Stories about wrongful convictions open our eyes to systemic injustices in the U.S. court system. Maurice Chammah, a staff writer at The Marshall Project, compiles his recommended longreads within the genre.
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Nothing but Pitch Black Darkness
“Ahmed Rabbani’s journey through the U.S. dark prison system to Guantánamo.”
The Faker
“When the show began, a constellation of folks who’d known Alfredo, including many people he’d screwed over, mingled over his work. At first he’d turned art into crime. Now he was turning his crime into art. Prison was ‘the best residency Alfredo could have dreamed of,’ says Fuentes.”
After Killing His Cousin, Clyde Meikle Found Purpose in Prison Through Service. Now He’s Asking to Go Home.
Incarceration led to a rebirth for Clyde Meikle.
Hope in the Desert and the Week’s Top 5
“Talking with them I realized how many people, like me, had run away from hard conversations. How we did it on purpose, and sometimes without realizing. How people who needed to talk waited for invitations to spit out the hard stuff, and how good it felt when they did.” Happy Friday, y’all. Summer is drawing […]
Qualified Immunity: How ‘Ordinary Police Work’ Tramples Civil Rights
“There is little to no accountability behind the closed doors of police work.”
The Top 5 Longreads of the Week
An unjust police killing. Nature reclamation in the fossil fuel era. Surviving a bear attack. The underbelly of the antiquities trade. And for a well-earned dessert, the legacy of the world’s first breakout video game. 1. Police Killed His Son. Prosecutors Charged the Teen’s Friends With His Murder Meg O’Connor | The Appeal & Phoenix […]
The Top 5 Longreads of the Week
Our Top 5 stories of the week from Maurice Chammah, Benoît Morenne, Amanda Gefter, Jane Miller, and Cheryl Katz and our first-ever audience award.
The Top 5 Longreads of the Week
This edition highlights stories by Robin Kaiser-Schatzlein, David Gauvey Herbert, Kit Chellel, Ashley Stimpson, and Nate Rogers.
Best of 2023: All of Our Number One Story Picks
Every piece we selected as our top story of the week in 2023, all in one place.


