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
- Actual Innocence
- Alternate Confession
- Attorney & Judicial Error
- Batson Violation
- Brady Violation
- Coerced Confession
- Coercion
- Coercion of Witnesses
- DNA Evidence
- Double Jeopardy
- Due Process Violation
- Evidence Tampering
- Excessive Charging & Sentence
- False Statements by Law Enforcement
- False Testimony
- Forensic Issue
- Fourth Amendment Violations
- Improper Arrest Procedure
- Improper Statements by Defense Counsel
- Ineffective Assistance of Counsel
- Innocence
- Insufficient Evidence at Trial
- Interrogation
- Judicial Error
- Jury Instruction Error
- Juvenile
- Loss of Evidence
- Mishandling of Evidence
- Newly Discovered Evidence
- No Knock Warrant
- Parole
- Perjured Testimony
- Pro Se Representation
- Prosecutorial Misconduct
- Racial Discrimination
- Speedy Trial Issue
- Unfair Sentencing
- Unlawful Search and Seizure
- Withheld Evidence
- Wrongful Conviction
- Wrongful conviction & innocence
A.M. writing from Alabama
“I failed [my children] by not reporting my spouse to the proper authorities after the first incident of maltreatment. I had a huge error in judgment, out of fear of losing my children... and still had the lingering threat of [my spouse] telling me he could kill me and bury my body.”
A.C. writing from Minnesota
“I'm doing a life sentence for something I might do, in a state I've never committed a crime in, to receive ‘treatment’ I've already completed.”
K.C. writing from New York
“During this questioning, detectives repeatedly interrupted and mentioned that [my co-defendant] and I were ‘well known heroin suppliers,’ and that it would be best to cooperate with them and I would be ‘rewarded.’ I kept explaining that I had no idea what they were talking about, and that I knew nothing or had anything to do with a murder. For the next 52 hours, I was interrogated, tortured, and beaten.”
W.J. writing from New York
"The same witness that got on the stand and testified [against me but also said] that the police had threatened him, that he didn't see me shoot my cousin, has admitted to the killing of my cousin... one week after my arrest."
D.E. writing from Texas
“To place me at the scene of a crime I was not, corrupt state officials used my own whole yellow sheet of writing paper, taken from my briefcase, and falsely claimed to have found my sheet of paper 90 days after the last person thoroughly examined the victim's car for all evidence.”
E.D.M. writing from Tennessee
“I had made a cooperation agreement with the state... They did not honor their end of the agreement, and still sought the death penalty against me.”
I.M. writing from New Jersey
“I was railroaded and I want justice. I am determined and vibrant.”
Q.J. writing from Michigan
"I have a lot more to say and a mountain of evidence to support my innocence and prove that I was railroaded by law enforcement. I can prove detectives lying under oath, prosecutor hiding evidence that proves my innocence, and a DNA expert for the state lying about her findings."
R.L. writing from Colorado
“Eleven years later, I continue to advocate for relief from a criminal case engineered out of thin air.”
S.L. writing from South Dakota
“I am a good person, easy to get along with. I am a father, grandfather and a family I want to be with. I was 20 years old when I was arrested, now I am 55 years old. I cannot get the time back that I lost over the years.”
D.R. writing from West Virginia
"With over 25 years of protestations being ignored and circumvented, I'm just dumbfounded."
E.S. writing from Texas
“After a plea bargain, I was later retried and convicted for the same DWI.”
R.B. writing from Virginia
"The prosecutor told the jury if they had doubts to just find me guilty and give me the minimum sentence."
D.B. writing from Pennsylvania
"I am innocent like many others in America, but I have faith the truth will prevail."
B.W. writing from Texas
Just because I was illiterate as a teen, having a slow start in life, doesn't mean that people of profession have the right to persecute me.
L.J. Writing from Michigan
"This tragedy has been and still is heartbreaking to us all. I'm asking for any assistance you could provide, wanting to bring closure to a family that is still hurting."
M.G. writing from Ohio
"I've appealed but I feel due to the lack of support and having a police involved shooting I have not received the justice due to every American."
R.R. writing from New York
"I shouldn't have been convicted nor should I have been forced to suffer behind bars for a deliberately unfair and corrupt criminal process."
T.L. writing from Arkansas
“I am an innocent man that received 88 years based on hearsay.”
B.A.O. writing from Missouri
“A life sentence in Florida is a death sentence.”
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.