A Knock at Midnight: A Story of Hope, Justice, and Freedom

Evelyn Fulbright, the author’s mother, played a major role in shaping Barnett’s journey. It was because of Evelyn’s experience as a prisoner that Barnett felt so connected to the experiences of her incarcerated clients and truly understood their ordeal. Evelyn’s addiction caused Barnett great pain in her adolescent years, but she later came to understand it for what it was: an illness. Evelyn’s story educated Barnett about the reality of the War on Drugs and its true victims. Without those experiences as the child of an addict and the daughter of an incarcerated mother, it is unlikely Barnett would have had the same drive to fight mass incarceration.

As a child, Barnett thought of her mother as her hero. Evelyn was hard-working and earned her nursing certificate. Later, after Evelyn overcame her addiction and was released from prison, Barnett again admired her mother’s resilience and determination to regain her nursing credentials. Evelyn was with Barnett when she received the call that Sharanda Jones had been granted clemency. Mother and daughter were on their way to a Christmas party for Girls Embracing Mothers, the nonprofit they worked on together to benefit incarcerated mothers and their daughters. Barnett’s mother profoundly influenced her compassion and empathy for those separated from family. Barnett emphasizes the significance of Evelyn’s role in her life to stress the enormity of the loss for those daughters with mothers in prison.

Discovering Sharanda Jones in law school when researching women with life sentences for crack cocaine, Barnett was immediately struck by Sharanda’s similarity to her mother. In Barnett’s writing Sharanda comes to represent every Black woman. The specifics of her case and story, and the injustices of it, are reflected in the stories of Barnett’s later clients. Sharanda was the catalyst who launched Barnett into her night job, which she did pro bono.

As Barnett came to know Sharanda, she used that knowledge to portray not just Sharanda’s external beauty but also her internal beauty. She humanized Sharanda so the world could see her as a person, in contrast to the prison system that sought to dehumanize her. Barnett exposed Sharanda’s culinary and artistic talents, as well as her optimism and compassion. Sharanda mentored others in prison and took care of her quadriplegic mother Genice, who was also in prison. In this sense, Sharanda also exemplifies all that the world has lost by unjustly incarcerating so many people.

Born one year after the author, Barnett’s sister Jazz played a major role in her life. Barnett describes Jazz’s personality as the opposite of her own, as Jazz was carefree and fully herself. Barnett felt guilt when she left Jazz with their mother, whose addiction was out of control, to live with her paternal grandparents in the ninth grade. It would not be the last time Barnett felt guilt for fulfilling her own needs, as that guilt recurred in her corporate job. During Evelyn’s incarceration, the sisters bonded tightly. That relationship provided Barnett with a deep empathy for siblings separated by the prison system, such as Mike and Wayland Wilson.

Barnett’s paternal grandmother played a major role in her upbringing, especially during the years when Evelyn struggled with addiction. Barnett experienced love at the large family gatherings hosted by Mama Lena on Sunday afternoons. These gatherings provided solace to her both as a child and as an adult, when she was fighting for her clients’ lives. The meals themselves—soul food—were expressions of love. Barnett describes her family’s love and support to exemplify the important role it played in her life and the Black community.

Despite having only a third-grade education, Barnett’s paternal grandfather built a successful cement contracting business and owned a thriving after-supper club. He provided Barnett with words of wisdom and loving advice that she remembered for life. He and his wife, Mama Lena, raised seven sons and a daughter as the only Black family in a rural Texas town, and they did so successfully despite the obstacles they faced. He represents the persistence of the Black community and personifies King’s sermon to keep knocking, or as he put it, to keep steppin’.

Leland, the author’s father, and Evelyn split up after just a few years together. However, Leland and his large family greatly influenced Barnett’s character and life. Barnett loved her father and admired his strength in overcoming an addiction. A hard-working man, he encouraged Barnett to imagine possibilities and live to her fullest potential.

A childhood friend of Barnett’s from Paris, Texas, Keyon was the father of a little girl poised to graduate from Texas A&M when he was arrested on drug charges. After his conviction for conspiracy to distribute crack cocaine, Keyon was given a life sentence. Keyon’s father contacted Barnett while she was still in law school to enlist her help with his case. Even though Barnett was interested in corporate law, not criminal law, she worked Keyon’s case and was able to reduce his sentence, though not by as much as she had hoped. His case showed her the benefits and limits of retroactive changes to the sentencing guidelines.

A boyfriend of De-Ann Coffman, who had practically lived at Barnett’s grandparents’ house when the author was young, Mike was sentenced to life in prison on conspiracy charges to distribute crack cocaine. He had been involved in selling crack, but he did not make the amount of money that prosecutors alleged. An almost all-white jury convicted him in a case tinged with racism. Due to changes to sentencing laws, Barnett was able to reduce his sentence to four additional years. When she called to give Mike this good news, Barnett was struck by his disappointment. He had suffered greatly after a stroke in prison. Barnett uses his reaction to emphasize the difficulty of prison life and how each year there feels like an eternity to the incarcerated. When she later won his immediate release, Mike was given no help despite his disability. His story thus provides yet another example of the inhumanity of the prison bureaucracy.

The brother of Mike Wilson, Wayland was serving a 37-year sentence at a different prison from his brother. Since the two brothers were close, Barnett empathized with their 20-year separation given her own bond with Jazz. Wayland was convicted in the same trial as his brother. In prison this introspective man became a jailhouse lawyer, helping other inmates with their cases. Married and the father of two children, Wayland had been a truck driver before he crushed two discs in his back. To battle the resultant chronic pain, he smoked marijuana and later sold the drug to support his habit. He was not a big-time drug dealer, as alleged by prosecutors. In May 2016, President Obama granted Wayland clemency. He and his brother Mike were at last reunited.

Convicted along with the Wilson brothers, Donel was serving a 35-year sentence. Barnett’s first clemency petitions were filed for Donel and Sharanda. After a difficult childhood, Donel married and supported his family by working two jobs. When his hours were changed in one job, he got involved in distributing crack cocaine to make ends meet. He had a stellar record in prison, and in March 2015, President Obama granted him executive clemency. Donel was the first of Barnett’s clients to win clemency, and this success gave her cause for hope. However, clemency does not solve all problems, and Barnett uses Donel’s case to highlight the difficult process of leaving prison after clemency, as Donel had to spend time in a halfway house before truly regaining his freedom.

Serving 16 life sentences for conspiracy charges to distribute crack cocaine, Corey was convicted with no physical evidence and on an offense that dated back years. At the time of his arrest, he was on the cusp of extraordinary success as a promoter for the rapper Biggie Smalls. Barnett was not inclined to take another drug case, wanting to focus on her corporate job, but she agreed to speak with Corey. After hearing his story and recognizing his potential, Barnett agreed to represent him. In doing so, Barnett edged closer to choosing this work over corporate law. Corey encouraged Barnett to care for herself, causing her to realize how her clients enriched her and how this work fulfilled her. In 2016, President Obama granted Corey clemency.

Yet another young Black man serving a life sentence for a minor offense, Chris exposed both the banality of that outcome and the levels of oppression underlying it. A federal judge resigned his post over the injustice of Chris’s sentence, a highly unusual move that drew Barnett’s attention to the case. Chris had an extremely difficult life, living in poverty with an addicted mother, losing his brother to suicide, and suffering from sickle cell disease. He was brilliant but turned to selling drugs out of economic necessity. He remains in prison at the book’s conclusion, which highlights the loss the world incurs due to the incarceration of individuals convicted on nonviolent drug crimes.