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When Truth Is All You Have: A Memoir of Faith, Justice, and Freedom for the Wrongly Convicted
*With a foreword by John Grisham*
By the founder of the first organization in the United States committed to freeing the wrongly imprisoned, a riveting story of devotion, sacrifice, and vindication
Jim McCloskey was at a midlife crossroads when he met the man who would transform his life. A former management consultant, McCloskey had grown disenchanted with the business world; he enrolled at Princeton Theological Seminary at the age of 37. His first assignment in 1980 was as a chaplain at Trenton State Prison, where he ministered to some of the most violent offenders in the state. Among them was Jorge de los Santos, a heroin addict who'd been convicted of murder years earlier. De los Santos swore to McCloskey that he was innocent--and, over time, McCloskey came to believe him. With no legal or investigative training to speak of, McCloskey threw himself into the man's case. Two years later, he successfully effected his exoneration.
McCloskey had found his calling. He would go on to establish Centurion Ministries, the first group in America devoted to overturning wrongful convictions. Together with a team of forensic experts, lawyers, and volunteers--through tireless investigation and an unflagging dedication to justice--Centurion has freed 63 prisoners and counting,
When Truth Is All You Have is McCloskey's inspirational story as well as the stories of the unjustly imprisoned for whom he has advocated. Spanning the nation, it is a chronicle of faith and doubt; of triumphant success and shattering failure. It candidly exposes a life of searching and struggle, uplifted by McCloskey's certainty that he had found what he was put on earth to do.
Filled with generosity, humor, and compassion, it is the account of a man who has redeemed innumerable lives--and incited a movement--with nothing more than his unshakeable belief in the truth.
By the founder of the first organization in the United States committed to freeing the wrongly imprisoned, a riveting story of devotion, sacrifice, and vindication
Jim McCloskey was at a midlife crossroads when he met the man who would transform his life. A former management consultant, McCloskey had grown disenchanted with the business world; he enrolled at Princeton Theological Seminary at the age of 37. His first assignment in 1980 was as a chaplain at Trenton State Prison, where he ministered to some of the most violent offenders in the state. Among them was Jorge de los Santos, a heroin addict who'd been convicted of murder years earlier. De los Santos swore to McCloskey that he was innocent--and, over time, McCloskey came to believe him. With no legal or investigative training to speak of, McCloskey threw himself into the man's case. Two years later, he successfully effected his exoneration.
McCloskey had found his calling. He would go on to establish Centurion Ministries, the first group in America devoted to overturning wrongful convictions. Together with a team of forensic experts, lawyers, and volunteers--through tireless investigation and an unflagging dedication to justice--Centurion has freed 63 prisoners and counting,
When Truth Is All You Have is McCloskey's inspirational story as well as the stories of the unjustly imprisoned for whom he has advocated. Spanning the nation, it is a chronicle of faith and doubt; of triumphant success and shattering failure. It candidly exposes a life of searching and struggle, uplifted by McCloskey's certainty that he had found what he was put on earth to do.
Filled with generosity, humor, and compassion, it is the account of a man who has redeemed innumerable lives--and incited a movement--with nothing more than his unshakeable belief in the truth.
307 pages, Kindle Edition
First published July 14, 2020
153 people are currently reading
2456 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 119 reviews
September 7, 2022
The main narrative of this is very powerful and keeps you wanting to know more— minus points for weird interludes about the author’s sex life that were totally unnecessary and came off as misogynistic. Wish this guy had gotten a female editor— alas.
July 9, 2020
This book is fascinating for a variety of reasons. I had never heard of most of these cases of people wrongly accused and convicted. McCloskey came to his mission via a very circuitous route which he describes in alternating chapters. That was an effective method rather than chronologically. Usually I have read about death penalty cases. These were not for the most part, although one of the people who doesn't get save does get executed. McCloskey is still working on that case so he can be cleared posthumously. At the end of the book McCloskey give a list of what needs to be done to lessen if not stop the wrong convictions. Read along with A Knock at Midnight which focuses mostly on drug conviction and mandatory sentencing.
July 23, 2022
3.5 stars
This book covers deeply embedded problems in the criminal justice system that are deeply heartbreaking and moving. The author takes you through case after case in which there were so many injustices that it will make your blood boil. I was shocked by how each case had so many of the same components: strong alibis that were completely ignored, district attorneys and prosecutors showing a lack of interest in justice, way too much stock placed in eyewitness testimony, jailhouse confessions, and defendants lacking proper representation.
However, I will say there was a lot more about the personal life of the author than I really cared to know, which I felt like kinda took the focus off what people reading the book were actually interested in. All in all, solid but maybe had my expectations a little too high.
This book covers deeply embedded problems in the criminal justice system that are deeply heartbreaking and moving. The author takes you through case after case in which there were so many injustices that it will make your blood boil. I was shocked by how each case had so many of the same components: strong alibis that were completely ignored, district attorneys and prosecutors showing a lack of interest in justice, way too much stock placed in eyewitness testimony, jailhouse confessions, and defendants lacking proper representation.
However, I will say there was a lot more about the personal life of the author than I really cared to know, which I felt like kinda took the focus off what people reading the book were actually interested in. All in all, solid but maybe had my expectations a little too high.
September 6, 2020
For those who enjoyed Just Mercy and The Sun Does Shine, add this to the list. Each of McCloskey’s exonerations deserves its own book, but this is a great start.
