murderer and serial rapist Matias Reyes—twice.
The first time, the pair had an altercation over a prison television set.
The pair met for the second time in 2001 at Auburn Correctional Facility.
A short time later, Reyes told a corrections officer that he was the one responsible for the assault on the Central Park Jogger.
The following year, Reyes confessed to officials.
His DNA matched that taken from the victim.
Reyes had been a 17 year old kid living in his van at the time of the assault.
Korey was released from prison in 2002, after spending 11.5 years incarcerated for a crime he didn’t commit.
He and the other members of the Central Park Five—renamed the Exonerated Five in the media—successfully sued the Manhattan police department.
READ THIS NEXT: Is Korey Wise married now?
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