The Sing Sing Files Audiobook By Dan Slepian cover art

The Sing Sing Files

One Journalist, Six Innocent Men, and a Twenty-Year Fight for Justice

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The Sing Sing Files

By: Dan Slepian
Narrated by: Dan Slepian
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Long-listed, Amazon.com Best Books of the Year, 2024

Long-listed, Audible.com Best of the Year, 2024

“Bristling with urgency, empathy, and determination…this is investigative journalism at its best and most necessary.”—AudioFile

The author's podcast, Letters from Sing Sing, was a Pulitzer Prize finalist.

This program is read by the author and features sound design and original archival sound recordings from Sing Sing maximum-security prison, including letters written to the author. It also includes commentary from formerly incarcerated men.

An NBC Dateline producer's cinematic account of his two-decade journey navigating the broken criminal justice system to help free six innocent men

In 2002, Dan Slepian, a veteran producer for NBC’s Dateline, received a tip from a Bronx homicide detective that two men were serving twenty-five years to life in prison for a 1990 murder they did not commit.

Haunted by what the detective had told him, Slepian began an investigation of the case that eventually resulted in freedom for the two men and launched Slepian on a two-decade personal and professional journey into a deeply flawed justice system fiercely resistant to rectifying—or even acknowledging—its mistakes and their consequences.

The Sing Sing Files: One Journalist, Six Innocent Men, and a Twenty-Year Fight for Justice is Slepian’s account of challenging that system. The story follows Slepian on years of prison visits, court hearings, and street reporting that led to a series of powerful Dateline episodes and eventually to freedom for four other men and to an especially deep and lasting friendship with one of them, Jon-Adrian “JJ” Velazquez. From his cell in Sing Sing, JJ aided Slepian in his investigations until his own release in 2021 after decades in prison.

Like Bryan Stevenson’s Just Mercy, The Sing Sing Files is a deeply personal account of wrongful imprisonment and the flaws in our justice system, and a powerful argument for reckoning and accountability. Slepian’s extraordinary book, at once painful and full of hope, shines a light on an injustice whose impact the nation has only begun to confront.

A Macmillan Audio production from Celadon Books.

©2024 Dan Slepian (P)2024 Macmillan Audio Art & Literature Best of 2024 Crime Criminology Journalists, Editors & Publishers Penology Social Sciences Feel-Good

Critic 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

Interview: Dan Slepian’s "The Sing Sing Files" is a must-listen on the horrors of the criminal justice system

The Sing Sing Files
'This is, to me, more than a book. This is a call to action.'
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  • The Sing Sing Files
  • 'This is, to me, more than a book. This is a call to action.'
Gripping Storytelling • Compelling Human Stories • Amazing Narration • Eye-opening Investigation • Understated Delivery
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This book was so captivating. I couldn’t seem to stop listening. My heart felt like it was broken for many of the people falsely convicted in the book. The author put together an extraordinary read. He is a hero, undoubtedly, thank you to the author!

Extra extraordinary and captivating Read!

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‘The Sing Sing Files’ is an eye-opening journey through five cases of wrongful convictions and the collateral damage inflicted upon the lives of those convicted and their families . The book shines a necessary light on the flaws in our justice system and the urgent need for reform. Having personally experienced the inhumanity of the system from the inside, I appreciate the book’s powerful message.

Dan Slepian has my utmost respect, not just as a journalist, but as a human being. It takes a special person to be able to see convicted prisoners as more than statistics. It should not be that way, but unfortunately, it is.

JJ Velasquez is the true hero of this story. It is a testament to his character and resilience that he was able to not only survive his ordeal, but turn it into an opportunity to help others. The world needs more people like Dan and JJ.

If you think these injustices don’t apply to you, you’re wrong. Any one of us is just an accident away from winding up on the wrong side of the law. This book is a must-read/listen for anyone interested in justice and reform.

A Powerful Exposé on Justice and Reform

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It’s unfortunate to hear how negligence, at the hands of the criminal justice system, impacted the lives of these people. Also, the amount of time that it took to review their convictions was insane. Great story telling and scene setting. Good read!

Good listen

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Daniel Slepian’s The Sing Sing Files is a gripping and unsettling examination of the American justice system, focusing on cases where individuals, often from marginalized communities, found themselves trapped in an unforgiving cycle of incarceration. While I haven’t spent much time delving into criminal justice and incarceration before, I found this book utterly fascinating—both in its investigative depth and its stark portrayal of systemic failures.

One of the book’s most striking revelations is how the legal system disproportionately affects those who lack financial resources. Many of the cases Slepian highlights involve individuals who could not afford private legal counsel and had to rely on public defenders—lawyers who were often talented and well-meaning but overburdened with enormous caseloads. The book makes it painfully clear how the deck is stacked against defendants in these high-stakes cases, particularly in big cities like New York, where evidence can be flawed, trials move quickly, and juries often place great trust in law enforcement narratives.

Slepian also brings to light the systemic bias in policing, especially against minority communities. At the same time, he doesn’t demonize law enforcement; instead, he paints a nuanced picture of officers struggling under the weight of overwhelming caseloads and the pressure to secure convictions. The book doesn’t excuse misconduct, but it does humanize the people working within a broken system.

Perhaps the most haunting takeaway from The Sing Sing Files is the near-impossibility of getting out once you are inside the prison system. The bureaucracy of incarceration is portrayed as rigid, unyielding, and often more concerned with preserving its own authority than with ensuring actual justice. The analogy that came to mind as I was reading was that of a roach motel—once you’re in, there’s no easy way out. Even in cases where new evidence surfaces or doubts emerge about a conviction, the institutional resistance to reconsidering past mistakes is staggering.

Beyond the legal mechanics, Slepian does an exceptional job illustrating the devastating human cost of incarceration. The book highlights how imprisonment shatters families—children growing up without parents, relationships severed, and entire communities destabilized by the absence of those caught in the system. The sheer isolation of incarceration, the inhumane treatment, and the often vindictive nature of the punishment system make it hard to see how anyone truly "benefits" from these sentences. More than justice, the system seems to demand a form of ritual payment—where the punishment itself is more important than whether it serves any rehabilitative or corrective purpose.

For me, The Sing Sing Files was both eye-opening and deeply unsettling. It left me disturbed not just by the stories Slepian tells, but by the larger implications: How many more people are sitting in prison, unseen, unheard, and without a real path to justice? It’s a book that forces you to question not just the failures of the system but the very purpose of incarceration in America. A powerful, necessary read.

A powerful, necessary read

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Great voice and even better story! The preview on Dateline convinced me to sign up for Audible.

The storyline was compelling.

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I loved that not only did Dan Slepian read his own book but he included others voices and recordings as he told the story. This gave it depth and perspective. I didn’t know before reading this that I should even think about or consider our criminal justice system. This brings so many new thoughts and questions to my mind. It was so well done and a quick read. I would highly recommend this book to anyone.

Outstanding performance, thought provoking, page turner

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Artistically woven real life stories of true injustices. Thoughtful storytelling, thought provoking, and heart wrenching. Thank you for the brilliant work and dedication to the victims both wrongfully convicted and their families and loved ones.

Heartbreaking and Hopeful

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John, you did a great job bringing your stories to light. There were so many WTF and WTH’s throughout your story. Thank you for helping me to understand the other side of a story. God Bless!

Eye Opening Cases

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This was a scathing indictment of our so-called “justice” system. Well written and very well read!

Excellent story!!

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Listened in 2 days, Dan keep helping these people! Bring us more and how we can help information!

Heart wrenching but the research has been done!

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