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24 episodes listed below
A wrongful conviction, followed for years.
Letters from Sing Sing is a measured true-crime investigation built from prison visits, legal records, taped calls, and years of reporting. It centers JJ’s fight for freedom while tracing how eyewitness testimony, withheld information, and institutional resistance can shape a life sentence.
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Letters from Sing Sing is true crime shaped by time, not spectacle. Dan Slepian follows JJ’s wrongful conviction through many years of reporting, returning again and again to the evidence, the people, and the silence around the case. The series begins with a prison letter and becomes a record of persistence. Its central question is not only whether JJ was innocent, but how a system could keep moving after so many doubts had been raised. The episodes work through eyewitness testimony, jury memory, police reports, appeal denials, and the conduct of a conviction integrity unit. Each detail matters. A juror recalls an elderly witness pointing to the wrong person in court, while another interview examines the pressure surrounding the killing of a retired police officer. The reporting makes room for legal analysis, but it keeps returning to human consequence. JJ speaks about life in a cell, the loss of dreams, and the effort to preserve his mind when his body was confined. Maria, JJ’s mom, carries a quieter pain, driving to Sing Sing for birthdays and hoping to live long enough to see justice done. The show’s emotional power comes from that accumulation. Nothing feels quick. Nothing feels easy. Later episodes track JJ’s release, his first year outside, and the shock of receiving an apology from President Biden. The story also expands through The Sing Sing Files, connecting JJ to David Lemus, Omadil Hildago, Eric Glisson, Johnny Hincapie, and Richard Rosario. Those cases move the series beyond a single verdict and toward a broader indictment of wrongful incarceration. The tone remains restrained, even when the facts are devastating. It uses interviews and documents as pressure, not ornament. Promotional previews from other Dateline projects appear in the feed, including death-row and missing-person cases, but the core identity is investigative and intimate. Letters from Sing Sing suits listeners who want reporting that can sit with uncertainty, grief, and accountability for a long time. It is a story about freedom, but also about what cannot be returned.
Made for: For listeners drawn to investigative true crime, criminal justice reporting, and stories that favor records and testimony over sensational pacing. It especially suits people interested in wrongful convictions, prison life, and the long aftermath of exoneration.
What sets it apart: The series is built on a rare long relationship between reporter and subject, with prison visits, calls, letters, and case materials gathered over many years. It feels less like a recap of a case than a living archive of how justice is delayed, resisted, and sometimes forced into view.
In December of 2002, NBC News producer Dan Slepian got a letter from a New York state prison. It was from a man serving 25 years to life for murder. And it ended with a desperate plea: look into my case. Jon-Adrian “JJ” Velazquez had been convicted of killing a retired New York City police officer, but he insisted he didn’t do it. Dan was skeptical. Prosecutors said five eyewitnesses had sworn JJ was the killer. Could five people be wrong? So Dan began to dig. What he discovered went far beyond just JJ’s case. And 20 years later, it’s still unfo...
Based on 6 episodes we listened to · September 2026
A patient wrongful-conviction account that connects disputed evidence and legal procedure to the lasting human cost of imprisonment.
Letters from Sing Sing follows Jon-Adrian "JJ" Velazquez's case across years of imprisonment, legal challenges, release, and reentry. Dan Slepian keeps the wrongful-conviction reporting close to the people living through it, pairing his reconstruction of the evidence with prison…
A juror gets mistaken for the gunman, and suddenly your faith in eyewitness certainty needs a lawyer.
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Short reviews from the PlayNext desk, based on the episodes we processed.
A prison story about purpose, memory, and the cost of survival.
Letters from Sing Sing follows wrongful conviction and exoneration with a clear focus on the mental work of staying whole in prison. Dan Slepian builds the episode through memory, testimony, and the longer fight for justice, and the mother’s warning, the book about meaning, and…
A steady ending that keeps the focus on recovery, family, and the long tail of injustice.
The final episode of Letters from Sing Sing stays with JJ after release, following his first year of freedom, the family reunion, and the White House meeting with President Biden. It does not rush the emotional beats.
A quiet prison story about appeals, time, and a mother who keeps showing up.
A birthday drive to Sing Sing becomes a plainspoken look at what an appeal can cost a family. Maria is on her way to see JJ on his 40th birthday, and the piece keeps its attention on the years between his devastating letter, the judge's denial of a hearing, and the appeal that…
A careful wrongful-conviction story about hope, delay, and the records that keep the case moving.
This episode tracks a man who remains inside Sing Sing after NBC aired an investigation into his case, and the real force comes from the delay between renewed hope and the slow machinery of post-conviction review.
A measured wrongful-conviction story about how pressure can harden uncertainty into a verdict.
It tracks the Harlem murder case with a clear eye for how a heater-case response, a strange identification, and a witness with an obvious incentive to cooperate can all widen the doubt around J.J.'s conviction.
Ashley Flowers and Britt Prawat revisit unsolved murders and cold cases as new evidence surfaces.
Two friends narrate true crime cases, listener stories, and archived live-tour shows.
Multi-part true crime narration, from BTK's Wichita letters to Australian cold-case disappearances.
ABC Audio's Theranos fraud series that also introduces its other true-crime podcasts.
LA Times reporter Christopher Goffard traces con man John Meehan's fraud, abuse, and its Bravo TV adaptation.
Dan Slepian opens with a short update on the show's first year and the attention it has drawn.
The final episode centers on JJ's first year after release.
Dan Slepian follows J.J.
Maria drives to Sing Sing on November 11, 2015, to see JJ on his 40th birthday.
The episode returns to Sing Sing in October 2012, where JJ takes in the fallout from a televised investigation that had lifted his hopes.
J.J.'s case opens under pressure.