The Running for Innocence team was, quite literally, born inside the visiting room of MCI Norfolk, the medium security prison located in Norfolk, where Victor Rosario became a long-distance runner while incarcerated for 32 years for a crime he did not commit. Upon his release from prison in 2014, Victor's running journey -- which eventually led him to complete a full-length marathon by running a staggering 76 laps of the inner perimeter track -- became the inspiration for establishing a mission-driven running team. Funds raised by the Running for Innocence team support the work of all the three Massachusetts-based innocence organizations by defraying the costs of hiring the experts and investigators needed to fight wrongful conviction cases.
This year marks the team's twelfth year participating in the Genesis HR Battlegreen Run. In that time, RFI has grown into something neither Victor nor his fellow team members could ever have anticipated, bringing together lawyers and students and social workers and investigators and directly impacted people to support the creation of an inclusive community for all those impacted by the harms of wrongful convictions. Each year, as we gather to run together, team members joyfully celebrate the recently released new team members while also honoring the many men and women still fighting for freedom from behind the wall. And each year, we are reminded of the remarkable resilience of the human spirit, as well as the importance of building a community that recognizes and reckons with the human cost of wrongful convictions.
While there are many worthy causes, we hope that you will consider making a donation to the 2026 RFI fundraiser. Thank you!
