The Work JJ Built Across Prison Walls

Education and peer leadership

During his wrongful incarceration, JJ earned an associate degree in 2012 and a bachelor’s degree in Behavioral Science in 2014, became a certified paralegal, supported Hudson Link students, served as a Columbia University teaching fellow, and became president of Latinos Unidos. As an elected liaison, he helped incarcerated people resolve concerns with the administration and build programs that could survive beyond any one person.

Mutual aid from inside

In 2007, JJ helped unite prison organizations to raise approximately $5,600 for Freeport Pride and support a customized van for Amory Sepulveda, a young Long Island shooting survivor living with paralysis.

He also supported an annual school-supply effort for children with incarcerated parents. The project recognized that imprisonment affects entire families and that practical support can preserve dignity and connection.

Forgotten Voices

JJ co-founded Forgotten Voices to connect incarcerated leaders, clergy members, elected officials, and community organizations. The network raised $8,000 from inside Sing Sing for community work and demonstrated that people in prison could be partners in addressing harm outside.

Hurricane Sandy relief

After Hurricane Sandy, JJ helped secure approval for an incarcerated-led relief fund intended to offset costs for New Yorkers whose homes and lives were damaged by the storm.

Voices From Within and CHOICES

JJ helped create Voices From Within, a multimedia education initiative addressing gun violence, accountability, incarceration, and the people harmed by both crime and punishment. CHOICES—Choosing Healthier Options In Confronting Every Situation—translated those ideas into workshops helping young people understand the consequences of everyday decisions.

TEDx Sing Sing

In 2014, JJ curated the first TEDx event held inside a New York State prison, creating a platform for incarcerated thinkers, educators, artists, and community partners to exchange ideas across the walls.

Theater as a form of freedom

JJ joined Rehabilitation Through the Arts after seeing incarcerated performers use theater to examine language, culture, and responsibility. In a 2025 first-person account for The Marshall Project, he described acting as a place to recover playfulness and humanity while living under the pressure of a wrongful conviction. The work later connected him to the ensemble film SING SING and to a public platform for changing how incarcerated people are seen.

Legal advocacy

As a trained paralegal, JJ helped other incarcerated people research claims, organize records, and pursue wrongful-conviction relief. The work continued after his release and became part of a broader public platform for people whose cases receive far less attention.

Work after release

JJ leads prison visits and public engagement as Director of Impact and Partnerships at the Frederick Douglass Project for Justice. The visits bring community members and public leaders into prisons for structured conversation with incarcerated people, making policy questions personal without reducing anyone to a conviction.

He also serves as co-founder and CEO of Voices From Within and Monumental Media, speaks about leadership and criminal legal reform, consults on media and community projects, and serves on the board of A Second U Foundation. These roles extend institutions and relationships he built during his wrongful incarceration; they are not a reinvention of his story.

SING SING and public impact

JJ appeared in the Oscar-nominated film SING SING and used its impact campaign to support prison screenings and public conversations about art, rehabilitation, and human dignity. TIME’s profile, “JJ Velazquez on Finding Freedom, From Sing Sing to Sing Sing”, connects that work to his exoneration and public storytelling. JJ’s Marshall Project account explains how theater, education, and advocacy became forms of agency; it also documents the February 2025 public reunion performance of “Breakin’ the Mummy’s Code.”

A new film project

In June 2026, Permut Presentations and NBC News Studios announced that a narrative feature based on JJ’s life and Dan Slepian’s reporting was in development. No release date was announced. Variety reported the project.