Exoneree Diaries: The Fight for Innocence, Independence, and Identity (Hardcover) (ISBN-13: 9781608465873)

Through intimate portraits of four exonerated prisoners, journalist Alison Flowers explores what happens to innocent people when the state flings open the jailhouse door and tosses them back, empty-handed into the unknown.

From the front lines of the wrongful conviction capital of the United States--Cook County, Ill.--these stories reveal serious gaps in the criminal justice system. Flowers depicts the collateral damage of wrongful convictions on families and communities, challenging the deeper problem of mass incarceration in the United States. As she tells each exoneree's powerful story, Flowers vividly shows that release from prison, though sometimes joyous and hopeful, is not a Hollywood ending--or an ending at all. Rather, an exoneree's first unshackled steps are the beginning of a new journey full of turmoil and triumph.

Based on Chicago Public Media's yearlong multimedia series--a finalist for a national Online Journalism Award--this narrative piece of investigative journalism tells profoundly human stories of reclaiming one's life, overcoming adversity, and searching for purpose--at times with devastating consequences and courageous breakthroughs.

Author: Alison Flowers
ISBN-10: 160846587X
ISBN-13: 9781608465873
Publisher: Haymarket Books
Language: English
Published: 06/21/2016
Pages: 288
Format: Hardcover
Weight: 1.05lbs
Size: 8.20h x 5.60w x 1.10d

Review Citation(s):
Kirkus Reviews 03/15/2016