TBA Law Blog


Posted by: Stacey Shrader Joslin on Feb 22, 2022

Chapter 16 writer Joy Ramirez recently interviewed Keeda Haynes, a former Davidson County assistant public defender, about her journey from unwittingly abetting a criminal operation, to prison and now to lawyer and criminal justice advocate. Haynes writes about the experience in her memoir Bending the Arc: My Journey from Prison to Politics. The first episode of TBA’s Sidebar Podcast featured Haynes as well. In 2020, Haynes challenged U.S. Rep. Jim Cooper in the Democratic primary and earned 40% of the vote. At the time she said she would not rule out another campaign. She now works at The Sentencing Project, supporting state and local advocates advancing sentencing reforms and working to restore voting rights. Despite the challenges she has faced, Haynes says “Bending the arc takes effort. It takes action. It takes pressure. The work continues.”