Lifetime’s new docuseries Prison Brides introduces viewers to seven international women who have found love with an inmate incarcerated in the American prison system.
32-year-old Emma is a post lady from London, England who has fallen for Curtis Bradford, a convicted felon serving 7 years in a Michigan prison.
Emma reveals on the show that she first wrote to Curtis after getting out of a violent relationship. “Writing to a prisoner allowed me to be who I am, grow as a person, but it was kind of on my terms,” she explains in her show intro.
Unfortunately for Emma, she left a violent relationship only to enter into another relationship with a violent offender. In a scene with her parents, Emma explains why Curtis is in prison.
“He did carjacking, and he had a firearm on him – which isn’t that scary because everybody in America has a firearm,” Emma argues.
Emma continues to defend Curtis by downplaying his crime. “It was just a carjacking. And the carjacking itself was like a family feud type thing, so it’s not like he just went out and stole some, like, random person’s car off the street…The person’s car that it was, I actually speak to. Like, it’s his cousin.”
Curtis Bradford carjacking details
Details from Curtis Bradford’s carjacking arrest contradict Emma’s downplaying.
On March 3, 2017, Curtis was reportedly live streaming while riding with his cousin Nadiyah, a 21-year-old mother of three, in her Mercury Mountaineer. Nadiyah’s sister-in-law, Cressy, was also in the SUV.
Nadiyah told Fox 2 things escalated after she refused to take Curtis to a house for a drive-by. “He put the gun up to my head and he said I should shoot you in your face,” Nadaya told Fox 2. “After he said that, he shot the rear passenger window out.”
Nadiyah jumped out and Curtis got in the driver’s seat. He began to speed off as Cressy was trying to exit the vehicle. As a result, Cressy was dragged before Curtis eventually stopped the vehicle and allowed her to free herself.
“My body was going under the car,” Cressy told Fox 2. “I’m like; at least one of us is going to make it home to our babies because I didn’t think I was.”
Curtis drove the SUV to Ypsilanti where police finally caught up with him. He led officers on a chase that ended with Curtis crashing and totaling the SUV in Detroit.
As a result of the carjacking, Curtis was charged with carjacking, armed robbery, extortion, unlawful driving away of an automobile, receiving and concealing a stolen motor vehicle, carrying a weapon with unlawful intent, third-degree fleeing and eluding, being a felon in possession of a firearm and second-degree felony firearms violation.
Curtis would later cut a deal that allowed him to plead guilty to carjacking, felon in possession of a firearm, and fleeing a police officer. He received a 20-year prison sentence for the carjacking conviction with credit for 166 days time served.
In another county, Curtis was charged with fleeing a police officer and assaulting/resisting/obstructing a police officer for what appears to be the same carjacking incident. Curtis pleaded guilty to assaulting/resisting/obstructing a police officer and was sentenced to 2 years in October of 2017. He has completed serving time for that conviction.
According to the Ohio Department of Corrections, Curtis is eligible for parole from his remaining sentences on March 1, 2024. His maximum discharge date is listed as March 1, 2042.
Prison Brides Curtis criminal history
Emma’s downplaying of Curtis’s carjacking conviction doesn’t take into account his prior arrests and convictions.
As part of his plea deal in the carjacking case, two charges from a separate criminal case were dismissed.
According to court records, a warrant was issued for Curtis in January 2017, which was 2 months prior to his carjacking arrest. The charges listed for the case were receiving and concealing stolen property (motor vehicle) and fleeing a police officer. We do not have any additional information about that case at this time.
14 months prior to the carjacking incident, Curtis was arrested for prostitution at a Grand Traverse County hotel. “An East Bay Township officer received a tip earlier in last week reporting suspicious behavior at a Grand Traverse County hotel,” Up North Live reported at the time.
Curtis and a 22-year-old woman named Katy Kindle were arraigned in January of 2016. The other female suspect was not named in the article.
There is no record of Curtis being convicted or receiving a prison sentence for the prostitution charge on the ODOC website. We are currently looking into this case and hope to have more information on the allegations and result.
In September of 2012, Curtis pleaded guilty to possession of a firearm and possession of a firearm by a convicted felon. He was sentenced to 2 years in prison. It’s important to note that Curtis was already a convicted felon at the time.
To find out if Emma and Curtis are able to overcome all of his red flags and find their happily ever after, be sure to tune in for Prisons Brides. New episodes air Wednesday nights at 9:30/8:30c on Lifetime.
Asa Hawks is a writer and editor for Starcasm. You can contact Asa via Twitter, Facebook, or email at starcasmtips(at)yahoo.com
