The Sing Sing Files is about six innocent men behind bars in New York for crimes they didn't commit. Most of the cases are covered relatively briefly, allowing the focus to be on the two men that kicked things off, and the man that author Dan Slepian met as a result of investigating that case, JJ Velazquez. JJ has a dignity, grace, and a level of selflessness that would be hard to find in most human beings, and yet he's locked behind bars based on what mostly amounts to shaky eyewitnesses. During the two plus decades he was wrongly incarcerated, JJ didn't just continually fight for his own freedom, but also that of other men around him he believed to be innocent. Those people he fought for got out of prison before he did. The amount of ineptitude, laziness, and likely a desire to not admit wrongdoing is shameful at so many levels, and makes the reader seriously question the legal system in this country, more likely so for minority men. Don't think that there aren't good guys in the legal system though. As Slepian begins this story he's joining two detectives to document the work they do for the Dateline, the NBC show he works for. During the time he gets to know the two men, the reader learns that the pair are deeply invested in getting convictions overturned for two men wrongfully accused a murdering a bouncer at a club. It both makes you have hope that there truly are members of the law that are determined to do the right thing, and demoralized that they're met with resistance every step of the way by people that are supposed to be on the same side of the law as they are. The book does a great job of exploring how difficult it is for people to get a second chance, especially when they're indigent or poor, and shows once again how unreliable eyewitnesses are when it comes to identifying criminals, and how any account has the potential for intentional or unintentional error. I don't typically read true crime, or legal nonfiction and there were parts of this that were really hard to read, but it left me with a tremendous amount of respect for people like JJ, who are beaten down by society and yet become a beacon of hope for others around them. A complimentary copy of this book was provided by the publisher. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

This book is so fascinating and utterly infuriating. Dan Slepian, a Dateline reporter, retells his fight to help free six innocent men from prison. I was shocked by so much in this book. The first being the estimation of how many innocent people are currently in prison. Mind blowing! As the author tells the stories, it was stunning to learn that even though it was proven that the gentlemen were innocent it was so hard to get them free, some fighting for decades. I have not read anything like this before and while I knew that unfortunately some innocent people were in prison, I had no idea how many and the absolute struggle to get them free. This is a must read for people who are interested in how the US justice system works (or doesn't work).

Impactful book that all should read especially if you are interested in the judicial system. It will be an eye opener for many.

This true crime debut novel was investigated and written by NBC Dateline producer, Dan Slepian. This story and dedication began when Dateline had been contacted about two men who had been wrongfully convicted at the Green Haven correctional facility. It was there that he met JJ Velazquez, who was convicted of murdering a former NYC police officer but claimed he was innocent. It would take two decades to free JJ, but JJ also gave Dan five names of other men at Sing Sing correctional facility that had also been wrongfully convicted and Dan was there to help them too.

Sing Sing correctional facility is a maximum security prison in Ossining, New York. It was built more than 200 years ago and houses 1,700 inmates.

Dan introduces readers to these six men; what their lives had been like before, what crimes they were supposedly involved in, and the obstacles he had to go through to free them.

There are around two million Americans locked up in our country, and about 5 percent are wrongfully accused. It’s sickening that corrupt officers can manipulate a person to confess to a crime they didn’t commit.

I’ve been an avid fan of Dateline since I was a teenager so when I saw that Dan had written a true crime novel, I couldn’t pass it up. I learned about the history of the Sing Sing correctional facility, I watched past Dateline episodes that were mentioned in the book, and I listened to “Letters from Sing Sing” podcasts. I immersed myself in the stories of these men, and now that I finished reading, I’m looking for similar books to dive into head first.

This book was a heavy read, but so worth it. I've read similar books before (sadly, the injustice is common enough to have plenty of stories out there), but this was the first one from the perspective of a journalist. It was difficult to realize that so many wrongful convictions are still happening and that it's not only something from the past or just in the deep south. I think the worst part of it may be that even when it becomes painfully obvious that someone is in prison who shouldn't be there, it still takes years or even decades to get them released. Thankfully, there are people fighting for some of those who need it. But I have to think that we could stop this from happening in the first place. And for every book that's written, there must be dozens of other people in the same situation whose stories we don't hear.

This is a must read for everyone living in America.

Slepian is a NBC producer who has worked on Dateline for years.
For the last couple decades he has used his experience and connections working closely with wrongfully convicted and incarcerated individuals in New York and helping them team up with legal teams to help them fight for their freedom.

The stories are harrowing, heartbreaking, infuriating and maddening.
You are going to discover how truly corrupt our criminal legal system is - I will never give it the benefit of the name "criminal justice system" because a lot of the times there is little justice.
As a former criminal defense attorney, I resonated with all of these stories and the continued corruption I would see done by prosecutors and other people who promised to stand for justice and truth.

Although this is semi-biographical and non-fiction, it reads so easily and you will not want to put it down. I devoured this book in 2 days.

The Sing Sing files. Focuses on six men who were wrongly accused of a crime they did not commit. Dan Slepian is a producer for Dateline. He was alerted of the injustice imprisoning of six men who did not commit a crime but was arrested and found guilty. For over 20 years some of the men were still in jail waiting to be proven innocent. The author Dan Slepian worked hard to prove these men innocent and get them out of jail. he writes of the frustration he felt and interviews the innocent prisoners countless times only to hit obstacles thousands of files and the waiting game faced by these men. An interesting read. Made me feel outraged by the injustice of wrong doing of the men who sat in prison for years for a crime they did not commit.

This is an eye-opening look at the deeply flawed criminal justice system, written by Dan Slepia, a Dateline producer. After receiving a tip from a detective that two men were imprisoned in Sing Sing for a murder that they did not commit, Mr. Slepia decides to investigate himself. What he finds is greatly disturbing and must be remedied. During his decades long investigation into not only these two men, but four others as well, he is able to get them all freed, but not without many, many roadblocks and defiance from law enforcement officials.

This is a must-read. I suppose most of us realize that innocent people can be falsely accused and sent to prison, but I had no idea that detectives and attorneys care more about just “solving” a crime than actually solving it right. I cannot recommend this book enough. Five solid stars.

Thank you, NetGalley and Celadon Books for the eARC.

One man’s journey to helping people’s lives be restored. This book is very similar to Just Mercy but felt different as the author wasn’t a lawyer but rather just a tv producer, albeit on one of the biggest channels. It’s emotional, brave and insightful. A thoroughly interesting read for a topic that is heavily in the news these days.

I received a free advanced copy of this book through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

A whirlwind through NYC's psychotic policing as seen through a handful of innocent men who are kept in prison for decades despite authorities knowing they should be free. Dan manages some levity despite this being a depressing but much needed lens on the insane behaviour of a few powerful people who just absolutely cannot admit that they are in any way fallible. Don't expect justice because these lunatics are most definitely out there shouting nonsense and not seeing a single consequence.

Dan should get whatever counts as the highest possible honor for identifying and correctly labelling the "word salad" that comes out of every officials mouth when they caught red handed but are pathologically incapable of telling the truth. Every single time these apparatchiks spew out the human equivalent of an error code and Dan is able to capture it quite memorably. These people need to be studied in a lab.