WEBVTT 00:00:02.936 --> 00:00:05.472 (slow somber music) 00:00:25.592 --> 00:00:28.695 - I'm about to read a letter from my son that he wrote me, 00:00:31.131 --> 00:00:33.433 and it says, "This is from me to you. 00:00:33.500 --> 00:00:37.237 I will finally have my high school graduation, 00:00:37.303 --> 00:00:40.640 September the 15th this year. 00:00:40.707 --> 00:00:43.810 I will take some pictures and send them. 00:00:43.877 --> 00:00:48.882 I really do miss you and promise to take good care of you 00:00:50.049 --> 00:00:51.217 for everything, when I come home." 00:00:55.555 --> 00:00:57.457 - They came to my house and got him. 00:00:59.025 --> 00:01:04.030 So that was, that was like 5:00 or 6:00 in the morning. 00:01:05.398 --> 00:01:09.702 So the next day, I went down there to the courthouse, 00:01:10.870 --> 00:01:13.473 and I don't remember who this lady was, 00:01:13.540 --> 00:01:16.509 which she came to me and told me, 00:01:16.576 --> 00:01:20.814 "You know, your son looking to serve life in prison." 00:01:22.048 --> 00:01:24.884 So I said, "What did he do?" 00:01:26.052 --> 00:01:28.721 And so she said, "The third strike." 00:01:30.256 --> 00:01:32.325 - My dad has always been a leader. 00:01:32.392 --> 00:01:34.761 He's done a lot for the people, 00:01:34.828 --> 00:01:38.932 even when he was free and out before he was incarcerated. 00:01:38.998 --> 00:01:40.166 My dad, to a certain degree, 00:01:40.233 --> 00:01:43.770 was even involved in the political world. 00:01:46.072 --> 00:01:47.640 He does not deserve this. 00:01:47.707 --> 00:01:50.009 He deserves to be home with his family. 00:01:51.077 --> 00:01:53.179 - I've been a Cook County sheriff's deputy 00:01:53.246 --> 00:01:56.282 for the last 17 years. 00:01:56.349 --> 00:01:59.586 I have a brother who has been incarcerated, 00:02:00.720 --> 00:02:04.457 and in the worst forms of incarceration 00:02:04.524 --> 00:02:07.427 myself being in that industry, 00:02:08.928 --> 00:02:11.865 we're talking about a person who has never been violent, 00:02:13.433 --> 00:02:17.036 doesn't have a long rap sheet, never killed anybody. 00:02:17.103 --> 00:02:19.506 Yet he's serving a life sentence 00:02:19.572 --> 00:02:21.274 in the federal penitentiary system. 00:02:22.775 --> 00:02:26.746 - So I stepped out against my own Republican administration, 00:02:26.813 --> 00:02:29.749 and said openly on the floor of the Senate, 00:02:29.816 --> 00:02:34.387 that I believe these crack cocaine laws were too harsh with, 00:02:34.454 --> 00:02:36.656 and particularly it was at a disadvantageous 00:02:37.624 --> 00:02:39.492 to the African-American community 00:02:39.559 --> 00:02:41.761 where most of the punishments were falling, 00:02:41.828 --> 00:02:45.031 and it was not fair, and we ought to fix it. 00:02:45.098 --> 00:02:47.333 - I want an attorney general who is committed 00:02:47.400 --> 00:02:50.403 to supporting law enforcement, and securing law and order, 00:02:50.470 --> 00:02:52.605 but that is not enough. 00:02:52.672 --> 00:02:55.942 The justice system as it stands now is biased 00:02:56.009 --> 00:02:58.778 against the poor, against drug addicted, 00:02:58.845 --> 00:03:02.181 against mentally ill, and against people of color. 00:03:04.984 --> 00:03:09.289 - And I just say, (sniffing) how he gonna get life? 00:03:10.323 --> 00:03:12.592 He ain't murdered no one. 00:03:12.659 --> 00:03:15.828 Peoples that murder people don't even get life. 00:03:16.996 --> 00:03:20.667 You know, so I just took it one day at a time. 00:03:24.337 --> 00:03:29.342 Because 23 years is a long time. 00:03:31.711 --> 00:03:34.714 (slow somber music) 00:03:52.832 --> 00:03:55.668 - The year 1994, at the age of 24, 00:03:58.338 --> 00:04:03.343 Alton Mills was given a mandatory life sentence 00:04:04.978 --> 00:04:09.983 without parole, for a low level, non-violent drug offense. 