Michael O'Brien was born and raised in Ely, Cardiff. He is the author of three books on the subject of false imprisonment and the prison system in the UK, including his autobiography Death of Justice (2008), and Prisons Exposed (2013). O'Brien received the largest payout ever by the police to anyone wrongly convicted in the UK. He has appeared regularly on national television and radio, and has been featured in The Observer, The Times; Sunday People; Daily Telegraph; New Statesman, and Daily Express.