a cell one floor below Bloodsworth's own cell. In a 2009 guest lecture at Florida Atlantic University, Bloodsworth said that he and Ruffner sometimes spotted each other during workouts. In light of the new DNA evidence, Ruffner was charged in Maryland for the rape and murder of the girl; in 2004 he pleaded guilty to the 1984 murder and was sentenced to life imprisonment. Life after prison Bloodsworth served as a program officer for The Justice Project. He helped gain support for the Innocence Protection Act (IPA) of 2001, later included in the omnibus Justice for All Act of 2004. Among other federal funding initiatives, the IPA established the "Kirk Bloodsworth Post-Conviction DNA Testing Program," intended to help states defray the costs of post-conviction DNA testing. Bloodsworth has served as a consultant on the death penalty and a prominent public speaker against it. He helped gain repeal of the death penalty statute in Maryland. Representation in other media Bloodsworth is the subject of the documentary Bloodsworth: An Innocent Man (2015), directed by Gregory Bayne. The Bloodsworth case is a three-part series on YouTube's Murder with Friends (2018), a popular Web Series. Further reading Bloodsworth: the True Story of the First Death Row Inmate Exonerated by DNA (2005) by Tim Junkin. See also List of exonerated death row inmates List of wrongful convictions in the United States References External links 2014 Interview with Bloodsworth CNN profile of Kirk Bloodsworth "Kirk Bloodsworth" at the Innocence Project 2009 interview with Bloodsworth, BBC Bloodsworth: An Innocent Man (2015), book official website 2018 Murder with Friends, YouTube Living people American Roman Catholics Converts to Roman Catholicism Overturned convictions in the United States United States Marines 1960 births Prisoners sentenced to death by Maryland Place of birth missing (living people) People acquitted of murder People wrongfully convicted of murder People wrongfully convicted of rape Roman Catholic activists Activists from Maryland American prisoners sentenced to death