February 23, 2025
A fascinating look at the American Justice System through the eyes of Jom McCloskey, one of the men who helped reform it.
The cases described in this book are shocking. Innocent people incarcerated for crimes that they did not commit and a system designed to keep them behind bars.
The cases described in this book are shocking. Innocent people incarcerated for crimes that they did not commit and a system designed to keep them behind bars.
August 10, 2020
This book was fine. Remember this is a memoir. I kept forgetting and would get irritated when the story veered away from the inmates Jim was helping to free. I felt some of his personal, non-inmate related stories had nothing to do with the work. Overall, fine read. Important to continue to learn about the imprisoned innocent. Didn't like the book that much, but greatly appreciate Jim's work.
July 30, 2025
I have struggled in the past with memoirs in which a person's strong faith leads to a presentation in which that individual is impossibly perfect. This was not the case with this memoir, which I wanted to read after reading Framed by J Grisham and J McCloskey. McCloskey writes in detail about his life and what led him to his decision to make his life's mission to help the wrongly convicted. He writes about his missteps, his pain, and times when he questioned his faith. But, really the book was not about him. It was about the many weaknesses in our criminal justice system. The use of coerced "witnesses" who lie to reduce their own sentences, the willingness to hide evidence to get a conviction, the belief that someone is guilty of one crime so it doesn't matter if they are convicted of an even bigger crime. Our world is better for having Jim McCloskey in it.
June 2, 2022
Great eye opening stories of those who were wrongly convicted! Some parts were fluff but moving overall and a good read for those interested in mass incarceration, forensic science, etc.
October 11, 2020
Jim McCloskey ran an innocence project for decades. This is his powerful and touching story, both personal and professional. For fans of "Just Mercy." 5/5 stars.
July 15, 2020
Don’t miss this book. Jim is a friend but his “tell it like it is” style is real. You can’t help but be inspired by his story, his faith, and his life’s work.
January 23, 2025
"Like most people in the late 1970s, I still believed in the inherent justice of the criminal justice system - that cops had no reason to lie, that prosecutors would never want to put an innocent person behind bars, that judges were interested in the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth.
I do not believe that now." ~ Jim McCloskey
There are no words to describe how excited I was when I found this book. Over the last few years, I have read many books regarding innocence cases but this was the first one that dealt with a layman getting the ball rolling for so many prisoners. For that reason alone, this book was intriguing.
There was a bit of skepticism on my part because McCloskey mentioned that he had trained as a minister and I was afraid that the overall tone would be rather religious. While there were some tones of Christianity, the author is completely honest of how his faith was challenged, and in many ways still is, by facing prisoners that have been wrongly accused and their trying path to freedom.
McCloskey presents various stories of him helping people gain justice. I appreciated that he had the courage to discuss a few cases where he was not successful, as well as, at least one case that the prisoner may have been lying about said innocence.
The reason I rated this four stars was because part of the book (mostly rotating chapters) McCloskey gets descriptive about his personal life. Much of his personal life I found as a bit of a distraction and not completely relevant. The only interpretation I have was to maybe show the reader that he was not always a do-gooder and how he was able to turn his life around and find the true meaning of his life.
Solid 4 stars, well worth the read!!
I do not believe that now." ~ Jim McCloskey
There are no words to describe how excited I was when I found this book. Over the last few years, I have read many books regarding innocence cases but this was the first one that dealt with a layman getting the ball rolling for so many prisoners. For that reason alone, this book was intriguing.
There was a bit of skepticism on my part because McCloskey mentioned that he had trained as a minister and I was afraid that the overall tone would be rather religious. While there were some tones of Christianity, the author is completely honest of how his faith was challenged, and in many ways still is, by facing prisoners that have been wrongly accused and their trying path to freedom.
McCloskey presents various stories of him helping people gain justice. I appreciated that he had the courage to discuss a few cases where he was not successful, as well as, at least one case that the prisoner may have been lying about said innocence.
The reason I rated this four stars was because part of the book (mostly rotating chapters) McCloskey gets descriptive about his personal life. Much of his personal life I found as a bit of a distraction and not completely relevant. The only interpretation I have was to maybe show the reader that he was not always a do-gooder and how he was able to turn his life around and find the true meaning of his life.
Solid 4 stars, well worth the read!!
April 5, 2023
Extremely important book written by the pioneer of the innocence movement, Jim McCloskey of Centurion. They have exonerated more than 65 innocent people in the 40+ years since it began. Each of these innocent people spent decades of time in prison for crimes they did not commit. I can’t imagine how hellish that must be. There is a lot of injustice in our criminal justice system, with people of color and people living in poverty suffering the worst fates. The book was fascinating and heartbreaking while also being very easy to read.
March 6, 2022
By far my favorite genre is memoirs as anyone looking at my list could tell. I've learned so much about how persistence and resilience and hope in the face in incredible obstacles can drive the human spirit. This memoir is chronicling the life's work of the author of freeing the innocent from prison. Through his own personal struggles he persisted in fulfilling what he felt to be his calling. It's so eye opening about the criminal justice system. Wow.
November 7, 2020
A very engrossing read. The repeated stories of injustice tug at your heart. I enjoyed the format of this book.... part-autobiography part-retelling of the history of his non-profit part-retelling of a dozen or more miscarriages of justice.
