Hi there, it's Dan Slepian, Dateline producer and host of the podcast Letters from Sing Sing.

Today I have a special bonus episode for you to listen to. It's an audio excerpt from my new book,

The Sing Sing Files. It's an incredibly personal project and an expansion

of what you've heard about in the podcast, my investigation into the wrongful conviction of John

Adrian J.J. Velasquez. In the book, I cover not only J.J.'s case, but the cases of five other men

who, like J.J, were locked up for crimes

they did not commit. I take you through the stories of these six men, uncovering the

different ways in which our criminal justice system failed them. You'll hear from me and

some of the men directly about their stories. If you like what you hear in this episode and want to hear more,

click the link in the episode notes to order a copy of the book or audiobook.

The Sing Sing Files is also available wherever books and audiobooks are sold.

Now, here's an excerpt from the Sing Sing Files, read by me.

Introduction, JJ.

It was Thanksgiving Day 2002. I was at the Greenhaven Correctional Facility, a maximum security prison, a couple of hours north of Manhattan,

filming a story for NBC's dateline about two incarcerated men who insisted they'd been wrongfully convicted of murder.

I'd spent a lot of time around cops and courts,

but wrongful convictions and false imprisonments

were not things I knew much about

when I walked into Greenheaven's dreary lobby that morning

and saw a woman holding the hands of two little boys

who were staring in my direction.

You're Dan, right? said the woman, who introduced herself as Maria Velasquez.

...