The Sing Sing Files

"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."

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

“Dan Slepian’s debut book The Sing Sing Files sounds the alarm on a criminal legal system that too often victimizes instead of protects. The beautifully told story of Slepian’s twenty year personal journey and proximate relationships with 6 wrongfully convicted innocent men, should be a civics textbook used to raise awareness, promote action and demand true and accurate accountability.”

“In my criminal law class, we were taught that one of the underlying principles of our criminal justice system is that we would rather let a guilty person go free before convicting an innocent person. Thirty years later, as an Assistant Attorney General at the U.S. Department of Justice, I learned the reality of our criminal justice system at the joint launch of recommendations by the U.S. Office for Victims of Crime, the Innocence Project and the International Association of Chiefs of Police to reduce wrongful convictions. Your book illustrates on a deeply personal level what happens to real people, to their families and trust in our core systems when people are sent to prison, often for decades, for crimes they didn't commit. I hope this book, which I stayed up all night reading, captures the hearts and minds of all of us. We all play a role in allowing these miscarriages of justice to continue unless we collectively commit to seeing the flaws in our justice system and commit to rectifying them."

“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 spell-binding 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.”  

"I’ve said many times that every wrongful conviction deserves its own book. I’ve read a hundred of them and, as fascinating as they are, I thought I had reached the point of being shock-proof. But The Sing Sing Files stopped me cold. It’s an unforgettable account of one man’s uphill journey to free the innocent and expose many of the serious problems in our criminal justice system. It should be read by every rookie cop, brand new prosecutor, and first year law student. And it should be read by you. Hold on!"