The Sing Sing Files: One Journalist, Six Innocent Men, and a Twenty-Year Fight for Justice By Dan Slepian

In The Sing Sing Files: One Journalist, Six Innocent Men, and a Twenty-Year Fight for Justice, Dan Slepian, a seasoned NBC Dateline producer, chronicles his relentless quest to expose the deep flaws of the American criminal justice system. The journey began in 2002 when Slepian was tipped off by a Bronx homicide detective about two men wrongfully imprisoned for a 1990 murder they didn’t commit. This revelation ignited Slepian’s determination to uncover the truth.

Slepian’s investigation led to the eventual exoneration of these two men, but it also propelled him into a two-decade-long battle against a system resistant to acknowledging its errors. Through years of intense work—spanning prison visits, courtroom battles, and exhaustive street reporting—Slepian produced compelling Dateline episodes that brought the plight of these wrongfully convicted individuals into the spotlight.

The narrative centers on Jon-Adrian “JJ” Velazquez, one of the six innocent men whom Slepian fought to free. From his Sing Sing prison cell, JJ not only assisted Slepian with critical information but also formed a profound and enduring friendship with him. JJ’s release in 2021 marked a significant milestone in Slepian’s relentless fight for justice.

Echoing the impact of Bryan Stevenson’s Just Mercy, The Sing Sing Files is a poignant and powerful account of wrongful imprisonment and systemic flaws. Slepian’s book combines personal narrative with a broader critique of justice, illuminating a painful yet hopeful story of redemption and the ongoing struggle for accountability in a flawed system.