Four years after his release, St. Louis-raised Sam Goodwin details captivity in Syria’s prisons

St. Louis-raised Sam Goodwin is still thanking people who played a role in securing his release from Syria’s notorious prison system four years ago.

“One of the most overwhelming things for me has been learning about everything that happened on the outside while I was trapped on the inside, none of which I knew during that time,” said Goodwin, one of few Americans released from Syrian detention.

Held initially in solitary confinement in a windowless, cement cell, Goodwin had no way of knowing if he’d get to return home or see his family again.

“In just a few short hours, my life had spiraled out of control in the most terrifying of ways. I felt exactly the way they wanted me to — hopeless, utterly cut off from any control of my life,” Goodwin said.

His forthcoming book about his captivity, “Saving Sam,” goes on presale late this month.

In 2019, Goodwin was just 13 countries away from having visited every country in the world. He took precautions before entering Syria and looked forward to experiencing the country's culture and heritage, but his trip was derailed when he was wrongfully detained by authorities on charges of espionage. Today, he’s still putting together the pieces, but as far as he can tell, he was simply “in the wrong place at the wrong time.”

After being detained at a military checkpoint near his hotel in northeastern Syria, Goodwin was transferred to the country’s capital and held in solitary confinement at Branch 215, a brutal prison with thousands of documented cases of executions and mass torture, according to a Human Rights Watch report.