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A review by okiecozyreader
The Sing Sing Files: One Journalist, Six Innocent Men, and a Twenty-Year Fight for Justice by Dan Slepian
hopeful
informative
inspiring
medium-paced
5.0
I have seen this book compared to Just Mercy by Bryan Stevenson, and it is similar for sure - it is the story of Dan Slepian, who began investigating one wrongful conviction at the Sing Sing correctional institution in New York, and subsequently finding 5 more at the same facility, that were processed by some of the same offices.
As Bryan Stevenson is a lawyer, Dan Slepian is a journalist, so he has a different process and goal as he is doing his research. As he tells each person, if I find facts against your case, I will report on those as well, I am interested in the truth, not a defender for your case (my summary of his words).
The audio for this book is incredible, read by Slepian, with letters read by the people who wrote them, and other audio from real events. One case is weaved through most of the others is for Jon-Adrian “JJ” Velazquez. It took so many years for progress to be made in the case, and it’s shocking that he is still labeled as a murderer (at the time of this book)… but there is good news in a special update to the podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/last-stop-on-the-road-to-freedom/id1671212466?i=1000671609706
After reading Just Mercy, I knew that many innocent people are in jail, but this book did bring so much reality to their lives, the lives they missed and the personal pain people endure when they are wrongfully imprisoned (in JJ’s case for 20 years).
This book is based on his Pulitzer Prize podcast finalist, The Sing Sing Files https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/letters-from-sing-sing/id1671212466
“While I have a responsibility to the truth, I also have a responsibility to be a decent person, and it has been a tricky thing to navigate in my dealings with false imprisonment and the men who had suffered because of it. And that moment in the courthouse was one time when I was not living up to my obligations as a human being. I was behaving in a way I was taught to behave. That rigidity, that lack of humanity, that desire to appear ethical, is why people are wrongfully convicted in the first place.” Ch 19
“He said he had been convicted and sentenced to twenty-five years to life for a murder in the Bronx despite giving police the names of not one or two but thirteen witnesses who could swear he was a thousand miles away in Florida at the time of the crime for which he was convicted. The number left me dumbfounded. How could I not investigate this one?” Ch 20
This story is told in more detail in his podcast
13 Alibis - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/13-alibis/id1463081342
As Bryan Stevenson is a lawyer, Dan Slepian is a journalist, so he has a different process and goal as he is doing his research. As he tells each person, if I find facts against your case, I will report on those as well, I am interested in the truth, not a defender for your case (my summary of his words).
The audio for this book is incredible, read by Slepian, with letters read by the people who wrote them, and other audio from real events. One case is weaved through most of the others is for Jon-Adrian “JJ” Velazquez. It took so many years for progress to be made in the case, and it’s shocking that he is still labeled as a murderer (at the time of this book)… but there is good news in a special update to the podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/last-stop-on-the-road-to-freedom/id1671212466?i=1000671609706
After reading Just Mercy, I knew that many innocent people are in jail, but this book did bring so much reality to their lives, the lives they missed and the personal pain people endure when they are wrongfully imprisoned (in JJ’s case for 20 years).
This book is based on his Pulitzer Prize podcast finalist, The Sing Sing Files https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/letters-from-sing-sing/id1671212466
“While I have a responsibility to the truth, I also have a responsibility to be a decent person, and it has been a tricky thing to navigate in my dealings with false imprisonment and the men who had suffered because of it. And that moment in the courthouse was one time when I was not living up to my obligations as a human being. I was behaving in a way I was taught to behave. That rigidity, that lack of humanity, that desire to appear ethical, is why people are wrongfully convicted in the first place.” Ch 19
“He said he had been convicted and sentenced to twenty-five years to life for a murder in the Bronx despite giving police the names of not one or two but thirteen witnesses who could swear he was a thousand miles away in Florida at the time of the crime for which he was convicted. The number left me dumbfounded. How could I not investigate this one?” Ch 20
This story is told in more detail in his podcast
13 Alibis - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/13-alibis/id1463081342