As part of my “Author’s Cut” re-boot of Chained Birds, I am making available to the public the video surveillance footage of the 2011 recreational cage fight at Lewisburg Prison that essentially launched this book. It’s grainy and brutal, and thankfully the victim survived and walked away on his own … still, viewer discretion is advised.
The participants**, from left to right, are:
- Steven Tremblay, aka “Oakie” (the victim)
- Mark Keys, aka “Arson” (an assailant)
- Kevin Sanders (an assailant)
This is the specific event at Lewisburg Prison that led Kevin Sanders to be charged with assault, and then for my high school friend Scott Powell to be appointed Kevin’s public defender. Scott, in turn, pulled me into the criminal case, and thus began my 10-year-plus odyssey of helping to defend and then advocate for Kevin Sanders. The journey did not come without a cost, however. Kevin’s entanglements with two different prison gangs—both of which issued hit orders against him—meant trying to balance everyone’s safety while telling Kevin’s story, at his insistence. My journalism background prepared me well to dive deep into federal prison gang politics, violence, and corruption, but I did not expect to become imperiled by association with Kevin Sanders, the complex character at the heart of Chained Birds.
I first mention this video in Chapter 3, Thunderdomes, and there is a direct link to this video in the eBook’s newest version, which contains a screenshot. (Paperback and hardcover versions, which show all images in black and white, note the web address.)
From Chapter 3, Thunderdomes … Kevin and his cellie Arson, have just been placed in an outdoor rec cage and see a correctional officer about to put Oakie, a known troublemaker, into their cage.
“Hey man, don’t do this,” Kevin told the CO. “That dude’s no good. Don’t put him in here.” Little Eagle watched Kevin make stern eye contact with the officer and then back and forth cutting motions under his chin with a flat hand. The officer ignored him and turned Oakie over to Officer Shemp, who fingered his keys to let him into the sallyport. Kevin repeated himself, telling Shemp, “No man, don’t put him in here, don’t do it.”
“This is Tremblay’s assigned cage,” Shemp said. “This is where he’s rec’cing.” Oakie struggled against the officer’s grip and kicked the sallyport door before he was shoved inside.
Once the three were locked inside the cage, Officer Shemp did not return to the holding room to retrieve more inmates but instead stood outside that cage with his hand on the duces—his belt radio alarm. Arson extended his hand in a goodwill gesture to Oakie, who rebuffed it with a slap, prompting Kevin to tell the troublemaker, “Stay in the corner, then. Stay the fuck away from us.”
After a minute or so, as Oakie kept to himself on the opposite end of the cage, Shemp disappeared and resumed his rec officer duties. But Oakie wasn’t content to stay in the corner, and he started aggressively pacing the length of the cell.
And that’s when the yelling started.
“Get that nutcase! Get that motherfucker!” were some of the first chants that echoed from the windows of Z Block’s upper tier, where the Aryan Brotherhood was housed. “Oakie’s no good, man! Get that guy!” The commotion drew more faces to the windows with more yelling and spread to every AB associate up and down the rows of recreational cages. “Fuck him, man,” “Fuck that dude,” was the growing refrain, and when one distant voice from the third-floor window proclaimed, “He’s got an apple on his head!” it wasn’t a statement but an order.
**Some of the characters’ names have been changed for the privacy and protection of most people involved in this story, including me.
Carla Conti is an award-winning true crime journalist, storyteller, and prison reform advocate. Her debut book, Chained Birds: A Crimemoir, won multiple 2025 national book awards, including 1st Place in True Crime from the Next Generation Indie Book Awards, Winner in True Crime from the Indie Reader Discovery Awards, Silver in True Crime from the Independent Publisher Book Awards (IPPY), and a 1st Place Nellie Bly Journalism award from the Chanticleer International Book Awards. Carla lives in Pennsylvania with her husband, who tolerates her true crime habit.
