News, views and top stories in your inbox. Don't miss our must-read newsletter Sign up Thank you for subscribing We have more newsletters Show me See our privacy notice Invalid Email

Steven Avery's nephew Brendan Dassey is confident that he will be released from prison following the broadcast of Netflix show Making a Murderer.

In this video speaking exclusively to Mirror Online , Brendan's brother Brad, in the first part of our three-part interview, says he has been completely overwhelmed by the reaction of members of the public who have inundated with him with support.

And he's sent a thank you message to the thousands of supporters from around the world who have been showering him with attention and donating money to his prison commissary fund.

Brendan, 26, has been behind bars for 10 years, after he confessed to the rape and murder of 25-year-old Teresa Halbach on Halloween 2005.

He is serving a life sentence with a chance for parole in 2048 - making him 59 when is become eligible for release.

But Dassey - who was 16 at the time of his arrest - has become something of a cause célèbre along with his uncle Steven Avery following widespread controversy over claims the pair were framed.

(Image: Brad Dassey)

Speaking from his home in Wisconsin, Brad, 32 - who wrote a rap song about his brother's innocence - says Brendan is in good spirits and is settling into life at a new prison.

Read more:

Brendan was moved 125 miles from Green Bay Correctional Institution to maximum security Columbia Correctional Institution last month.

But photographer Brad says he's settling in well and wants to reach out to everyone who has sent him messages.

He said: "I just want to say that he thanks everyone from around the world for supporting him and donating to his commissary so he can get things.

"He is receiving tonnes of letters every week and he's writing people back and he apologises if he can't get back to you right away, I mean he is receiving a lot of letters.

"Brendan is actually happy at his new place, he said that he has more leniency on watching TV, taking showers and movies and stuff.

"I sent him about four letters recently with a bunch of information in it and I copied and pasted a bunch of messages that people wanted him to see and I sent it off on my letter.

(Image: Google Maps)

"There was about 16 to 18 different comments that people were just encouraging him and loving on him and telling him he will be free soon and just to hang in there.

"I just want to keep encouraging him and keeping him in good spirits because it's definitely not fun being in jail and confined in a small space, it's horrible it's an absolutely horrible way to live."

Brendan was removed from school in March 2006 and interrogated for four hours by investigators Tom Fassbender and Mark Wiegert without either his mother and attorney present.

He was never allowed to go home instead being remanded in custody and eventually being sentenced to life in prison.

Tens of thousands of Netflix viewers believe that the teen was coerced into confessing to helping his uncle Avery in the rape, murder and burning of Halbach's body.

And they say the teen was coerced by investigators to confess to the crime - later going back on his claims in court.

On the day he was questioned he told his mother: "They got in my head."

Read more:

Brad says: "I think they took advantage of Brendan's cognitive behaviour.

"You know, I think Brendan was a target because as everybody says his IQ level is pretty low, he doesn't comprehend right away, like everybody else.

"I mean, coming from a brother that has attention deficit disorder myself, I don't understand things first hand right away either, and I don't think that there is anything wrong with that because, I think it just takes us a little bit longer to learn certain things, but once we learn them we know them very well."

Brad added that having looked over the 10 years of the show he feels sorry for his younger brother.

He added: "It was such a heartbreaking thing to see that he thought he was going to go home the next day.

"He thought he was he was going to go to school that same day, he's got a class project due, and a lot of people around the world have been confessing to me that they just broke out and cried and they were extremely heartbroken over that.

"I wish I had seen that stuff way back too."