Exoneree Diaries

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 StatesCook 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 exonerees powerful story, Flowers vividly shows that release from prison, though sometimes joyous and hopeful, is not a Hollywood endingor an ending at all. Rather, an exonerees first unshackled steps are the beginning of a new journey full of turmoil and triumph.Based on Chicago Public Medias yearlong multimedia seriesa finalist for a national Online Journalism Awardthis narrative piece of investigative journalism tells profoundly human stories of reclaiming ones life, overcoming adversity, and searching for purposeat times with devastating consequences and courageous breakthroughs.