00:04:11.384 --> 00:04:13.686 I ended up being contacted by his public defender. 00:04:13.753 --> 00:04:16.155 She has this wonderful name. 00:04:16.222 --> 00:04:19.392 She's from Chicago, her name is MiAngel Cody. 00:04:20.827 --> 00:04:23.496 MiAngel Cody contacted me and told me Alton Mill's story. 00:04:23.563 --> 00:04:26.332 How this kid growing up in Chicago, 00:04:26.399 --> 00:04:29.135 decent kid in high school, made a bad turn, 00:04:29.202 --> 00:04:31.137 got mixed up with a drug gang, 00:04:31.204 --> 00:04:33.006 was a sales runner on the street, 00:04:33.072 --> 00:04:35.008 just the lowest possible level. 00:04:35.074 --> 00:04:38.111 And on the third offense got a life sentence, 00:04:38.177 --> 00:04:40.346 to spend the rest of his life in prison. 00:04:41.547 --> 00:04:43.516 I asked President Obama to take a look at this, 00:04:43.583 --> 00:04:47.520 and consider commutation, and in December of 2015, 00:04:47.587 --> 00:04:50.223 after serving 22 years in prison, 00:04:50.289 --> 00:04:52.425 Alton Mills came home to Chicago. 00:04:53.893 --> 00:04:57.063 - It started out, I was doing activism work in New Orleans, 00:04:58.231 --> 00:04:59.632 particularly around the death penalty. 00:04:59.699 --> 00:05:02.669 So for about seven years, 00:05:02.735 --> 00:05:05.338 I worked with capital defense lawyers. 00:05:05.405 --> 00:05:10.410 I think I went to death row the first time when I was 19, 00:05:11.277 --> 00:05:12.145 to visit someone in Angola. 00:05:13.312 --> 00:05:16.215 And that was like the first time I'd ever gone 00:05:16.282 --> 00:05:20.520 behind the curtain, the Wizard of Oz, and really just saw 00:05:20.586 --> 00:05:23.423 what America says are the worse of the worst, 00:05:24.590 --> 00:05:26.259 and realized there are human beings 00:05:26.325 --> 00:05:29.962 at the heart of these cases that you hear about. 00:05:35.301 --> 00:05:40.173 - So welcome to TDC, this is where the magic happens. 00:05:41.607 --> 00:05:44.510 LaSheda was my best friend in elementary school. 00:05:44.577 --> 00:05:47.180 Best friends, we both from the west side of Chicago, 00:05:47.246 --> 00:05:52.251 grew up together, and my family was very well known, 00:05:53.653 --> 00:05:55.588 in our neighborhood, and especially at our school. 00:05:55.655 --> 00:05:58.458 Like, the administrators all knew who we were. 00:05:58.524 --> 00:06:00.927 You know, so I was very popular. 00:06:00.993 --> 00:06:04.263 I was very popular, I had like five, six cousins 00:06:04.330 --> 00:06:06.132 in the same grade as me. 00:06:06.199 --> 00:06:08.234 But you know the older you get, 00:06:08.301 --> 00:06:09.902 people just start... - It was 3rd grade. 00:06:09.969 --> 00:06:10.803 (Bella laughing) 00:06:10.870 --> 00:06:12.105 This is what's happening. 00:06:12.171 --> 00:06:14.540 She started hanging out with other people, 00:06:14.607 --> 00:06:16.375 leaving me behind. 00:06:16.442 --> 00:06:18.111 She tried to make friends with other people, 00:06:18.177 --> 00:06:19.579 like make them her best friends. 00:06:19.645 --> 00:06:22.548 And as a child, best friends, that's a real thing. 00:06:22.615 --> 00:06:25.551 Like you don't just be naming everybody your best friend. 00:06:25.618 --> 00:06:27.053 You take that serious. 00:06:27.120 --> 00:06:30.056 After that, no more best friends. 00:06:30.123 --> 00:06:31.591 - We did not say a word to each other. 