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
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.”
I.D. writing from Texas
“I'm a proud father of (2) sons who I have not been able to hug or see or spend any time with because of this false incarceration.”
J.S. writing from New York
“My evidence and case is the poster child of [prosecutorial] misconduct yet they are still trying to absolve themselves.”
M.D. writing from Pennsylvania
“I’ve been unjustly incarcerated for almost half a century.”
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.