How 5 Convicted Murderers Banded Together to Get Out of Prison

The New York Times, May 7, 2022: How 5 Convicted Murderers Banded Together to Get Out of Prison

“There were five inmates, all of them sent to prison for murder at the height of New York City’s violent-crime wave in the 1990s. Though their cases were completely unrelated, they all shared a single, fervent belief: Each one knew he had been wrongly convicted.

“One inmate in solitary confinement would stuff his ears with torn bedsheets so he could concentrate on drafting his appeals amid the chaos of the other prisoners’ yelling.

“Another fixed a broken electric typewriter and muffled it with a pillow so he could type legal correspondence in his cell all night.

“Another inmate’s activism and leadership attracted the support of prison administrators and celebrities like Martin Sheen and Alfre Woodard.

“Another gained his freedom after a theater volunteer connected him with a newspaper reporter.

“And it all started with an offhand comment that a Bronx homicide detective made to a television journalist about a fifth inmate, who was serving time for a murder that another man had committed.”