Filling the Void

'Filling The Void' is a brutal record of Bill Leonard's troubled childhood and youth. The memoir provides a shocking insight into the neglect and abuse that he suffered as a child at the hands of his parents and stepfather and gives a frank account of the murders that led to his incarceration. It reveals the horrendous conditions in which Bill is held in Ely State Prison, Nevada and gives a graphic description of the barbarous treatment that he has received at the hands of his prison guards. It also details and examines the flawed process that earned him the death penalty and describes his struggle for self-rehabilitation through a process called neuroplasticity. This is the life story of a man who has suffered a great deal, who has passions that aren't always under control. A man who loves order and truth but hasn't always been able to engage in them. Someone who is hugely motivated to learn and develop his abilities. Someone who ought to be alive for a long time. This is Bill Leonard - and this is his story.

About the Author :
Bill Leonard was born in 1960 in Erie, Pennsylvania. He has been incarcerated since 1981 and has spent approximately 27 of the 33 years in solitary confinement. He received the death sentence in 1989 over a 1987 knife fight with a fellow prisoner. For the last twenty five years he has been litigating his appeal against this death sentence conviction with the assistance of court-appointed attorneys. Bill has approximately three years of appeals left. If he is unable to convince a court to reverse his death sentence and remand the case back to State Court for a new trial in that time, he will be executed by method of lethal injection - a process which, on account of recent bungled executions, has been labeled a 'cruel and unusual punishment'. Bill is currently in solitary confinement on Death Row in Ely State Prison, Nevada, where he can go for a couple of months without contact with another human being. He is denied tier group time, outside recreation and exercise with fellow prisoners. As far as outside contacts are concerned, both Bill's parents passed many years ago and he has lost touch with his only sibling, a younger brother called Barry. His only contacts with the outside world are through his attorney and a handful of pen-pals who have befriended him. Bill Leonard is alone, adrift and absolutely cut-off from everything and everyone.