Chained Birds is a true crime memoir that explores the wrongful conviction of a man accused of a prison stabbing and the legal battle that follows his conviction. Why was this an important story for you to share?

I always wanted to tell my version of the horrific experimental prison program at Lewisburg Prison that NPR and The Marshall Project reported on in 2016. But it took me more than a decade to finally write CHAINED BIRDS because, for better or worse, I had become part of the story, and that gave me pause. Once I accepted that the story would be more than just a prison exposé told through the eyes of an insider, I began to weave my personal experiences, feelings, and interactions into the journalistic account. Luckily this genre-blending merger of true crime and memoir was the version of CHAINED BIRDS my publisher, WildBlue Press, was interested in.

What were some goals you set for yourself as a writer in this book?

My number one goal was to finally commit to writing the book despite being imperiled by association with the inmate at the heart of the story, Kevin Sanders. Kevin’s attorney and my high school friend, Scott Powell, brought me into the criminal case over a decade ago, and there has been a security risk for all three of us during the odyssey, especially for Kevin. So, I had to figure out a way to tell the story truthfully but keep the story participants as safe as possible. My publisher, WildBlue Press, has allowed me to write under a pseudonym and change some names and locations in the story to help with security.

What is one thing you found in your research that surprised you?

I mentioned NPR and The Marshall Project as two news outlets that teamed up in 2016 to report on the abuses at Lewisburg Prison’s Special Management Unit (SMU). CHAINED BIRDS reveals similar and previously unknown abuses but also adds two new elements to that canon of work. The first was to trace the origin of the SMU creation to the tragic murder of an Atwater Prison correctional officer in 2008 by two inmates who were drunk on prison wine. This devastating event was key to developing the SMU program under the misguided belief that housing the “worst of the worst” federal prisoners in one location would keep the other prisons safer.

The second new element introduced in CHAINED BIRDS is that of corruption. Thanks to my inside sources, I was able to tell the stories of officer corruption, including collusion with prison gangs. Motives included personal officer vendettas and the perceived need to plot with gang leaders to try and keep the peace.

What is one thing you hope readers take away from your story?

Primarily, I hope readers come away with a better understanding of some of the failings of our criminal justice and federal prison systems. Incarcerated men and women are often a forgotten segment of our society and have little agency. I have tried to give a voice to a small sector of the voiceless, and I hope CHAINED BIRDS adds to that conversation.

Childhood abuse and addiction are other themes in the book, and I’ve had early readers tell me those sections resonated with them, or they identified with one or more of the abuse victims. I hope I have done justice to such characterizations and understanding.

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