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Jon-Adrian “JJ” Velazquez, a man with medium-toned skin, sits in a theater with red seats.
Life Inside February 28, 2025
‘Sing Sing’ Actor Jon-Adrian ‘JJ’ Velazquez Reflects on the Power of Prison Theater
JJ Velazquez served nearly 24 years for a murder he didn’t commit. A unique prison arts program transformed him into an actor and activist.
By Jon-Adrian Velazquez, as told to
A film festival poster reads: "Sing Sing Film Fest," in large letters at the top. The background of the poster is red, and there is a black and white image of a hand holding up a film reel in the center.
News and Awards September 19, 2024
The Marshall Project to Host Inaugural Sing Sing Prison Film Festival
Incarcerated jury will choose best criminal justice documentary.
By The Marshall Project
Incarcerated jury members interview Contessa Gayles, director of “Songs From the Hole,” and Mindy Goldberg, producer of “Daughters,” at the Sing Sing film festival.
News and Awards October 24, 2024
Documentary Film ‘Songs From the Hole’ Wins Incarcerated Jury Award at Sing Sing
The Marshall Project hosts the first-ever film festival at the historic New York prison.
By The Marshall Project
A Black man wearing glasses, dark green prison pants and a tan sweater is holding a microphone as he asks a question to a woman in the foreground, who is sitting on a chair with her back turned to the camera. Alongside the man sit four other men in the same green prison pants and a variety of shirts. Members of the audience look on from their blue-colored seats.
Feature October 29, 2024
Incarcerated Men at Sing Sing’s First Film Festival Reflect on Movies, Justice, and Change
The diverse group of jurors shared how their favorite films have shaped their perspectives on community and life behind bars.
By and
News June 9, 2016
The Scandal-Singed DAs Who Want to Be Judges
For decades, California prosecutors covered up unethical deals with jailhouse informers.
By
A Black man wearing a green shirt and pants against a blue background sits with a notebook in his hand. Behind him, from left to right, a man in orange wears blue headphones covers his face, a woman with blonde hair sings, and a person in olive green plays the violin. There is also a gray Walkman with orange headphones on the left and an orange keyboard on the right.
Life Inside April 18, 2025
How I Became an Opera Composer in a Maximum Security Prison
I learned music theory through workshops at New York’s Sing Sing prison. I earned my stripes by singing for boisterous crowds of incarcerated critics.
By Joseph Wilson
A magazine called News Inside set against a grainy tan backdrop. The cover says “Sing Sing Film Fest" and features a raised hand holding a film reel. Light refracted through prison bars shines onto the magazine.
News Inside December 11, 2024
Lights, Camera, Action
News Inside Issue 18 provides a glimpse into the first-ever Sing Sing Film Festival.
By
People at Sing Sing Correctional Facility in Ossining, New York, in 2016.
Life Inside April 14, 2020
“Covid Breached the Wall and Killed A Man Yesterday”
Trying to stay alive in Sing Sing.
By Dino Caroselli, as told to
The Language Project April 12, 2021
I Was Trained to Call Prisoners a Word They Hated
As correctional officers, we are conditioned to call prisoners ‘inmates.’ But at Sing Sing, where I worked for 25 years, that was as bad as calling them a snitch.
By Kevin Byrd, as told to
Inmates watch television at the Missouri River Correctional Center, a minimum-security facility in Bismarck, N.D., which has based some of its programs on those found in a prison in Norway.
News October 31, 2017
I Did It Norway
Some American prisons are singing a European tune.
By
In the past few years, more than a thousand cameras have been installed throughout Attica Correctional Facility.
Feature April 9, 2018
Spying on Attica
How nearly 2,000 cameras tamed America’s most notorious prison
By
A group of people walk through a dark hallway with prison cells on either side.
Feature June 9, 2022
Rethinking Prison Tourism
Many former prison sites draw on the spooky and salacious to entertain visitors. But some are having second thoughts.
By Hope Corrigan
Jason Naradzay, far left, plays violin as part of the Riverside Quartet at Sing Sing Correctional Facility.
