NYC to name Central Park gate to honour five teens wrongfully convicted of 1989 rape

To honour five men who as teenagers were wrongfully convicted and spent years in prison over the rape of a jogger in 1989, New York City is naming a gate in Central Park after them.

Five Black men--including Yusef Salaam, Antron McCray, and Kevin Richardson, who were 15 at the time, Korey Wise, then 16 and Raymond Santana, then 14--spend 13 years in prison until their convictions were overturned in 2002.

The city's park design was approved on Monday (Dec 12). The gate will be inscribed with "Gate of the Exonerated."

Sharonne Salaam, Salaam's mother said that the inscription will serve as a reminder of the difficulties wrongfully convicted people face when they try to rebuild their lives after being freed.

She added that this will be the first of its kind in the United States and will speak to the world about the idea of exoneration.

City's mayor Eric Addams called the approval a "moment of truth and reconciliation for New York City."

Addams in a statement said, "The Gate of the Exonerated symbolizes the resiliency of the Exonerated Five and all those who have been wrongfully convicted and serves as a lasting reminder of the grave miscarriage of justice that took place more than three decades ago."

Several other entrances to the park havebeen labelled to reflect groups of people in the city including, Arstians's Gate, Scholars' Gate and Stranger's Gate.

(With inputs from agencies)