Prison Letters Project
Letters Database
With the permission and participation of incarcerated people who write to us, we are logging their letters into a public database.
Letter Category
- Abuse of Judicial Discretion
- Attorney & Judicial Error
- Batson Violation
- Coerced Confession
- Coercion
- Coercion of Witnesses
- DNA Evidence
- Evidence Tampering
- Excessive Charging & Sentence
- False Statements by Law Enforcement
- False Testimony
- Forensic Issue
- Improper Arrest Procedure
- Improper Statements by Defense Counsel
- Ineffective Assistance of Counsel
- Innocence
- Insufficient Evidence at Trial
- Judicial Error
- Jury Instruction Error
- Loss of Evidence
- Mishandling of Evidence
- Newly Discovered Evidence
- No Knock Warrant
- Parole
- Perjured Testimony
- Prosecutorial Misconduct
- Racial Discrimination
- Speedy Trial Issue
- Unfair Sentencing
- Withheld Evidence
- Wrongful Conviction
- Wrongful conviction & innocence
B.M. writing from Florida
“A life sentence in Florida is a death sentence.”
D.C. writing from New York
“I could not afford an attorney at the time, nor did I truly understand the language of the law.”
M.L. writing from Arkansas
“The Court knew the truth but was only looking for a conviction.”
C.E. writing from Indiana
“Here’s a defendant who never had a fair trial and who never had all the evidence put before a jury.”
C.F. writing from Alabama
“Please try and help me get back in court…so hopefully I may go home to my family!”
N.G. writing from Florida
“I never left my cell perimeter, all evidence writes this.”
M.J. writing from Ohio
“I have proof that shows they cheated me out of a fair trial...all of the evidence to show that I’m innocent and been wrongfully convicted.”
M.K. writing from Missouri
“In my case, it appears the courts ignore the law...I have suffered many manifest injustices. Not just one. My whole case has been fundamentally unfair and [unjust]... Several Attorneys have told me if it were any other type of offense besides a sex offense it would have been overturned, reversed and vacated years ago.”
R.B. writing from Michigan
“I have never harmed, hurt, or killed anyone.”
S.B. writing from Alabama
“I am innocent and I need help. I want to go home. I do not want to spend the rest of my life in prison for a crime I did not commit.”
B.B. writing from New York
“Forensic testing...will be the proof I am not the shooter and somehow I need help getting this done to demonstrate my innocence.”
J.S. writing from Alabama
“I miss my kids so much...I want to prove my innocence for my family and get my boys back. I have missed the best years of their life and that is something I can never get back.”
A.G. writing from Alabama
“I feel like I have a lot to offer the world and can be a great mom and a productive member of society... Where is the justice? I just want my story to be heard.”
M.W. writing from Texas
“The DA said that I slammed the officer's head against the wall multiple times, but the officer admitted in my own transcript that his body or skin never touched the wall....Also, I had 9 different officers testify against me who were never one the scene in the first place.”
K.J. writing from Alabama
“I may never receive the time I lost, but I look forward to living life, moving forward, and not looking back.”
W.J. writing from Texas
“Blood was found at the scene, but it excluded me, no fingerprint matched, and I was compensated by crime victims for my own roadside shooting that occurred on the same night, hours later, in a different location.“
J.I. writing from New York
“I have been incarcerated for 17 years, wrongfully convicted, awaiting justice and to come home to my kid, wife and family.”
T.H. writing from New York
“The system is able to have me imprisoned for an unfounded accusation back in 1995, by Brooklyn Detectives, who mearly used me as scapegoat.”
I.D. writing from New York
“Not once over the past 28 years in the New York prison system has anyone ever asked me, ‘What happened to you?’”
A.S. writing from Alabama
“I only want out if my innocence can be proven. I am absolutely innocent.”
Disclaimer
Information appearing in the database reflects our understanding of letter-writers' situations and legal claims based on our correspondence with them, and may not be complete and comprehensive.
If you are interested in learning more about a particular person's case or connecting with them, please write us at prisonlettersproject@yale.edu
Connect with and support the letter-writers!
The Prison Letters Project hopes for and welcomes interest from people who want to learn more about these stories.
If you would like to be connected to a particular letter-writer for the purpose of providing representation, writing about their story, offering other support, or simply learning more about their case, please reach out to us using this form.
Alternatively, you can write to us at:
Prison Letters Project, c/o Emily Bazelon, Yale Law School, 127 Wall Street, New Haven, CT 06511.