00:06:31.657 --> 00:06:35.161 - I never saw her again until TDC law firm. 00:06:36.562 --> 00:06:39.298 - I just keep going back to the day MiAngel was like, 00:06:39.365 --> 00:06:41.334 "Yeah, you know, we gonna have an intern coming in, 00:06:41.400 --> 00:06:42.168 her name is LaSheda." 00:06:42.235 --> 00:06:43.069 I was like, "LaSheda? 00:06:44.704 --> 00:06:46.472 I called a girl named LaSheda once," (laughing) 00:06:46.539 --> 00:06:48.441 but that was exactly how I said it. 00:06:48.508 --> 00:06:51.077 So then, I'm looking at her like, "Whoa." 00:06:52.411 --> 00:06:54.981 Like, you in the military, you in law school. 00:06:55.047 --> 00:06:57.817 I have so much admiration and respect for you right now 00:06:57.884 --> 00:07:00.419 that it's kinda weird, 'cause I thought for sure 00:07:00.486 --> 00:07:02.455 I would not like you for the rest of my life. 00:07:02.522 --> 00:07:03.489 - [LaSheda] And I was like, "Dang, 00:07:03.556 --> 00:07:05.424 she's out here freeing people." 00:07:05.491 --> 00:07:06.259 (Bella laughing) 00:07:06.325 --> 00:07:07.493 Like, "She's so amazing. 00:07:07.560 --> 00:07:09.328 I'm like, "She's like this Chicago activist. 00:07:09.395 --> 00:07:11.097 She's giving back to the community." 00:07:11.164 --> 00:07:13.933 - This is Black history that we are making. 00:07:14.000 --> 00:07:17.170 We are Black history, it's in the making. 00:07:17.236 --> 00:07:20.673 Even if we don't our story's gonna make it. 00:07:20.740 --> 00:07:21.541 - That's right. 00:07:21.607 --> 00:07:22.441 (crowd cheering) 00:07:24.110 --> 00:07:25.278 - Hello? - Hey, how're you doing? 00:07:25.344 --> 00:07:27.580 - Hi Dad. - What you doing? 00:07:29.048 --> 00:07:31.484 - So we're being recorded, so you can't say anything crazy. 00:07:31.551 --> 00:07:35.354 (laughing) So you remember the law firm I was working at, 00:07:35.421 --> 00:07:37.456 and the client I told you we got out? 00:07:38.791 --> 00:07:40.159 - [Mr. House] Yes. 00:07:40.226 --> 00:07:42.662 - So right now we're actually recording a documentary 00:07:42.728 --> 00:07:45.631 regarding her work, and how she always gets people off 00:07:45.698 --> 00:07:48.534 the life sentences from their drug sentence. 00:07:48.601 --> 00:07:50.203 So we're being recorded right now. 00:07:50.269 --> 00:07:52.905 And I told them about you yesterday, 00:07:54.240 --> 00:07:57.310 and now I'm here, and you ironically called 00:07:57.376 --> 00:07:58.511 during the time we were filming. 00:07:58.578 --> 00:08:01.647 - [Mr. House] I'm, I don't know, after today 00:08:03.082 --> 00:08:04.550 when I will be able to call you before you leave, 00:08:04.617 --> 00:08:06.919 or if I'm gonna be able to call you before you leave. 00:08:06.986 --> 00:08:07.820 - Why not? 00:08:09.655 --> 00:08:10.857 - [Mr. House] So, I told you they moved me. 00:08:10.923 --> 00:08:12.592 I don't know how or when I'm going, 00:08:12.658 --> 00:08:15.862 and how the phone stuff is where I'm going. 00:08:15.928 --> 00:08:18.097 - So when are they moving you? 00:08:18.164 --> 00:08:20.499 - [Mr. House] I'm probably gonna say tomorrow. 00:08:21.667 --> 00:08:24.770 And Martin Luther King's birthday tomorrow, 00:08:24.837 --> 00:08:26.439 so I don't know. 00:08:27.840 --> 00:08:31.611 - I think he's feeling the distance. 