Four-Part Exposé Directed by Dawn Porter Follows the Decades-Long NBC News Investigation of Six Innocent Men, including Jon-Adrian “JJ” Velazquez Who Was Exonerated Today, Nearly 27 Years After His Wrongful Arrest
Premieres Nov. 23 on MSNBC at 9 p.m. ET
New York, NY, Sept. 30, 2024 – MSNBC Films will premiere The Sing Sing Chronicles, a four-episode documentary series produced by NBC News Studios, directed by Dawn Porter (John Lewis: Good Trouble, Gideon’s Army) and built on more than two-decades of original investigative reporting by NBC News journalist Dan Slepian on MSNBC over two nights on Nov. 23 and 24 at 9 p.m. ET. The docuseries will have its world premiere at DOC NYC in Nov.
With unprecedented access to one of America’s most well-known prisons, the series sheds light on the criminal justice system by following a journalist and a man convicted of murder and the connection they formed within the walls of Sing Sing Correctional Facility.
Using more than 1,000 hours of original footage filmed from 2002 to present day, The Sing Sing Chronicles centers around the agonizing journey of Jon-Adrian “JJ” Velazquez, who was wrongfully convicted of a 1998 murder of a retired NYPD officer and served nearly 24 years of a 25-to-life sentence. The investigative reporting on Velazquez’s case unearthed critical new evidence and raised significant questions about the prosecution’s case.
During the two-decade investigation, which began with Dateline NBC covering the case in 2002, Velazquez introduced Slepian to several other men who claimed to be innocent in unrelated homicide cases. His reporting on each of those cases helped lead to their exonerations, but Velazquez remained in prison until he was granted clemency and released on parole in 2021.
Today, Velazquez was exonerated when New York State Supreme Court Judge Abraham Clott vacated his conviction, nearly 27 years after his wrongful arrest. The decision came after the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office reviewed Velazquez’s case and consented to vacate the conviction.
The series reveals the odyssey of how Slepian came to discover the cases of six wrongfully convicted men who all served time at Sing Sing and expands on his reporting featured in the NBC News Studios podcast Letters from Sing Sing, recently recognized as a Pulitzer Prize finalist.
Series Director Dawn Porter emphasized the significance of the project, stating, “I began my film career documenting public defenders working in the criminal legal system. During that time I saw firsthand how difficult it is for anyone accused of a crime to truly get justice. But I could never have imagined the scope and scale of injustice captured by Dan Slepian’s cameras over the course of 20 years. This series allowed me to highlight the work of legal advocates, journalists and the remarkable men who let us tell their stories. We owe the greatest debt to reporters like Dan Slepian who do not turn away when they see injustice unfolding before them. It is an honor to help tell their story.”
“It has been a privilege for our entire team to be entrusted to tell the story of what these men and their families endured while serving a combined 115 years in prison for crimes they did not commit,” said Showrunner and Executive Producer Kimberley Ferdinando. “Eight years ago, Dan Slepian invited me to Sing Sing to meet JJ Velazquez and learn about his case. Since then, it has been an incredible honor to guide this urgent series into the world, and we could ask for no better partner than director Dawn Porter to bring this unflinching portrait of the criminal legal system to light. We are grateful to MSNBC Films for shining a light on the power of journalism and giving this series the platform it deserves.”
Amanda Spain, Vice President, Longform Acquisitions, MSNBC Films shared, “The Sing Sing Chronicles is a special series that we are honored to share with our audience at MSNBC. Dawn Porter’s cinematic eye has brought a powerful and unique lens, creating a series that is both important, impactful and also incredibly suspenseful. Dan Slepian’s tireless work helped solve an unjust mystery that spanned over two decades and eventually led to one of the most stunning endings I have ever seen.”
Since his release, Velazquez has become a vocal advocate for legal reform and a champion for those wrongfully convicted. He is the program director for the Frederick Douglass Project for Justice where he leads the organization’s National Prison Visitation Program. In addition to his real-life advocacy, Velazquez portrays himself in the acclaimed film Sing Sing, starring Colman Domingo, which depicts the facility’s Rehabilitation Through the Arts program.
The Sing Sing Chronicles will have its world premiere at DOC NYC in Nov. 2024. Episode one and two of The Sing Sing Chronicles airs on MSNBC Nov. 23, episode three and four on Nov. 24.
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For more information contact:
Elektra Gray
NBC News Studios & MSNBC Films
Sarah Teicher
NBC News
Sarah.Teicher@nbcuni.com
About MSNBC Films
MSNBC Films, a division of MSNBC, produces and acquires documentary features and short films for distribution across the NBCUniversal News Group platforms. MSNBC Films collaborates with top filmmakers to deliver a variety of thought-provoking films that reveal the humanity beyond the headlines, combining the extraordinary journalism of NBCUniversal News Group. For more information, please visit https://www.msnbc.com/films.
About NBC News Studios
NBC News Studios is a documentary production company inside NBC News. It partners with premier filmmakers and leverages the assets of its esteemed news organization to bring stories to the screen, including eight decades of television and radio archive, a global network of journalists, a world-class investigative team, and a rich trove of editorial IP. The team has decades of experience in documentary film and television and has been honored with multiple Emmy, Peabody and DuPont awards. Recent work includes Separated (Venice Film Festival, Telluride Film Festival) directed by Errol Morris, Every Body (Tribeca Film Festival/Focus Features) directed by Julie Cohen, Leguizamo Does America (MSNBC), The Disappearance of Shere Hite (Sundance/IFC Films) directed by Nicole Newnham and co-produced with This Machine; Diamond Hands: The Legend of Wall Street Bets (SXSW/MSNBC) from Drea Cooper and Zackary Canepari; the scripted mini-series The Thing About Pam (NBC) starring Renée Zellweger and produced with Blumhouse Productions and Big Picture Co. Upcoming projects include collaborations with directors Errol Morris and Dawn Porter. NBC News Studios co-sponsors Original Voices, an artist development and inclusion initiative for independent documentary filmmakers, in partnership with NBCU Academy. Recent Original Voices grantees include Sundance prize-winning Bad Press, Independent Spirit Award Truer Than Fiction winner Unseen, and Union, which premiered at the 2024 Sundance Film Festival in U.S Documentary Competition.
