Brittany Barnett’s effortless wisdom comes from years of sitting at fishing holes and on front porches with her granddad and her father. These early and formative moments communicated to her a way to view the world that left her open to its possibilities, while acutely recognizing its challenges. Motivated early on to pursue excellence and not give up on a possibility simply because you can’t see your desired outcome, Brittany has navigated through the halls of this country’s most prestigious law firms and most hallowed centers of justice until she found her passion and her calling in a chance Google search that set her on a path to free those inequitably imprisoned, and to push for a more just and fair criminal justice system. By the age of 32, she had successfully petitioned for and won clemency for her client- clemency that came at the signature of then-President Barack Obama.
Motivated and bolstered by a singular vision- to fight for justice amidst the communities, cultures, and causes that the country often overlooks, Brittany has found herself at the forefront of the fight for criminal justice reform. After founding the Buried Alive Project alongside two former clients she had successfully freed from lifetime imprisonment, Brittany set out to free as many people from life imprisonment for non-violent drug offenses as possible. Her persistence led to the litigation of the release of an impressive 17 people in 90 days alongside her co-counsel. This jaw dropping act has earned her headlines and international attention and acclaim that have catapulted her to the forefront of a much needed conversation that often impacts and ravishes thriving and healthy communities and leaves their inhabitants fatigued and their children disconnected.
As the author of the recently released book, “AA Knock at Midnight: A Story of Hope, Justice, & Freedom,” Brittany’s intensely personal memoir chronicles the stories of three of her clients and have been listed as an Amazon book of the month. In describing the book and its characters, Al Woodworth, of Amazon Book Review says it best as he writes that “their lives—including their crimes, their families, and their jail time—are rendered with such care and compassion that it is impossible to put this book down. It is also impossible not to root for Barnett and her clients as she fights to get them the justice they deserve, and never had. A Knock at Midnight is a profoundly moving memoir that reveals the incredibly racist world of the feds, the courts, and the laws that throw away people’s lives—for life.”
Curiously Creative