00:08:31.677 --> 00:08:34.580 Like, he's feeling like I'm leaving him behind, 00:08:34.647 --> 00:08:36.515 because now I'm starting my life. 00:08:37.683 --> 00:08:39.418 And I feel it in his voice, I know, 00:08:39.485 --> 00:08:42.521 we went to see him last week, and I felt it. 00:08:44.290 --> 00:08:49.262 And he's put in every type of appeal he can. 00:08:50.463 --> 00:08:51.797 In 2015, he had a little bit of luck. 00:08:53.199 --> 00:08:56.702 With him being, he was 17 when he was sentenced to life. 00:08:56.769 --> 00:09:01.607 And the Illinois Appellate Court said he was too young 00:09:01.674 --> 00:09:03.209 to understand everything that was going on 00:09:03.276 --> 00:09:05.544 to receive the sentence, but then this year, 00:09:05.611 --> 00:09:08.214 the Supreme Court sent it back like, "No." 00:09:08.281 --> 00:09:08.314 (slow somber music) 00:09:09.715 --> 00:09:13.152 - I started writing my first clemency petition in 2012. 00:09:14.320 --> 00:09:16.055 And at that point, President Obama 00:09:16.122 --> 00:09:18.758 had never granted a clemency before. 00:09:18.824 --> 00:09:22.895 There were plenty of people who told me specifically, 00:09:22.962 --> 00:09:25.998 "He's never gonna grant this, it's never gonna happen." 00:09:26.065 --> 00:09:30.169 But I just felt like my clients' stories 00:09:30.236 --> 00:09:35.241 deserve being told on an individual, and in a nuanced way. 00:09:36.409 --> 00:09:38.177 And not only for them, but for each one of us 00:09:38.244 --> 00:09:40.146 to have to wrestle with the facts, 00:09:40.212 --> 00:09:43.516 have to wrestle with the reality of this person's life. 00:09:43.582 --> 00:09:45.952 Like you don't get to just put someone in prison for life, 00:09:46.018 --> 00:09:48.020 and not listen to who they are. 00:09:48.087 --> 00:09:50.456 And that started this clemency process 00:09:50.523 --> 00:09:53.526 that later was formulized into 00:09:53.592 --> 00:09:56.996 looking at hundreds of thousands of petitions. 00:09:57.063 --> 00:09:59.031 But I think that that's really important 00:09:59.098 --> 00:10:02.668 is to just do the work, center the clients, 00:10:02.735 --> 00:10:05.638 center their stories, center who they are, 00:10:05.705 --> 00:10:08.674 and create a public conversation. 00:10:10.910 --> 00:10:12.778 - My name is Venessa Rosa. 00:10:12.845 --> 00:10:14.113 My dad is Ismael Rosa, 00:10:14.180 --> 00:10:16.215 and he's currently in Pekin, Illinois. 00:10:16.282 --> 00:10:19.385 He is serving a life sentence 00:10:19.452 --> 00:10:22.855 in a federal correction institute. 00:10:22.922 --> 00:10:26.025 (slow ominous music) 00:10:41.707 --> 00:10:46.412 I was 18 when my father was arrested. 00:10:47.546 --> 00:10:49.382 It's very hard to speak about that day. 00:10:50.816 --> 00:10:53.919 When I heard the judge say, you know, "Life in prison," 00:10:53.986 --> 00:10:55.488 my reaction, I kinda, 00:10:58.157 --> 00:11:00.493 cried out, and he heard me, 00:11:00.559 --> 00:11:01.727 and he turned around and he glimpsed at me. 00:11:01.794 --> 00:11:04.897 And when he glimpsed and looked my way, 00:11:06.265 --> 00:11:07.833 and we made eye contact, 00:11:10.636 --> 00:11:12.605 There was so much pain there, 00:11:12.671 --> 00:11:15.174 because I knew that he was being stripped from us. 00:11:17.676 --> 00:11:21.180 Almost as if he was dying, you know, in a sense, 00:11:23.449 --> 00:11:25.251 or he wasn't gonna be there anymore. 00:11:25.317 --> 00:11:26.719 - I think a lot of people don't understand 00:11:26.786 --> 00:11:28.421 the way the three strikes law works, 00:11:28.487 --> 00:11:30.389 and a lot of people don't understand 00:11:30.456 --> 00:11:32.191 the way it was intended to work. 00:11:32.258 --> 00:11:34.293 So, the way it was intended to work 00:11:34.360 --> 00:11:37.630 is to punish the worst of the worst drug offenders. 00:11:37.696 --> 00:11:40.900 The repeat recidivists who kept getting in trouble, 00:11:40.966 --> 00:11:45.237 who'd been to prison, got out, and continued to sell drugs. 