Be sure to read the epilogue. There are some great concluding remarks about police and legal reform.
Be sure to read the epilogue. There are some great concluding remarks about police and legal reform.
April 6, 2021
Excellent
August 19, 2021
Nowadays, the story of innocent people locked up in prisons and being released after decades of appeals is not unknown, but still too rare.
In 1980, Jim McClosky was going through a career change. He had been a business consultant when events in his personal life made him question his life choices. He enrolled in Princeton Theological Seminary and, as a punishment from a professor, was assigned to become a student chaplain to the most violent prisoners at Trenton State Prison. It was where he was meant to be.
Like most people without contact with prisoners or their families, he believed that people who are incarcerated are there because they did something wrong. It didn’t take him long to realize that was not always the case. People at all levels of the justice system can act or get others to act in ways that are guaranteed to lock up innocent people. One of the most common reasons is trying to clear a case as quickly as possible. They will conceal evidence, convince a witness (or someone pretending to be a witness) to lie or delay actions that can grant freedom after the original charge is found to be invalid.
As he began his journey, he quickly realized that witness testimony could be inaccurate. He began with one case and, by going through the trial transcripts and accompanying paperwork, discovered a great many errors. He also interviewed people involved with the original case and found many were willing to tell him their experiences, including the reasons why they lied. Many had never revealed that information before and McCloskey writes of how those confessions affected them.
In addition, he tells of how innocent people adjust to being incarcerated for long periods of time.
As a result of his experiences, he founded Centurion Ministries which works to free innocent prisoners. The Innocence Project, a national group doing similar work, was one outcome of his works.
WHEN TRUTH IS ALL YOU HAVE tells how much jailing innocent people costs taxpayers in financial settlements afterwards, which, of course, come nowhere near the cost to the individual involved. The Epilogue details ways the system is right, how it is wrong, and what can be done to correct int.
My only criticism of the book is the subplot, his personal life in arriving at his calling which includes a lot of unnecessary information about his missteps. They detract from the main story and could have been included in much less detail. My rating reflects that.
In 1980, Jim McClosky was going through a career change. He had been a business consultant when events in his personal life made him question his life choices. He enrolled in Princeton Theological Seminary and, as a punishment from a professor, was assigned to become a student chaplain to the most violent prisoners at Trenton State Prison. It was where he was meant to be.
Like most people without contact with prisoners or their families, he believed that people who are incarcerated are there because they did something wrong. It didn’t take him long to realize that was not always the case. People at all levels of the justice system can act or get others to act in ways that are guaranteed to lock up innocent people. One of the most common reasons is trying to clear a case as quickly as possible. They will conceal evidence, convince a witness (or someone pretending to be a witness) to lie or delay actions that can grant freedom after the original charge is found to be invalid.
As he began his journey, he quickly realized that witness testimony could be inaccurate. He began with one case and, by going through the trial transcripts and accompanying paperwork, discovered a great many errors. He also interviewed people involved with the original case and found many were willing to tell him their experiences, including the reasons why they lied. Many had never revealed that information before and McCloskey writes of how those confessions affected them.
In addition, he tells of how innocent people adjust to being incarcerated for long periods of time.
As a result of his experiences, he founded Centurion Ministries which works to free innocent prisoners. The Innocence Project, a national group doing similar work, was one outcome of his works.
WHEN TRUTH IS ALL YOU HAVE tells how much jailing innocent people costs taxpayers in financial settlements afterwards, which, of course, come nowhere near the cost to the individual involved. The Epilogue details ways the system is right, how it is wrong, and what can be done to correct int.
My only criticism of the book is the subplot, his personal life in arriving at his calling which includes a lot of unnecessary information about his missteps. They detract from the main story and could have been included in much less detail. My rating reflects that.
March 6, 2022
An excellent read. Both hopeful and angry. When Truth Is All You Have: A Memoir of Faith, Justice, and Freedom for the Wrongly Convicted is reminiscent of Actual Innocence: When Justice Goes Wrong and How to Make it Right and Just Mercy: A Story of Justice and Redemption with a group trying to right wrongs and get the innocent freed.
Jim McCloskey has written both a set of great stories, but also a bit of a memoir and that his life was a mess. Part saving the world and part coming to Jesus, this is a captivating read of a man finding both faith and his life's work almost by accident on both counts.
When Truth Is All You Have: A Memoir of Faith, Justice, and Freedom for the Wrongly Convicted is an angry read. Jim McCloskey insists he thinks the system is full of good people trying to do the proper job, but it is very evident that he does not have nearly enough faith in the system. s much as it is obvious he is happy for his successes, it is also very obvious that his losses bother him much more and even when it became not all of them were innocent.
This is a great read one not to be missed.
Jim McCloskey has written both a set of great stories, but also a bit of a memoir and that his life was a mess. Part saving the world and part coming to Jesus, this is a captivating read of a man finding both faith and his life's work almost by accident on both counts.
When Truth Is All You Have: A Memoir of Faith, Justice, and Freedom for the Wrongly Convicted is an angry read. Jim McCloskey insists he thinks the system is full of good people trying to do the proper job, but it is very evident that he does not have nearly enough faith in the system. s much as it is obvious he is happy for his successes, it is also very obvious that his losses bother him much more and even when it became not all of them were innocent.
This is a great read one not to be missed.
