When I first met J.J. Velasquez in 2002, he'd been in prison for three years, serving 25 to life.

That meant he wouldn't be eligible for parole until he was 48, and getting parole is never a guarantee.

It was possible J.J. could spend the rest of his life behind bars.

I saw how JJ lived, locked away in his 7 by 9 foot cell.

He told me when he was first sent upstate, he fell into the routine of prison life,

sleeping in his cell, hanging out in the prison yard.

I was going through a lot of pain.

For a long time, I was private about my matters.

But after a while, I realized I can't hold it.

Man, I've got to let this go.

One individual started to find out that I was innocent, they said,

yo, what are you doing in the yard playing basketball or softball?

You need to be in a law library.

Nobody's going to get you out of prison.

You need to learn the law.

You need to tell the lawyers what needs to happen in your case.

No one cares about you.

You're not a concern. The only way you're going to get out is if you get yourself out. So JJ told me he started to take matters into his own hands.

He'd been assigned new court-appointed attorneys to help with his appeal, but he said he had

trouble getting their attention.

No attorney ever came to see me.

Anytime I wrote them about my case file, they said they hadn't received it yet.

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