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I used to work as a journalist in the Midwest, covering the police beat and criminal courts for a series of newspapers. So, naturally, my fascination with true crime grew out of reporting on murder trials, gruesome assaults, and the case of a serial rapist where nascent DNA testing played a role in the conviction.
In 2011, I was asked to write about federal inmate Kevin Sanders and the brutal, torturous conditions at Pennsylvania’s Lewisburg Prison. I then became part of the legal team that defended Kevin against unjust assault charges. Because of my exclusive access to Kevin and his first-person accounts, I heard the stories behind the shutdown of one of the bloodiest prison programs in the country. I remained Kevin’s friend and advocate for over a decade as he served time in various federal prisons. But I also became part of his odyssey by association: two separate prison gangs have tried to kill him, and two of us in Kevin’s inner circle were warned we were collateral damage, that we were potential targets because we knew Kevin and his whereabouts. I didn’t sign up for that level of involvement in Kevin’s case or life (who would?), and that’s partly why it took me ten years to write the true crime memoir that finally became Chained Birds.
My experience has led me to support criminal justice reform and innocence work for the wrongfully convicted, which I sometimes blog about at CarlaJeanConti dot com. The website will feature bonus stories, original artwork, and character updates related to Chained Birds. For all the latest news about the book and these bonus posts, you can sign up for the blog newsletter there.
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