00:11:45.304 --> 00:11:48.908 So the law was enacted to make sure that those people 00:11:48.974 --> 00:11:51.043 were permanently incapacitated, right? 00:11:51.110 --> 00:11:53.479 So similarly dangerous drug offenders, 00:11:53.546 --> 00:11:55.948 got similarly harsh punishments. 00:11:56.015 --> 00:11:57.550 But what has happened, 00:11:57.616 --> 00:11:59.752 is it hasn't been implemented that way. 00:11:59.819 --> 00:12:02.054 So you might have someone who had 00:12:02.121 --> 00:12:04.790 their first strike was possession of marijuana, 00:12:04.857 --> 00:12:07.093 back in the 1980s. 00:12:07.159 --> 00:12:09.962 Their second strike was possession of cocaine, 00:12:10.029 --> 00:12:13.766 a personal use amount of cocaine, back in the 1990s. 00:12:13.833 --> 00:12:16.335 And then they get a federal case 00:12:16.402 --> 00:12:18.471 and that's their third strike. 00:12:18.537 --> 00:12:21.173 So that person may have never even been to prison before. 00:12:21.240 --> 00:12:23.008 They may have had probation. 00:12:23.075 --> 00:12:25.144 They may have successfully completed probation. 00:12:25.211 --> 00:12:28.114 But those two prior drug convictions 00:12:28.180 --> 00:12:31.317 can be used by a prosecutor to rationalize 00:12:31.383 --> 00:12:33.652 a mandatory federal life sentence. 00:12:33.719 --> 00:12:36.789 (slow somber music) 00:12:36.856 --> 00:12:39.692 - Senator Sessions, you said of President Obama's pardoning 00:12:39.758 --> 00:12:42.328 of people like Alton Mills and I quote, 00:12:42.394 --> 00:12:46.332 "President Obama continues to abuse executive power 00:12:46.398 --> 00:12:48.968 in an unprecedented reckless manner 00:12:49.034 --> 00:12:52.037 to systematically release high level drug traffickers 00:12:52.104 --> 00:12:54.373 and firearms felons. 00:12:54.440 --> 00:12:57.443 So-called low level non-violent offenders 00:12:57.510 --> 00:13:00.946 simply do not exist in the federal system," you said. 00:13:01.914 --> 00:13:03.849 Senator Sessions, Alton Mills 00:13:03.916 --> 00:13:07.286 and many more just like him do exist. 00:13:07.353 --> 00:13:09.688 So if you refuse to even acknowledge 00:13:09.755 --> 00:13:13.459 the fundamental injustice of many of our sentencing laws, 00:13:13.526 --> 00:13:16.028 why should you be entrusted with the most important 00:13:16.095 --> 00:13:18.464 criminal prosecution office in America? 00:13:20.132 --> 00:13:22.635 - It's a hard situation because 00:13:24.103 --> 00:13:26.238 two things will happened when you go to prison. 00:13:26.305 --> 00:13:29.375 Either you're gonna make it, or you ain't. 00:13:29.441 --> 00:13:32.778 You have to be a very strong individual 00:13:34.146 --> 00:13:37.216 to put up with the madness that goes inside. 00:13:38.384 --> 00:13:40.252 It's a lot that we have to go through, 00:13:42.488 --> 00:13:45.024 on this side of the world. 00:13:45.090 --> 00:13:48.761 Air is different, food is different. 00:13:50.162 --> 00:13:51.630 It's nothing like being free. 00:13:53.132 --> 00:13:56.936 - The criminological field is just 00:13:57.002 --> 00:14:01.373 filled with theories as to one, what causes crime, 00:14:01.440 --> 00:14:03.609 and then how do we address that crime? 00:14:03.676 --> 00:14:08.681 And no two criminologists will agree on those theories. 00:14:09.782 --> 00:14:11.116 So one has to be very careful of that. 00:14:11.183 --> 00:14:14.620 So probably the bigger question is, 00:14:14.687 --> 00:14:18.724 is three strikes or minimum mandatory sentencing 00:14:18.791 --> 00:14:23.796 a panacea for the crime problem in the United States? 00:14:24.663 --> 00:14:26.065 And it depends on who you ask. 00:14:26.131 --> 00:14:30.102 Politicians will use it as an advantage to scare people. 