THE SING SING FILES: One Journalist. Six Innocent Men. A Twenty-Year Fight for Justice.
From Dateline producer Dan Slepian, The Sing Sing Files tells the true story of six men wrongfully convicted — and the decades-long effort to prove their innocence.
ABOUT THE BOOK
For more than two decades, investigative journalist Dan Slepian followed six men who maintained their innocence from inside Sing Sing prison.
What began as a single story became a twenty-year journey — uncovering flawed evidence, unreliable witnesses, prosecutorial misconduct, and a justice system resistant to admitting error.
The Sing Sing Files is a gripping account of persistence, friendship, and the power of journalism to expose the truth.
SELECTED PRAISE & PRESS
John Grisham
“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.”
Bryan Stevenson
“A remarkable, moving account about the lives of people who have been too easily discarded, forgotten, and condemned. These compelling narratives help us understand why we should do better when it comes to punishment and justice in America.”
Barry Scheck
“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.”
Vanity Fair
“You couldn’t blame anyone wrongfully incarcerated for trying to get ahold of Slepian, whose dogged reporting for NBC’s Dateline has helped free several innocent men and is the subject of his new book, The Sing Sing Files. It’s a riveting read — and an infuriating one.”
Kirkus Reviews (Starred Review)
“A gripping, highly effective true-crime synthesis… an excellent addition to the body of work documenting a pervasive societal injustice.”
Publishers Weekly
“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.”
Associated Press
“Slepian’s book is compelling and emotionally wrenching, starkly illuminating the unimaginable suffering of the wrongly imprisoned and their families.”
Library Journal
“This audio will appeal to listeners seeking an immersive, impassioned nonfiction work about the miscarriages of justice and one man’s mission to help.”
BookBrowse
“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.”
Audible
“A must-listen on the horrors of the criminal justice system…”
The Book Review Crew
“An NBC Dateline producer’s cinematic account of two decades navigating a broken criminal justice system to help free six innocent men.”
WATCH/LISTEN
AUTHOR
Dan Slepian is an award-winning journalist at NBC News and Senior Investigative Producer at Dateline. For 30 years, he’s built trust in prison visiting rooms, followed trails, and has turned long-shot stories into national reckonings.
In 2025, Slepian won the News & Documentary Emmy for The Sing Sing Chronicles. In 2024, he was named a Pulitzer Prize finalist for Letters From Sing Sing, an eight-episode podcast that debuted at #1 on Apple’s top charts. His debut book, The Sing Sing Files: One Journalist, Six Innocent Men, and a Twenty-Year Fight for Justice, was published in September 2024.
Dubbed a “TV news gumshoe” by The New York Times, Slepian’s investigations have helped solve cold cases, exonerate the innocent, and inspire legal reform. At NBC, he’s produced dozens of documentaries, hidden-camera investigations, and breaking news specials — driven by relentless reporting, access, and empathy. He developed and helmed several limited series—including The Widower, a five-hour docuseries chronicling his 13-year investigation into a man accused of murdering multiple wives.
Slepian is best known for uncovering wrongful convictions and exposing systemic flaws in the U.S. criminal legal system. His work on these issues has earned more than a dozen Emmy nominations for stories that challenged institutions and changed lives.
For more than a decade, he has collaborated closely with anchor Lester Holt on justice-focused reporting. Their projects include Justice for All, a weeklong series that led to two Emmy-nominated specials: Life Inside, in which they spent two nights on death row at Angola Prison in Louisiana, and a historic town hall inside Sing Sing, the first ever broadcast from a maximum-security prison.
In 2018, Slepian secured exclusive access to rapper Meek Mill on the day of his high-profile release from prison. Dateline’s special Dreams and Nightmares featured Holt’s interview with Mill, just hours after he walked free.
Slepian’s reporting has been featured by outlets including The New York Times, Meet the Press, PBS NewsHour, Today, Vanity Fair, NBC Nightly News, Rolling Stone, People, Vibe, The Hollywood Reporter, and the podcast Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard.
Slepian is also a co-founder of the nonprofit Voices From Within, which provides storytelling and mentorship for incarcerated and formerly incarcerated individuals. Before joining NBC News, Slepian began his career with the Phil Donahue talk show.