Life Inside July 5, 2018
Learning Violin Helped Me Survive Prison
How one former inmate found healing—and himself—through music.
By Jason Naradzay
An illustration shows a yellow spotlight on a man in a green prison suit, standing in front of a book case.
Life Inside November 3, 2023
Prison Is a Dangerous Place for LGBTQ+ People. I Made a Safe Space in the Library.
As a queer teen, Michael Shane Hale found belonging in books. Here’s how he built a place where everyone can read in peace in prison.
By Michael Shane Hale
John J. Lennon, a White man with short brown hair, wears a green uniform while holding his glasses in his right hand. He sits in front of a window that has blinds covering it.
Q&A November 4, 2025
A Leading Prison Journalist Upends Our Obsession With True Crime
John J. Lennon tells Bill Keller that he “wanted to tell a different story about the guilty” in his new book.
By
An illustration with blue, green, purple and pink tones shows pointed shapes and a Black man in a blue jumpsuit listening to music through headphones while lying on a bed. The calendar in front of him shows the month of December with the date of the 31st circled.
Life Inside January 1
How a Long Sentence Changed New Year’s Into a Time of Reflection, Not Celebration
This is what New Year’s looks like after 20 years in prison.
By Joseph Wilson
Feature June 1, 2015
After Lethal Injection
Three states, three ways to kill a human being.
By , and
Andrew Goldstein is in Sing Sing Correctional Facility in Ossining, N.Y. He was sentenced to 23 years in prison for pushing Kendra Webdale to her death on subway tracks in Manhattan and is scheduled to be released on Sept. 14.
Feature September 3, 2018
A Turbulent Mind
Andrew Goldstein’s crime set in motion a dramatic shift in how we care for the violent mentally ill. Including for himself—when he’s released this month.
By and
Life Inside May 2, 2019
What I Learned When I Googled My Students’ Crimes
“I wondered if I knew more of their history if I would still view them the same way.”
By Kimberly Malone
John J. Lennon, a journalist and prisoner at Sing Sing Correctional Facility in Ossining, New York, in 2018.
Life Inside November 13, 2019
What I Think About When I Think About Freedom
“It’s conflicting, I imagine, to hear how someone who once took a life thinks about living a good life.”
By
Life Inside December 12, 2019
I Did My 25 Years. Now I’m Fighting Another Sentence—Deportation
I barely remember my birthplace, Jamaica, and I have no family left there. Frankly, I’m terrified.
By Colin Absolam as told to
Former President Donald Trump, wearing a yellow tie with a dark-red graphical pattern, sits at a courtroom table, his hands folded, looking into the camera, while his defense attorney sits alongside him and a court officer stands watch behind them.
Feature June 4, 2024
A Jury of Trump’s Peers Weighs In
We asked 12 people with criminal convictions what they think of the verdict in Trump’s hush money trial.
By The Marshall Project
Protesters, wearing puffer jackets, beanies, gloves and pants, stand on the side of the road holding signs such as: "70% doesn't equal 100%," "Trying not to die in 2025," and "Essential not expendable." In the background, a road sign reads "Greene Correctional Facility."
Closing Argument July 26, 2025
New York’s Prison Guard Strike Ended Months Ago. For Some, Life-Threatening Effects Persist.
Staffing shortages mean incarcerated people are not getting vital medical care, programming and other services.
By
An illustration shows a bearded man with medium skin tone, wearing a white T-shirt and blue pants, sitting in the shadow of prison bars from a window. He is looking at two people of differing skin color holding hands in front of him.
Life Inside February 20
In Prison, Optics Are Everything
Assumptions and rumors determine the social hierarchy and the wrong friendship can be dangerous.
By Joseph Wilson
An illustration shows figures walking along next to a barbed wire fence, a large pile of paperwork, a person in a green prison uniform lying down with a book on top of them, a guard holding a baton stick and a woman in a red suit waving her hand while standing at a podium.
Analysis March 3
It’s Dangerous to Feel This Desperate: How to Ease the Chaos in New York’s Prisons
When the governor doesn’t commute sentences, and the legislature won’t act, the carrot-and-stick system of rehabilitation disintegrates.
By
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