00:14:30.169 --> 00:14:32.571 People are easily frightened by stories 00:14:32.638 --> 00:14:37.142 about crime and violence, but yet when we think about 00:14:37.209 --> 00:14:40.813 minimum mandatory sentencing as a fix, 00:14:40.879 --> 00:14:43.983 one has to be careful of, fixing what? 00:14:44.049 --> 00:14:48.621 From a practical standpoint, it has not reduced drug use. 00:14:48.687 --> 00:14:50.656 It hasn't reduced drug trafficking 00:14:50.723 --> 00:14:52.825 or the amount of drugs in this country. 00:14:52.891 --> 00:14:57.596 If anything, it has done only a service 00:14:57.663 --> 00:15:01.300 of warehousing people who are associated with drugs, 00:15:01.367 --> 00:15:04.336 who are disproportionally African American, 00:15:05.371 --> 00:15:07.740 and disproportionally poor people. 00:15:07.806 --> 00:15:11.176 The question is, what do we do with this? 00:15:12.878 --> 00:15:14.913 - When Ismael took custody of his children, 00:15:14.980 --> 00:15:17.182 men were not being awarded custody. 00:15:19.418 --> 00:15:23.455 He really had to be a standup model before the judge 00:15:23.522 --> 00:15:25.157 to win custody of his children back then. 00:15:25.224 --> 00:15:26.925 It was just unheard of. 00:15:28.360 --> 00:15:32.998 - [Venessa] I know that a lot of us, if we had our dad, 00:15:34.400 --> 00:15:36.969 then we would have made better decisions as adults. 00:15:37.036 --> 00:15:38.837 It's different, it's very different. 00:15:40.205 --> 00:15:43.742 And it's made things harder, because you're alone. 00:15:46.512 --> 00:15:47.646 No matter what you're alone. 00:15:47.713 --> 00:15:49.181 - What many people don't realize, 00:15:49.248 --> 00:15:51.283 that parole in the federal system 00:15:51.350 --> 00:15:53.552 was abolished in the 1980s, 00:15:53.619 --> 00:15:56.689 right during the height of the War on Drugs. 00:15:56.755 --> 00:15:58.357 That was also the time when they abolished 00:15:58.424 --> 00:15:59.658 the federal parole. 00:15:59.725 --> 00:16:01.894 So when a judge looks at you and says 00:16:01.960 --> 00:16:03.829 that you receive a life sentence, 00:16:03.896 --> 00:16:05.464 that means you will die in prison. 00:16:05.531 --> 00:16:07.032 It's death by imprisonment. 00:16:07.099 --> 00:16:09.368 There is no ability to get out of that. 00:16:09.435 --> 00:16:11.403 It's not like in state court where there's parole, 00:16:11.470 --> 00:16:14.640 you do 25 years, you go before a parole board, 00:16:14.707 --> 00:16:16.075 and that parole board looks at you, 00:16:16.141 --> 00:16:18.677 looks at your rehabilitation in prison and says, 00:16:18.744 --> 00:16:20.379 "Okay, you've learned your lesson." 00:16:20.446 --> 00:16:23.015 And that's one of the sad realities of federal prison 00:16:23.082 --> 00:16:26.385 is that there's no board who can look at you after 25 years 00:16:26.452 --> 00:16:29.488 see strives and rehabilitation and release you. 00:16:31.490 --> 00:16:34.593 (slow pensive music) 00:16:35.761 --> 00:16:37.396 - [Tyrie] The first time I tried cocaine, 00:16:37.463 --> 00:16:42.468 I was 17, at a park hanging out with some of my friends. 00:16:44.837 --> 00:16:49.308 I was introduced to it by my friend Dink's older brother. 00:16:51.777 --> 00:16:54.279 And the feeling was kind of surreal. 00:16:57.015 --> 00:17:01.120 It's a feeling that you're always chasing that first time. 00:17:02.287 --> 00:17:05.023 It makes you feel like you don't have 00:17:05.090 --> 00:17:07.893 any worries or any cares. 