He lost his mother at 16. Six years later, Chicago detectives took everything else.

After a grueling 30-hour interrogation — no food, no sleep, handcuffed to a wall — Deon Patrick signed a confession he didn't write.

He spent the next 21 years in prison for a double murder he did not commit. Evidence showed his co-defendant was already in police custody when the crime took place. None of it mattered.

In 2013, Deon was exonerated and issued a Certificate of Innocence. A federal jury later awarded him $13.3 million in a civil rights verdict against the City of Chicago for manufacturing evidence and suppressing the truth.

He is one of the four men behind The Hazel Boyz: The Trials of Four Innocent Men and today works in restorative justice and youth mentorship on the streets he grew up on.

In this conversation, Deon discusses:

• the 30-hour interrogation that made him question his own innocence,

• watching the OJ verdict from a prison cell,

• what he did the moment he walked free after two decades,

• and the work he's doing today so the next generation doesn't end up where he did.

This is more than a story of survival. It's a necessary look at a system that treated four young men as disposable — and the one who refused to let that be the final word.

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The Hazel Boyz: The Trials of Four Innocent Men — Amazon & Barnes & Noble