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
- 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
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.”
L.M.T. writing from Alabama
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.”
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.