June 6, 2022
BIBLIOGRAPHIC DETAILS:
(Available in Print: COPYRIGHT: 7/14/2020; PUBLISHER: Doubleday--Illustrated edition; ISBN: 978-0385545037; PAGES: 320; Unabridged.)
(Available as Digital)
*This edition-Audio: COPYRIGHT: 7/14/2020; ISBN: 9780593215722; PUBLISHER: Penguin Random House Audio Publishing Group; DURATION: 10:25:22; PARTS: 10; Unabridged; FILE SIZE: 297330 KB
Film or tv: I don’t think so. Probably some online interviews though.
SERIES:
No
MAJOR CHARACTERS:
N/A
SUMMARY/ EVALUATION:
How I picked it: My husband and I listened to John Grisham's "The Guardians". The primary character in that novel was based on the author of this book, Jim McCloskey. While I was preparing the review for that book, I discovered the existence of this one, so I looked for an audio version and found it through the Los Angeles Public Library's Overdrive app.
I was worried that this would be dry compared to Grisham's novel--and as I listened to Grisham's Forward, McCloskey's Note and First Chapter, I worried that I'd been correct--that we were in for lots of generalities and summaries--- but no, that first chapter is a bit more like an Introduction than anything else, but as we continued along, it broke into a very well told chronological narrative of McClosky's life, of how he got started attempting to free innocent prisoners, how those prisoners came to be in prison, the evidence suggesting they shouldn't be, and the struggles against a resistant tide of law enforcers, district attorneys, actual criminals, communities, and judges. And sprinkled in-between are stories from Jim's own personal life struggles.
We came away feeling deep sympathy for each convict whose struggles Jim relays and agreeing that there are far too many wrongful convictions, and flaws in our American Justice system, which, aside from being too hasty to convict, is hideously inadequate at recognizing or acknowledging failures, and all-together inept at preventing corruption within its ranks.
AUTHOR:
James (Jim) McCloskey: “McCloskey learned of De Los Santos in 1980 while a seminary student at Princeton Theological Seminary in Princeton, New Jersey. McCloskey used his own funds to investigate De Los Santos' claim of innocence. He located the chief witness against De Los Santos, who recanted his false trial testimony. McCloskey then hired Paul Casteleiro, a Hoboken lawyer, to write the writ to bring De Los Santos' case back into court. A U.S. District Court judge overturned the conviction and in 1983 De Los Santos was freed.
Centurion is the first organization to investigate cases of wrongful convictions in the US and Canada. In 1987, California businesswoman, Kate Germond, joined McCloskey and together they built an organization that has secured the release of 63 (as of 15 October, 2019) wrongly convicted men and women from all across the United States and Canada.[2]
McCloskey retired in May 2015 and Germond is now the Executive Director of Centurion. Centurion continues to seek exoneration of wrongly convicted people through a thorough field investigation..” __Wikipedia
Philip Lerman: "Philip Lerman has been the national editor of USA Today, co-producer of "America's Most Wanted," and executive producer of PBS's "Made in Spain." He is the author of Dadditude and the co-author of numerous nonfiction books. A native of the Bronx, New York, he lives in Washington, DC." __From BookBrowse.com
NARRATOR:
Jim Frangione" "Jim is the voice of many of Dennis Lehane’s books (The Drop, World Gone By and Live By Night), JR Ward's popular Black Dagger Brotherhood series and her new spinoff Legacy Series, also Spencer Quinn's Chet and Bernie Mysteries, as well several popular new novels by Christine Feehan. Jim has narrated over 300 titles, was selected as one of AudioFile Magazine’s “Best Voices of 2015” and “Best Audiobooks of 2020” and has received numerous Earphones Awards, including the recent titles: The Sinner, by JR Ward, Fifty-Two Stories, a collection of Chekhov’s short stories, and The Bohemians, by Ben Tarnoff. Jim was nominated for an Audie Award for fiction and was just recently nominated for a Voice Arts Award in the Mystery category for his narration of Scents and Sensibility by Spencer Quinn."__From JimFrangione.com
Jim was the perfect narrator for this.
GENRE:
Non-fiction; Biography; Autobiography; True Crime; Religion & Spirituality
LOCATIONS:
United States
TIME FRAME:
1980's to 2018
SUBJECTS:
Incarceration; Wrongful conviction; Innocence; Justice System; Court System; Law enforcement; Corruption; Prisons; Violence
DEDICATION:
"To my brother, Richard McCloskey,
and my sister, Lois McCloskey
In memory of our mom and dad,
Mary Fisher McCloskey and James C. McCloskey"
SAMPLE QUOTATION:
From Chapter One:
"My work with Jorge de los Santos began ten years before DNA evidence came into use as a way to prove innocence and thirteen years before the founding of an extremely effective organization known as the Innocence Project, which has used DNA evidence to free hundreds of innocent inmates.
Like most people in the late 1970s, I still believed in the inherent justice of the criminal justice system—that cops had no reason to lie, that prosecutors would never want to put an innocent person behind bars, that judges were interested in the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth.
I do not believe that now. What I have seen over the last forty years has shown me exactly the opposite. Many days, I wondered how it was possible the system had become so corrupt. And many nights, I looked up at the sky and wondered how, if there were a God, that God could possibly let these people suffer so. Some nights, I still do. So this is the story of how I learned what a cruel, mindless, mean machine the justice system can be. How, in trying to combat evil in the world, the system can become just as evil—more so, because it is evil done in the name of all of us.
