Without a Lawyer, Inmates’ Pleas for Justice Have Been Ignored for Years by NY Officials

Without a lawyer, inmates’ pleas for justice have been ignored for years by NY officials

Self-represented prisoners face significant disadvantages when seeking justice through conviction integrity units, with some waiting over a decade for responses.

Over 50 Incarcerated New Yorkers Wrote to Us About Their Innocence…

This story is a collaboration between New York Focus and Columbia Journalism Investigations, an investigative reporting unit at the Columbia Journalism School. Terrell Eleby, a Brooklyn native incarcerated in New York’s Shawangunk Correctional Facility, wrote to a conviction review unit in Kings County in 2013, asking it to reinvestigate his murder and assault convictions. He claimed in part that police had threatened witnesses to keep them from…