S20 Ep21: Chained Birds: Justice, Survival, & The Fight For Redemption Behind Bars w/Carla Conti!
Darkness Radio
Darkness Radio
4.8 • 3.2K Ratings
🗓️ 18 February 2025
⏱️ 131 minutes
🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS
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Summary
After three years in Europe, former journalist Carla Conti* wanted to settle her family in 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 was 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 consider a friend, and the former 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 safety, along with Scott’s and Kevin’s, while writing the exposé on the horrific conditions that led to the shutdown of an experimental prison program in Lewisburg, Pennsylvania.
On today's TCT, Carla tells us all about the struggles Kevin went through inside the federal prison system, why he had trouble coping on the outside, The parallels between Kevin's deterioration and the deterioration of her life and the lives of the people around her, and much more!
Get your copy of "Chained Birds...;" here: https://wildbluepress.com/chained-birds-carla-conti-true-crime/
PLUS: DUMBÂ CRIMES AND STUPID CRIMINALS WITH JESSICA FREEBURG!
Check out the video of the Peruvian policeman making drug busts in a capybara costume during Valentine's Day:Â https://www.bbc.com/news/videos/cjr8wexly4xo?utm_source=fark&utm_medium=website&utm_content=link&ICID=ref_fark
Check out Jessica Freeburg's website and order her new books:Â https://jessicafreeburg.com/books/
and check out Jess on Tik Tok:Â https://www.tiktok.com/@jessicafreeburgwrites
There are new and different (and really cool) items all the time in the Darkness Radio Online store at our website! . check out the Darkness Radio Store!  https://www.darknessradioshow.com/store/
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Welcome into the best in True Crime Podcasting. This is True Crime Tuesday. I'm your host, Tim Dennis. |
| 0:28.0 | We have a very, very good show for you today, folks. I got the pleasure of reading a great book over the weekend. |
| 0:35.4 | And I'm excited to tell you about it. It's called Chain Birds. It's written by Carla Conti. |
| 0:40.3 | And it is a wonderful look. |
| 0:42.4 | I don't know if I should say wonderful. |
| 0:43.7 | It's a disturbing look, if anything, inside the federal prison system. |
| 0:49.5 | Carla did something incredibly bright. |
| 0:52.3 | She told the story of an inmate inside that prison that she got to know |
| 0:59.4 | through a friend, a lawyer friend of hers. And it was a 10-year journey to advocate for federal |
| 1:06.5 | inmate Kevin Sanders and help him reenter society after prison. |
| 1:13.4 | We'll get into this story, folks. |
| 1:18.5 | And it is a horrifying story. |
| 1:19.7 | It's a bit of a tearjerker. |
| 1:26.5 | It is a story that is going to, I guarantee you, you're going to want to pick up this book. |
| 1:26.9 | It's going to get to you at times. |
| 1:28.8 | Just hearing about the conditions inside this prison, hearing what Kevin went through, |
| 1:33.7 | hearing what Carla went through, what Scott went through, hearing about their personal journeys throughout these 10 years is just absolutely heart wrenching. |
| 1:48.1 | I'm going to bring Carla in now. |
| 1:49.5 | We'll get to it because it's quite the story. |
| 1:52.7 | Carla Conti is a former journalist who covered police beats in criminal courts, |
| 1:56.7 | sparking her fascination with true crime. |
| 1:58.9 | Her exclusive access to federal inmate Kevin Sanders and his harrowing prison experiences |
... |
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