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An American Prisoner's Wife
The Powerful, Poignant Story of Love, Courage, and Redemption from Death Row, Where an Indomitable Woman Challenged Corruption in Order to Free her Husband
When TV reporter Jodie Sinclair went to the Louisiana State Penitentiary, also known as the Death House at Angola, in 1981, she expected to report about the death penalty and leave. She never expected to fall in love. Billy Sinclair was an inmate at Angola, sent there for an accidental murder during a robbery gone wrong. After facing a trial which was skewed against him and being sentenced to death, he saw first-hand the corruption and abuse rife in the criminal justice system, and he began an unrelenting crusade for reform. When the pair married by proxy a year after meeting, Jodie took up Billy’s fight.
From then on, she lived with one foot in the outside world and one in the complex and dehumanizing bureaucracy of the prison world. This incredible memoir tracks her heroic twenty-five-year fight to save her husband from dying in prison, the professional setbacks she suffered for marrying a prisoner, and a pardons scandal in which she wore a wire for the FBI to help her husband expose corruption in the criminal justice system leading all the way to the governor's office, which put a target on Billy's back. It is the uplifting true story of a woman who stood by her man, and in doing so, exposed the horrors of our criminal justice system and became a voice for all those who have loved ones behind bars.
When TV reporter Jodie Sinclair went to the Louisiana State Penitentiary, also known as the Death House at Angola, in 1981, she expected to report about the death penalty and leave. She never expected to fall in love. Billy Sinclair was an inmate at Angola, sent there for an accidental murder during a robbery gone wrong. After facing a trial which was skewed against him and being sentenced to death, he saw first-hand the corruption and abuse rife in the criminal justice system, and he began an unrelenting crusade for reform. When the pair married by proxy a year after meeting, Jodie took up Billy’s fight.
From then on, she lived with one foot in the outside world and one in the complex and dehumanizing bureaucracy of the prison world. This incredible memoir tracks her heroic twenty-five-year fight to save her husband from dying in prison, the professional setbacks she suffered for marrying a prisoner, and a pardons scandal in which she wore a wire for the FBI to help her husband expose corruption in the criminal justice system leading all the way to the governor's office, which put a target on Billy's back. It is the uplifting true story of a woman who stood by her man, and in doing so, exposed the horrors of our criminal justice system and became a voice for all those who have loved ones behind bars.
400 pages, Hardcover
Published April 7, 2020
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
December 28, 2019
This definitely one of the best stories I've read in a while. While at the beginning of the story I wa literally questioning Jodie as in why she would willingly choose to have a partner in prison and not going to be released any.time soon. But, by the end of the book you as the reader will see the lengths of thier love and how far Jodie would go to get him released and to show all the corruption all the way to the governors office. Even going as far as to wear a wire for the sake of her husband. This is an against all odds kind of love story and a story of redemption! Definitely recommend and definitely a great story!
December 23, 2019
When you finish reading this book you will have come to not only know The Sinclair's but, no matter how you feel about the crime that was committed (and I do believe it was accidental), you have to respect and believe in the love these two have for each other. At first, I thought the same as everyone else in Jodie's life did..."what is she thinking?" but as time wore on I believed in their love and time proved it. I am happy they are both living long lives and it just goes to show you what is wrong with the justice system in this country.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews