This is a work of nonfiction.
Because the line between fact and fiction has recently become blurred in ways many of us could never have imagined, I want to be clear: All the people in this book are real. None are inventions or fabrications. There are no composite characters. I have not knowingly changed any facts or details about them or their lives, with the following exception: I did change the names of the characters I call Vicki (as well as her partner and children) and Dave. Unlike the others whose reentries are chronicled here, these two lead private lives, and I chose to protect that privacy.
All the events you will read about are real. All the conversations are real. I have chronicled these as faithfully as I know how. Many I directly heard and witnessed or participated in. Some are the products of multiple in-depth interviews. A few were gleaned from audio, video, or text records kept by others.
Any liberties I have taken are liberties not of fact but of interpretation. I saw these people, these events, through my own eyes and filtered them, as all nonfiction writers do, through my own sensibilities. I mean to respect these people who let me into their lives. I mean to shed a light on their journey. I mean to tell truths both factual and emotional.