Marvin Anderson, who was wrongfully convicted of sexual crimes at age 18 and sentenced to 210 years in prison, spoke Thursday morning at Binghamton University's Downtown Center about reforming the prison system, WBNG reports.

An all-white jury convicted Anderson in 1982; he was exonerated after 20 years with help from the Innocence Project, an organization he is now part of.

Anderson described the moment the verdict came in: "That day in the courtroom, I was found guilty. The whole room just went dark. I couldn't see my family. And they were sitting directly behind me. And I just sensed that, you know, my life was over."

The event was hosted by the university's Harriet Tubman Center for Freedom and Equity.

The striking detail for true-crime readers is the scale of wrongful convictions that Anderson's case represents. Christina Swarns, executive director of the Innocence Project, delivered the keynote address and told the crowd that Anderson's story is one of thousands of wrongful convictions.

According to WBNG, Swarns cited research estimating that between 1 and 5 percent of people currently incarcerated are actually innocent — which, she said, means up to 100,000 people are behind the wall who did nothing wrong.

Anderson's appearance also shows how exonerees are moving from subjects of a case into advocates shaping reform debates years after release.

Anderson did not soften his critique. "Our justice system is broken… All they know is build more prison, build more prison, but no one is trying to solve the problem," Anderson told the crowd, according to WBNG.

The single-source figures in the case — his sentence of 210 years, his exoneration after 20 years, and the composition of the 1982 jury — all come from WBNG's report of the event.

Anne Bailey, director of the Harriet Tubman Center for Freedom and Equity, said her organization hosted the event because it gives innocent people a second chance and because Harriet Tubman "left no one behind."

Organizers said conversations like this are the first step, and the Harriet Tubman Center told WBNG it plans to continue working with groups such as the Innocence Project to push for criminal justice reforms locally and nationally.

The stakes extend beyond one speaker: Bailey said the center wants those in the prison system treated fairly, with a focus on rehabilitation and support when they come out, "because everybody deserves a second chance."

The same 1982-era era of convictions remains under scrutiny elsewhere — coverage carried by AOL alongside a KRQE report of a nine-year fugitive's arrest referenced a New Mexico man exonerated of a 1982 rape and murder conviction after 44 years in prison, a reminder of how long these reversals can take.