Author Event: Saturday, Sept. 21, 2019 from 11am to 2pm

Please join us on Saturday, September 21, 2019 from 11am to 2pm for Walls of Secrecy by Kelley Messinger.

Twenty-three-year old Kelley D. Messinger was convicted in Washington in the early 1970s of killing his teen-aged wife. This is his memoir of a decade in prison at the maximum-security unit of Washington State Penitentiary. Chronicling a ludicrous prison governance system, this book captures the life of prisoners including social hierarchy, survival rules, violence, rape, murder, and defense tactics. The book’s characters, his fellow prisoners as well as prison administration and staff, are in many cases, stranger than could be invented by a fiction writer. However, Mr. Messinger’s undefeated will to survive in this environment colors the tone of the book with his humorous, witty and grounding perspective.

Ultimately Mr. Messinger’s case was brought to the attention of Washington Governor Dixy Lee Ray, who happened to be touring a Washington State Trooper’s Academy. Her interest in Mr. Messinger’s conviction was piqued when she heard the investigation used to convict him was used as a case study for how NOT to investigate crimes. When she inquired as to the outcome of the criminal trial, she learned Mr. Messinger was then serving a life sentence in maximum security. Before Governor Ray left office, she exonerated Mr. Messinger. 

Mr. Messinger was born and raised in Washington. He owns his own after-market motorcycle parts business in Rosalia, Washington. Lieutenant Dodd (featured in the book) is retired from state service and divides his time between Arizona and Washington.