The Sing Sing Files

Reviews

"Dan Slepian has written a book that is as informative as it is enraging. In these gripping case studies of innocent men wrongfully convicted, you learn how and why the truth often does not prevail in the American justice system. You also get a glimpse of the strength of the human spirit and of heroic efforts to right these wrongs. The stories are inspiring and so is the author. He has spent a career 'given the buried voice sound,' as one incarcerated man put it. This volume is on full blast with this tour-de-force. This is a must-read for anyone who cares about criminal justice, mass incarceration, or humanity."
—Rachel Barkow, author of Prisoners of Politics: Breaking the Cycle of Mass Incarceration and Professor at NYU, School of Law

"This passionate, gripping, and moving chronicle of a skeptical journalist’s twenty year journey investigating injustice leads him, remarkably, to six innocent men, close friends, and a nuanced understanding of the humanity, resilience, and limitless potential of those we imprison, guilty or innocent. Dan Slepian’s engrossing insider’s narrative lays bare the infuriating incapacity and willful blindness of New York prosecutors, police, defense lawyers, and judges to recognize and correct wrongful convictions. The Sing Sing Files is a vitally important book that inspires hope that we can and will do better."
—Barry Scheck, Co-Founder and Special Counsel, the Innocence Project

“While recounting his heroic efforts to free six wrongfully convicted men,
Dan Slepian uncovers the tremendous obstacles to truth and justice that plague our
criminal legal system. He shows that the problems are both systemic and personal, as
institutions and actors protect their own reputations rather than fix the egregious mistakes and wrongdoings that have ruined the lives of countless people and their
families. The Sing Sing Files should inspire readers to create a new generation of
leaders who will genuinely pursue justice.”
—Marc Howard, director of the Prisons and Justice Initiative at Georgetown
University

“Twenty years, hundreds of visits to prison, thousands of hours investigating
to fight for a few men’s freedom. Dan Slepian’s uncommon determination,
willingness to believe, and refusal to look away leaps from these spellbinding pages.
But is the miracle of Slepian’s obsessiveness required to unmask the brute force of the
criminal justice system’s machinery, the moral corruption, and the malign negligence
that often lubricates it?

I am grateful to Slepian for bearing witness, but I am also shocked and
enraged by the story he tells. I would—as I know he would—trade this Olympian
effort for one in which thousands of others activate to fight not just for the innocent,
but for all the souls who are unnecessarily ground down by what we call the criminal
justice system. For those who yearn to be part of this army, this is required reading.”
—Nicholas Turner, president and director of the Vera Institute of Justice

"Dateline producer Slepian debuts with a riveting account of his crusade to free six wrongfully convicted men from New York State’s Sing Sing prison... Slepian tells his subjects' stories with rigor and compassion, and persuasively argues that America’s justice system is “designed to easily imprison the innocent” in the name of closing cases quickly. This is difficult to shake."
—Publishers Weekly

“A gripping, highly effective true-crime synthesis… an excellent addition to the body of work documenting a pervasive societal injustice.”
–Kirkus, Starred Review