After three years in Europe, former journalist Carla Conti* just wanted to settle her family into the suburbs of Philadelphia. But her high school friend Scott Powell, a lawyer handling a brutal prison stabbing case, needed a favor. Before she knew it, Carla became part of the defense team and mired in the terrifying world of federal prison gangs, penal abuse, and corruption.

Then, when she agreed to write a tell-all book on the violent machinations behind the court case — with Scott’s client as an inside source — the stakes turned deadly. Two different prison gangs issued “hit orders” against the prisoner she and Scott now considered a friend, and the journalist and defense attorney were imperiled by association.

CHAINED BIRDS is a true crime memoir of Carla’s 10-year journey to advocate for federal inmate Kevin Sanders and help him re-enter society after prison. But the mission came at a cost as Carla struggled to balance her own, Scott’s, and Kevin’s safety while writing an exposé on the horrific conditions that led to the shutdown of an experimental prison program in Lewisburg, Pennsylvania.

This thrilling, frightening book depicts a journey filled with unlikely friendships, invisible victims of prison abuse, failings in our criminal justice system, and redemption through storytelling.*Carla Conti is a pen name used by the author to protect her real identity for fear of retribution.