Criminal Justice

A Serial Liar Likely Sent an Innocent Man to Florida's Death Row. Why Is He Still There?

Paul Skalnik was a career criminal and jailhouse snitch whose unbelievable testimony secured dozens of convictions—including that of Jim Dailey, who awaits execution.

Billy Binion | 7.31.2026 3:15 PM

Share on FacebookShare on XShare on RedditShare by emailPrint friendly versionCopy page URL Add Reason to Google

Media Contact & Reprint Requests

Jim Dailey (Florida Department of Corrections)

https://dts.podtrac.com/redirect.mp3/d2h6a3ly6ooodw.cloudfront.net/reaontv_audio_8393919.mp3

1x 1.1x 1.25x 1.5x 2x 3x

How Jailhouse Snitches Send Innocent People to Death Row

Paul Skalnik's resume was long. At different times throughout his life, he was a Southwest Airlines executive, a high-powered attorney, a Vietnam War hero, and one of the most prolific jailhouse snitches in American history. Even more impressive is that only the latter was actually true.

How is it possible for those things to coexist?

Such is one question at the heart of Catch the Devil, the New York Times best-selling book by Pamela Colloff. The author chronicles Skalnik's storied career as prosecutors' trusted tool for securing dozens of convictions—despite that the state was well aware Skalnik himself........

© Reason.com