But this is also the story of faith. How I learned to look that evil in the eye and still understand there is good in the world. And how, if you allow it, you can become a catalyst for that good.
I want to tell you the stories of some of the horrible injustices I’ve seen, and how we’ve managed to right some of those wrongs—including freeing two inmates from Texas’s infamous death row. One of them was just eleven days away from execution. The other, just six. And I’ll be honest and admit when we went wrong: I’ll tell you about the inmates that Centurion fought for because I believed they were innocent, but later found out they weren’t. I also want to tell you of some of the terrible injustices we’ve seen that we could never unravel—that despite our best efforts we were unable to free innocent people from prison because of a justice system too cold to care. I want to confess to you how deeply that shook my faith. And how, in the end, that faith remains; beaten, certainly; battered, often; changed, irrevocably; but still, in the end, faith remains. Because through it all I learned that there is hope. There is always hope."
RATING:
5 stars.
STARTED READING – FINISHED READING
5-19-2022 to 6-3-2022
(Available in Print: COPYRIGHT: 7/14/2020; PUBLISHER: Doubleday--Illustrated edition; ISBN: 978-0385545037; PAGES: 320; Unabridged.)
(Available as Digital)
*This edition-Audio: COPYRIGHT: 7/14/2020; ISBN: 9780593215722; PUBLISHER: Penguin Random House Audio Publishing Group; DURATION: 10:25:22; PARTS: 10; Unabridged; FILE SIZE: 297330 KB
Film or tv: I don’t think so. Probably some online interviews though.
SERIES:
No
MAJOR CHARACTERS:
N/A
SUMMARY/ EVALUATION:
How I picked it: My husband and I listened to John Grisham's "The Guardians". The primary character in that novel was based on the author of this book, Jim McCloskey. While I was preparing the review for that book, I discovered the existence of this one, so I looked for an audio version and found it through the Los Angeles Public Library's Overdrive app.
I was worried that this would be dry compared to Grisham's novel--and as I listened to Grisham's Forward, McCloskey's Note and First Chapter, I worried that I'd been correct--that we were in for lots of generalities and summaries--- but no, that first chapter is a bit more like an Introduction than anything else, but as we continued along, it broke into a very well told chronological narrative of McClosky's life, of how he got started attempting to free innocent prisoners, how those prisoners came to be in prison, the evidence suggesting they shouldn't be, and the struggles against a resistant tide of law enforcers, district attorneys, actual criminals, communities, and judges. And sprinkled in-between are stories from Jim's own personal life struggles.
We came away feeling deep sympathy for each convict whose struggles Jim relays and agreeing that there are far too many wrongful convictions, and flaws in our American Justice system, which, aside from being too hasty to convict, is hideously inadequate at recognizing or acknowledging failures, and all-together inept at preventing corruption within its ranks.
AUTHOR:
James (Jim) McCloskey: “McCloskey learned of De Los Santos in 1980 while a seminary student at Princeton Theological Seminary in Princeton, New Jersey. McCloskey used his own funds to investigate De Los Santos' claim of innocence. He located the chief witness against De Los Santos, who recanted his false trial testimony. McCloskey then hired Paul Casteleiro, a Hoboken lawyer, to write the writ to bring De Los Santos' case back into court. A U.S. District Court judge overturned the conviction and in 1983 De Los Santos was freed.
Centurion is the first organization to investigate cases of wrongful convictions in the US and Canada. In 1987, California businesswoman, Kate Germond, joined McCloskey and together they built an organization that has secured the release of 63 (as of 15 October, 2019) wrongly convicted men and women from all across the United States and Canada.[2]
McCloskey retired in May 2015 and Germond is now the Executive Director of Centurion. Centurion continues to seek exoneration of wrongly convicted people through a thorough field investigation..” __Wikipedia
Philip Lerman: "Philip Lerman has been the national editor of USA Today, co-producer of "America's Most Wanted," and executive producer of PBS's "Made in Spain." He is the author of Dadditude and the co-author of numerous nonfiction books. A native of the Bronx, New York, he lives in Washington, DC." __From BookBrowse.com
NARRATOR:
Jim Frangione" "Jim is the voice of many of Dennis Lehane’s books (The Drop, World Gone By and Live By Night), JR Ward's popular Black Dagger Brotherhood series and her new spinoff Legacy Series, also Spencer Quinn's Chet and Bernie Mysteries, as well several popular new novels by Christine Feehan. Jim has narrated over 300 titles, was selected as one of AudioFile Magazine’s “Best Voices of 2015” and “Best Audiobooks of 2020” and has received numerous Earphones Awards, including the recent titles: The Sinner, by JR Ward, Fifty-Two Stories, a collection of Chekhov’s short stories, and The Bohemians, by Ben Tarnoff. Jim was nominated for an Audie Award for fiction and was just recently nominated for a Voice Arts Award in the Mystery category for his narration of Scents and Sensibility by Spencer Quinn."__From JimFrangione.com
Jim was the perfect narrator for this.
