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
B.A.O. writing from Missouri
“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.”
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.”
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.”
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.A. writing from Texas
How does one bring attention to an illegal act of the miscarriage of justice and obstruction of justice in violation of due process rights in the name of fairness and justice?
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.