My Midnight Years

Surviving Jon Burge's Police Torture Ring and Death Row

By: Ronald Kitchen, Thai Jones, Logan M. McBride

Narrated by: Prentice Onayemi

Ronald Kitchen was 21, on his way to buy milk for his four-year-old, when he was picked up by the Chicago police, brutally tortured, and coerced to confess to five counts of heinous murder. He spent 22 years in prison, 13 of those on death row, labeled as a monster. Kitchen was only one of the many victims of Jon Burge and his notorious Midnight Crew that terrorized and incarcerated Black men - 118 have come forward so far - on the south side of Chicago for nearly two decades.

Not one to give up, Kitchen co-founded the Death Row 10 from his maximum security cell block. Together, these men fought to expose the grave injustices that led to their wrongful convictions. The Death Row 10 appeared on 60 Minutes II, Nightline, Oprah, and Geraldo Rivera and, with the help of lawyers and activists outside, were instrumental in turning the tide against the death penalty in Illinois. Kitchen was finally exonerated in 2013 and filed a high-profile lawsuit against the Chicago Police Department, Jon Burge, Mayor Richard Daley, and the Cook County State's Attorney.

Kitchen's story is outrageous and heartbreaking. Largely absent from the current social justice narratives are the testimonies of the victims themselves. Kitchen is a rare survivor who has turned his suffering into a public cause and is poised to become a powerful spokesperson. The atrocities of the Midnight Crew have been brought to light through Kitchen's actions and are now part of the discussion as the nation engages in an unprecedented conversation about racism.

©2018 Ronald Kitchen, Thai Jones, Logan M. McBride (P)2018 Blackstone Audio, Inc.

Critic reviews

“Decades of police torture and prosecutorial complicity devastated black Chicago and filled Illinois’s prisons. In this moving memoir, Ronald Kitchen chronicles what that violence meant for him, his family, and so many others.... Don’t miss this harrowing, heartbreaking tale of injustice, survival, and resistance.” (Dan Berger, author of Captive Nation: Black Prison Organizing in the Civil Rights Era)

The beautiful voice

Loved the way the story was told . I could picture everything . I will always wonder how Ronald has worked through all the demons that must haunt him everyday .

A story that I wish was unbelievable.

This was an amazing expose of the corrupt police in Chicago , I wish that it was fiction but unfortunately it is not. The research that went into this had to be a huge undertaking but the t’s were crossed and the i’s were all dotted correctly . It is my hope that this story helps to alleviate any future situation that may present itself but I hope with a bit of doubt. I can hope!

Eye-opening, heartbreaking...simply a must read !!

Highly recommended. the narrator brilliantly delivers in telling the author's story with true conviction and passion. Simply a must-read !!!

Great book

I thought this was a great read but was too short. I especially love the narrator's voice.

Eye opening

An inside look of police corruption on minorities and the devastation it leaves behind.