GENRE:
Non-fiction; Biography; Autobiography; True Crime; Religion & Spirituality
LOCATIONS:
United States
TIME FRAME:
1980's to 2018
SUBJECTS:
Incarceration; Wrongful conviction; Innocence; Justice System; Court System; Law enforcement; Corruption; Prisons; Violence
DEDICATION:
"To my brother, Richard McCloskey,
and my sister, Lois McCloskey
In memory of our mom and dad,
Mary Fisher McCloskey and James C. McCloskey"
SAMPLE QUOTATION:
From Chapter One:
"My work with Jorge de los Santos began ten years before DNA evidence came into use as a way to prove innocence and thirteen years before the founding of an extremely effective organization known as the Innocence Project, which has used DNA evidence to free hundreds of innocent inmates.
Like most people in the late 1970s, I still believed in the inherent justice of the criminal justice system—that cops had no reason to lie, that prosecutors would never want to put an innocent person behind bars, that judges were interested in the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth.
I do not believe that now. What I have seen over the last forty years has shown me exactly the opposite. Many days, I wondered how it was possible the system had become so corrupt. And many nights, I looked up at the sky and wondered how, if there were a God, that God could possibly let these people suffer so. Some nights, I still do. So this is the story of how I learned what a cruel, mindless, mean machine the justice system can be. How, in trying to combat evil in the world, the system can become just as evil—more so, because it is evil done in the name of all of us.
But this is also the story of faith. How I learned to look that evil in the eye and still understand there is good in the world. And how, if you allow it, you can become a catalyst for that good.
I want to tell you the stories of some of the horrible injustices I’ve seen, and how we’ve managed to right some of those wrongs—including freeing two inmates from Texas’s infamous death row. One of them was just eleven days away from execution. The other, just six. And I’ll be honest and admit when we went wrong: I’ll tell you about the inmates that Centurion fought for because I believed they were innocent, but later found out they weren’t. I also want to tell you of some of the terrible injustices we’ve seen that we could never unravel—that despite our best efforts we were unable to free innocent people from prison because of a justice system too cold to care. I want to confess to you how deeply that shook my faith. And how, in the end, that faith remains; beaten, certainly; battered, often; changed, irrevocably; but still, in the end, faith remains. Because through it all I learned that there is hope. There is always hope."
RATING:
5 stars.
STARTED READING – FINISHED READING
5-19-2022 to 6-3-2022
January 31, 2025
Found this after reading Framed by John Grisham and Jim McCloskey at the end of last year (It was my fav nonfiction book of the year). Although there is a good bit of overlap between the two books in terms of stories of exonerated prisoners, this one contains details of McCloskey's life and how he found himself at the forefront of Centurion Ministries.
I really appreciated the honesty McCloskey brought to this, detailing moments in his life that I'm sure he's not proud of and putting it out for the world to see. It gave the book a much more personal feel than Framed and kept me reading when I came to stories I had already read before.
I loved this book so much. It brought me to tears. It made me angry and then it put my heart back together again in the end. So many stories of injustice and incompetence that resulted in so many losing the best years of their life. For nothing. Reading through the stories of exonerated prisoners and how they are coping with what happened to them has made me question my own thoughts on forgiveness and what it means to truly forgive and be free.
Perhaps most importantly, it has made me think about what changes we need to make to our justice system and unfortunately, how those necessary changes are being overshadowed by politicized polarity on both sides of the aisle. The real issues aren't even on the table being discussed by anyone, but hopefully one day they will be, if people can become educated by books like these about what's really going on on a daily basis.
This book isn't perfect, but it has stuck with me long after reading and for that, I give it 5 stars.
I really appreciated the honesty McCloskey brought to this, detailing moments in his life that I'm sure he's not proud of and putting it out for the world to see. It gave the book a much more personal feel than Framed and kept me reading when I came to stories I had already read before.
I loved this book so much. It brought me to tears. It made me angry and then it put my heart back together again in the end. So many stories of injustice and incompetence that resulted in so many losing the best years of their life. For nothing. Reading through the stories of exonerated prisoners and how they are coping with what happened to them has made me question my own thoughts on forgiveness and what it means to truly forgive and be free.
Perhaps most importantly, it has made me think about what changes we need to make to our justice system and unfortunately, how those necessary changes are being overshadowed by politicized polarity on both sides of the aisle. The real issues aren't even on the table being discussed by anyone, but hopefully one day they will be, if people can become educated by books like these about what's really going on on a daily basis.
This book isn't perfect, but it has stuck with me long after reading and for that, I give it 5 stars.
July 27, 2021
"In 2012 the National Registry of Exonerations was established... to keep track of the exonerations that have taken place since 1989. By their count, more than 2,500 men and women have had their convictions reversed. Of those, 123 had been sentenced to death.
"Think of that. If not for the innocence movement, states would have killed 123 innocent people in thirty years. Four times, every year, for three decades, we, the people of the United states, would have killed an innocent person. To me, this simple fact is the greatest argument against the death penalty. Because think, for a moment, about all the innocents behind bars who did not get to meet someone from Centurion Ministries, or the Innocence Project... Think, for a moment, of all the innocents who have died. IT HAS TO GIVE ANY CIVILIZED SOCIETY PAUSE."
Jim McCloskey's memoir starkly and most compellingly documents his long career working to bend the arc of history toward justice, by telling the stories of several of the exonerees -- before, during and after their imprisonment -- even before the advent of DNA analysis, to rescue many people who had been wrongly convicted.
