A record number of US prison inmates were found in 2015 to have been falsely convicted, according to a report released Wednesday.

At least 149 defendants were cleared last year, 10 more than in 2014, according to a review by the National Registry of Exonerations, a project of the University of Michigan’s law school that tracks such cases and also aims to reform the criminal justice system.

The inmates had spent more than 14 years behind bars on average. Some served at least 30 years in prison.

“The most notable thing is another increase in the rate of exonerations,’’ said Samuel Gross, the editor of the registry and a University of Michigan law professor. “That just shows that the problems that are causing convictions of innocent people happen on a regular basis.’’

Most of the exonerations in 2015 came from two states: Texas, 54, and New York, 17. The registry linked that trend to efforts by district attorneys in Brooklyn and in Harris County, Texas, to review questionable convictions.

Fifty-eight of the inmates exonerated in 2015 had been convicted of homicide, the report said. More than two-thirds of those cleared in 2015 were minorities, and half were African-American, the group said. Five defendants had been sentenced to death.

New York Times