Date uploaded: 2023-02-05 17:08:59

Nearly 200 people have been exonerated of charges tied to former Chicago Police Sgt. Ronald Watts and his team, who extorted money and planted drugs and guns on innocent people at a public housing project for almost a decade, said Cook County State's Attorney Kim Foxx. Collectively, the wrongful prosecutions cost 183 people sentences of 459 years in prison, plus 57 probation and 10 boot camp sentences. Watts and other officers deny framing people. Now exonerees are searching for justice. These are their stories. 📸: Max Herman for USA TODAY