A Dream Big Buffalo effort · Built by someone who lived it · Open now
Wrongfully accused. Wrongfully convicted.
Clear the charge. Clear the name.
Get the FREEDOM back.
Once you're inside those walls you can barely get information, let alone ask anyone for help — a phone call costs more than you have, and hygiene and food are their own fight. So we do the outside work: pull the records, build the packet, find counsel who'll take it, keep you fed and reachable while it's pending, and stand up a real footing for the day you walk out. No strings attached. No cost, ever.
Health and Happiness are human rights. 🌎
Everywhere · For everyone · No strings attached
Caring for anyone in need across the globe with love
A real footing. An honest and fair chance to heal. And a real opportunity to make something better of and for themselves — something to be proud of.
People and families split by incarceration, wrongful conviction, addiction, foster care, hospitals, deportation and I.C.E. detention — every one of them counts here. Every person, every family, every country, every language.
Help for anyone in need — because care and love have no limits 💕
Separated by incarceration, a wrongful charge, addiction, foster care, a hospital, deportation or I.C.E. detention — or facing any other crisis? Tell us who needs help and we start the records, the calls and the paperwork today. Free, forever, no strings attached.
Always free. No papers, no income check, no waiting list.
I need help
For you or someone you love. Give us the names, where everyone is, and what is keeping you from getting care. A real person reads every one.
Request helpCalling from inside a facility? 1 (844) 360-0359 — toll-free.
I want to help someone in need
Attorneys, translators, advocates, caseworkers, faith groups, neighbors — every person we help needs hands and hearts.
Join the care effortLooking for counsel near you? Find legal help.
Two ways in — both free
Ask for help, or bring your organization alongside ours. No fees, no income checks, no waiting lists.
Reach out for help
Legal trouble, a child in danger, housing, records, food, care — send it in and it gets triaged the same day. Urgent cases route straight to a human.
1-844-360-0359 — 24/7Partner with us
Advocacy groups, attorneys, shelters, schools, clinics, employers and funders. Apply to partner, or nominate an ally organization and we'll send the introduction letter.
Partnership never costs a family anything.
Calling from inside a facility
1 (844) 360-0359Toll-free — free to the caller
A call from a jail, prison, hospital, or treatment center costs the caller nothing. Every call is announced as recorded, transcribed automatically, sorted (urgent, legal, help, records), and filed for same-day review — nothing said on that line gets lost.
Say your full name, the facility, your docket or case number if you have one, and what you need. Families and facility staff can use the same line. If the facility's phone provider blocks toll-free calls, we are asking each one to add this number to its approved/free-call list — meanwhile use the intake form. If you are in immediate danger, call 911.
People we're opening files for
These are real names from real conversations. We're collecting dockets, authorizations, and records. As we get more details, each file moves from named → intake → records → counsel.
Open a case file securely
One private form collects the name, docket and court details plus written consent for records requests and counsel outreach. Free, no account, nothing shared with police, prosecutors or the facility. Family, an attorney or an advocate can complete it for someone inside.
Start the secure case intakeOr the 2-minute quick intakeDBATR case staff: open the case dashboard to see the status and timestamps of every record request, or the case status tracker for each person's authorizations sent, requests submitted and responses received.
Lester Scarborough
namedDocket and county pending. Records path starts as soon as we have a signed authorization.
Shawn Arcara
namedDocket and county pending. Records path starts as soon as we have a signed authorization.
If you or someone inside needs a file opened, send a name, county, and docket number — that's enough to start. More names are being added tomorrow.
Six things that actually move a case
Pull the record
Nothing moves until the paperwork is in hand. We help request the case file, transcripts, discovery, lab reports, body cam, jail calls and medical records — and we index every page so a lawyer can read the case in an hour instead of a month.
Get real counsel on it
Innocence projects, law school clinics, appellate and pro bono attorneys, and conflict-office referrals. One packet, sent to everyone who could take it, until somebody says yes.
Reach the outside
Inside, a phone call costs money you don't have and a letter takes weeks. We act as the outside hands: we make the calls, send the requests, chase the clerks, and report back so family isn't the only lifeline.
Basic human needs inside
Hygiene, commissary, phone time, stamps, extra food, glasses, medication follow-up. A person fighting a false charge shouldn't also be fighting hunger. Funded quietly, no application to us.
Clear the name publicly
A dismissal that nobody knows about doesn't get you hired. Record sealing and expungement paths, correction requests to outlets, and a verified statement page you can hand to an employer or landlord.
A footing to rebuild
ID, phone, clothes, a ride, a place to sleep, a job that doesn't flinch at a docket number, and recovery or trauma care if that's part of it. Freedom without a footing is just a different cage.
How we pull records for someone inside
Records only come out lawfully, and every path starts with the person's own signed authorization — or a motion in the case where the records matter. Nothing is obtained by pretext. That's not a slowdown; it's what keeps the record usable as evidence. With a signature on file, this is the list we work through:
- Court file, indictment and full docket from the clerk of the court
- Complete trial and hearing transcripts from the court reporter
- Discovery, police reports, body cam and 911 audio
- Lab, forensic and medical examiner reports, plus the underlying bench notes
- Jail and prison records: medical, disciplinary, phone and visit logs
- Prior counsel's entire file — you own it, and they must turn it over
- Preservation letters so nothing gets destroyed while the request is pending
Family on the outside can start this on someone's behalf — we'll send the authorization form in, walk them through signing it, and take it from there.
The building itself — and everybody in it
You can't provide care in a facility that can't provide water. The conditions inside are a care problem, a safety problem and a due process problem at the same time — and they land on the people held there and the people working there.
Drinking water and plumbing
Clean water is not a privilege. We document conditions — water, plumbing, heat, ventilation, mold — and route them to oversight, counsel and press with dates and detail instead of rumor.
Equipment and systems
Medical equipment that can actually treat people, and record systems from this decade. Outdated software means lost meds, missed court dates and lost releases. That's fixable with grants and partners.
Care, not warehousing
Detox, mental health, trauma care and medication continuity for people held pretrial who have not been convicted of anything.
The officers too
Correction officers work short-staffed doubles inside the same broken building, and they carry the same trauma home. Peer support, confidential counseling and safe staffing are part of this ask — not an afterthought. Nobody in that building gets left out.
If you're the one inside — or the one waiting
Send a name and a docket number and that's enough to start. We'll open the file, order what we can, and tell you plainly what we find — good or bad. We don't grade anyone's past before we help them. Help first, love first, no loyalty tests.
Dream Big Buffalo is not a law firm and nothing here is legal advice. We gather records, organize cases and connect people to licensed attorneys and accredited innocence organizations.