If you have a conscience, you won't regret the time you spend reading it.
"Think of that. If not for the innocence movement, states would have killed 123 innocent people in thirty years. Four times, every year, for three decades, we, the people of the United states, would have killed an innocent person. To me, this simple fact is the greatest argument against the death penalty. Because think, for a moment, about all the innocents behind bars who did not get to meet someone from Centurion Ministries, or the Innocence Project... Think, for a moment, of all the innocents who have died. IT HAS TO GIVE ANY CIVILIZED SOCIETY PAUSE."
Jim McCloskey's memoir starkly and most compellingly documents his long career working to bend the arc of history toward justice, by telling the stories of several of the exonerees -- before, during and after their imprisonment -- even before the advent of DNA analysis, to rescue many people who had been wrongly convicted.
If you have a conscience, you won't regret the time you spend reading it.
October 19, 2020
Jim McCloskey finds his calling when he begins an organization to free prisoners who have been wrongly convicted. After serving in the military and earning a master of divinity degree he is searching for a meaningful life. This is a memoir, so it details some of his earlier life, but the meat of the story describes how he and the organization he founds work to get freedom for innocent victims of miscarriages of justice. I knew that innocent people are sent to prison, but detailed here are some of the ways it can happen. There are police, investigators and prosecutors who overlook or deliberately threaten witnesses to give false testimony. There are judges who are averse to upending an earlier decision. There are fellow prisoners who tell of "confessions" in order to get time reduced. It takes months and sometimes years for the dedicated people of Centurion Ministries to track down all of the people who were involved in the wrongful conviction. Jim McCloskey and a very small staff began their project, and it has now continued for many years and has only grown through support and determination of many dedicated people.
April 14, 2021
As a fan of Bryan Stevenson and “Just Mercy,” I was ripe for another book about working for freedom for innocent people on death row. Equally excruciating and exhilarating, Jim McCloskey's "When Truth is all You Have" tells the stories of people who are wrongly convicted and the efforts of the Centurion Ministries to free them. It is incomprehensible that people sit on death row for decades when they have been convicted in trials involving lying, made-up confessions, shoddy evidence, testimonies in exchange for leniency and other nefarious practices. On the other hand, finally freeing--often after many years of research--these people is profound. I was also impressed by the coping mechanisms that many of these men and women had developed as they lived day by day in the brutal prison system. That the wrongly accused involve a large percentage of minority prisoners is a foregone conclusion. McCloskey’s personal backstory--told in chapters sprinkled between cases--prior to doing this work is equally fascinating. These triumphant (and failed) stories of Centurion Ministries will influence my thinking and my heart for a long time.
December 2, 2024
Totally torn on this review. The three stars is for the actual stories of those who were wrongly convicted and received justice (or not). I really enjoyed getting to know the people and finding out what became of them. However, I don't think I could recommend this book due to the author's life sprinkled in. It totally distracted from the main story being told. The book opens with a warning about foul language and I figured, yeah, it's about being in prison, but I never thought it would be coming from the author, who also repeatedly mentions he's a minister. That is the part I just couldn't get past. For someone who liked to remind me throughout the book that he was a minister, his life was a complete contrast (a stripper for his "going away to seminary" party??) It felt like he just used his minister title to get what he wanted. He often mentioned how people mistook him for a priest and would confess to him, thus helping him to solve a crime. This could have been a great book about our justice system and where it falls short and what to do about it if the author left out his own life story.
January 2, 2026
The stories about the convictions were super readable and moving at times. (That’s not including the very obviously guilty man that duped the author into blindly defending him even though DNA proved him guilty.) But what I really couldn’t stand was the constant bragging from the sort author about his sexual exploits. His hatred for women is so profound and so prominent in the text. The way he speaks about the very sex workers he frequented is disturbing and disrespectful. He barely seems to think of them as people. They are evil and immoral but he, the john who pays for sex regularly, is merely a flawed person on a bad path. He never writes about a woman he was romantic with in a way that shows respect or care—even the few women he didn’t have to pay to spend time with him. I wish he would’ve written into Penthouse with his sex stories (or simply added them to his personal diary) and saved this book for stories of his work with the wrongly convicted. His hard work is clearly a bid to cancel out his horrible behavior in the karmic universe, but maybe we readers didn’t need to know that.
January 19, 2026
Actually, I knew a lot about McCloskey's work because of other writers like Grisham, Hagarty, and Stevenson. But it was good to read the first-person account from the one so many see as the original patron saint of the convicted innocent. But what I really took away from reading this book was how vitally important it is not to judge. Because if I had only been introduced to him as a man who had no qualms about having an affair with a married woman, and someone who frequented prostitutes - I probably would have written him off as someone I wouldn't care to know. But this man had his epiphany, and then did the thing that so few people do after having their epiphanies, he went out and lived a righteous life, doing the hard, thankless work of fighting the injustices inherent in the system. With DNA now in standard use, I am hopeful that his work becomes less necessary. But there will always be the need to stand up for those abused by our imperfect systems, and hopefully people like Jim McCloskey who are brave and selfless enough to take up the work.
September 6, 2020
Tugging at the heartstrings of all of those innocents who are wrongfully committed, this tale is told by a man of “faith” who admittedly has lapsed often.
