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
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.”
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."
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."
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
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.”
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.”
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.