Perhaps it took someone who had strayed and then rededicated himself to his religious beliefs to be able to understand and navigate the quagmire which is the US’s judicial system. A little heavy on the religiosity, my heart aches for those who lost so much of their time lives to being jailed; then to be set free with after decades with no reintroduction to the outside world. It also sheds light on the question of jail, death row and the legal system.
Those who are innocent literally lose years of their lives and then struggle to re-acclimate.
Others in jail have what those who haven’t committed any crimes struggle to gain - a roof, three square, cable, gyms, libraries, and classes.
There is no consistency.
There is nothing but grey.
But someday, may there be justice for all.
Perhaps it took someone who had strayed and then rededicated himself to his religious beliefs to be able to understand and navigate the quagmire which is the US’s judicial system. A little heavy on the religiosity, my heart aches for those who lost so much of their time lives to being jailed; then to be set free with after decades with no reintroduction to the outside world. It also sheds light on the question of jail, death row and the legal system.
Those who are innocent literally lose years of their lives and then struggle to re-acclimate.
Others in jail have what those who haven’t committed any crimes struggle to gain - a roof, three square, cable, gyms, libraries, and classes.
There is no consistency.
There is nothing but grey.
But someday, may there be justice for all.
Read
September 24, 2020Jim McCloskey had grown enchanted with the business world and enrolled in seminary at the age of 37. His first assignment was as a chaplain at Trenton State Prison in New Jersey in 1980. There he met Jorge de los Santos, a heroin addict who had been convicted of murder. Jorge kept insisting he was innocent, and, over time, McCloskey believed him. With no legal or investigative training, McCloskey was able to exonerate de los Santos and win his freedom.
McCloskey went on to found Centurion, the first organization in the U.S. committed to freeing the wrongly imprisoned. This biography is difficult to read at times as McCloskey details extreme failures of the justice system, but it is also a chronicle of faith, humor, and compassion for the downtrodden. By any standard, McCloskey led an interesting life and biography readers will want to check this one out.
Fun fact: John Grisham's novel, the Guardians, was loosely based on McCloskey's work.
McCloskey went on to found Centurion, the first organization in the U.S. committed to freeing the wrongly imprisoned. This biography is difficult to read at times as McCloskey details extreme failures of the justice system, but it is also a chronicle of faith, humor, and compassion for the downtrodden. By any standard, McCloskey led an interesting life and biography readers will want to check this one out.
Fun fact: John Grisham's novel, the Guardians, was loosely based on McCloskey's work.
October 25, 2020
I first heard of Jim McCloskey and Centurion Ministries after reading John Grisham's The Guardians. Grisham's protagonist was based on Jim and his work.
This memoir is the story of McCloskey's life and life's work. His youth and adulthood experiences would not lead you to imagine he'd follow a call to the ministry. Once there it would be unimagineable that he'd give that up to free convicted prisoners he believed were innocent. His work predates many well known organizations involved in this work such as The Innocence Project and Equal Rights Initiative (Just Mercy). Over decades he and his organization freed dozens of innocent men and women. Many cases are illustrated in this book.
I highly recommend this to anyone interested in learning more about the incarcerated, the accused, police work, and law. It should be mandatory for people working in those fields.
This memoir is the story of McCloskey's life and life's work. His youth and adulthood experiences would not lead you to imagine he'd follow a call to the ministry. Once there it would be unimagineable that he'd give that up to free convicted prisoners he believed were innocent. His work predates many well known organizations involved in this work such as The Innocence Project and Equal Rights Initiative (Just Mercy). Over decades he and his organization freed dozens of innocent men and women. Many cases are illustrated in this book.
I highly recommend this to anyone interested in learning more about the incarcerated, the accused, police work, and law. It should be mandatory for people working in those fields.
July 19, 2024
I’ve read numerous books about innocent people in prison. All of these stories are the same. Prosecutors don’t want the truth. They only want to win. At any cost. They don’t care about lying. And until they are held accountable, nothing will ever change. In the epilogue of those book, Jim lists several things that need to change. Honestly they are good suggestions however when prosecutors are allowed to get away with everything just for a win, no other changes will make a difference. This book was good however the others I read went into much more detail and really painted a picture of the hoops you have to jump through and the ridiculous time it takes to free an innocent person. The justice system is so broken. Innocent People spend years in prison and then shoved out the door with nothing.
October 17, 2020
My greatest wish is that EVERYONE READ THIS BOOK. I know that's not a realistic goal, so if at least those people who are entering law enforcement or looking to become an attorney read it, that would be a wonderful step in the right direction.
I cannot, in my wildest dreams, imagine what it must be like to be unjustly imprisoned. Especially if you are on death row. Then throw into the mix the idea that law enforcement and/or district
attorneys lied or suborned perjury to "solve" their case, and it seems like hell on Earth.
As far as I'm concerned Jim McCloskey should be nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize. What he and Centurion Ministries have done for people wrongfully imprisoned is incredible. I beg you to read this book, and then if you can, send a little money their way.
I cannot, in my wildest dreams, imagine what it must be like to be unjustly imprisoned. Especially if you are on death row. Then throw into the mix the idea that law enforcement and/or district
attorneys lied or suborned perjury to "solve" their case, and it seems like hell on Earth.
As far as I'm concerned Jim McCloskey should be nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize. What he and Centurion Ministries have done for people wrongfully imprisoned is incredible. I beg you to read this book, and then if you can, send a little money their way.
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