00:17:07.960 --> 00:17:12.865 You're just in that moment, and everything just seems easy. 00:17:15.701 --> 00:17:18.871 You know life is, whatever you may be stressed about 00:17:18.937 --> 00:17:23.242 or worried about, it just goes away. 00:17:23.308 --> 00:17:27.813 Just feel at ease and at peace with yourself. 00:17:27.880 --> 00:17:30.983 (slow pensive music) 00:17:59.411 --> 00:18:04.416 - I think one thing that makes this work whole and necessary 00:18:05.684 --> 00:18:08.487 is looking at who is the human being 00:18:08.554 --> 00:18:10.856 at the heart of each one of these cases. 00:18:10.923 --> 00:18:14.927 And when we have a system that formulaically rubber stamps 00:18:14.993 --> 00:18:17.696 sentences for life onto people, 00:18:17.763 --> 00:18:20.165 what happens is the judge doesn't get to consider 00:18:20.232 --> 00:18:22.968 who is that person, where did they come from? 00:18:23.035 --> 00:18:24.503 What is their story of struggle? 00:18:24.570 --> 00:18:26.371 Were they homeless, were they addicted? 00:18:26.438 --> 00:18:27.940 Did they have addicted parents? 00:18:28.006 --> 00:18:30.809 Are they literate, what's the level of education they have? 00:18:30.876 --> 00:18:32.311 What kind of healthcare, 00:18:32.377 --> 00:18:34.546 what kind of mental health illnesses do they have? 00:18:34.613 --> 00:18:36.715 All of that gets wiped away 00:18:36.782 --> 00:18:38.851 when you have a mandatory sentence. 00:18:38.917 --> 00:18:41.286 None of that gets to play into the calculus 00:18:41.353 --> 00:18:43.455 of the punishment that they receive. 00:18:43.522 --> 00:18:47.025 And the problem with that is all of that is relevant 00:18:47.092 --> 00:18:50.062 to how they ended up in court in the first place. 00:18:50.128 --> 00:18:53.398 And so people walk into court with their entire history 00:18:53.465 --> 00:18:55.567 of who they are, their life, their parents, 00:18:55.634 --> 00:18:58.737 their upbringing, and they have to leave all of that 00:18:58.804 --> 00:19:00.739 at the door at sentencing. 00:19:03.141 --> 00:19:07.246 - [Edward] My name is Edward Douglas, and I'm 54 years old. 00:19:09.381 --> 00:19:13.552 And I've been now 15 years on a life sentence. 00:19:15.087 --> 00:19:19.057 It's not, never going to jail and to get a life sentence, 00:19:19.124 --> 00:19:23.862 that says a marijuana charge that I caught in '88, 00:19:23.929 --> 00:19:25.664 which was just a simple possession, 00:19:25.731 --> 00:19:29.568 a and possession of a controlled substance. 00:19:29.635 --> 00:19:32.337 And it had nothing to do my family upbringing. 00:19:32.404 --> 00:19:35.440 It just had me living in the streets of Chicago, 00:19:35.507 --> 00:19:38.043 and dealing with the outside world, 00:19:38.110 --> 00:19:40.245 that I took that wrong turn. 00:19:41.580 --> 00:19:44.182 You know, both of them was wrong and now I'm standing here, 00:19:44.249 --> 00:19:49.254 but to take someone's life away from them for those charges, 00:19:50.422 --> 00:19:52.357 I don't see the, the sense in the system. 00:19:53.859 --> 00:19:56.695 - The first time I really recognized that my son 00:19:56.762 --> 00:19:59.865 was facing this sentence was when 00:20:01.800 --> 00:20:05.070 I went to court on the last court date, 00:20:05.137 --> 00:20:07.706 because I didn't think it was that serious, 00:20:07.773 --> 00:20:10.375 and I never went to court with him. 00:20:10.442 --> 00:20:13.045 I didn't take off of work or anything and go to court, 00:20:13.111 --> 00:20:16.381 because I didn't think my son has been a person that, 00:20:16.448 --> 00:20:20.385 I never had to go get him out of trouble, 00:20:20.452 --> 00:20:22.120 and he was 40 years old, 00:20:22.187 --> 00:20:25.991 and I had never been to jail to get him out of anything. 00:20:26.058 --> 00:20:28.460 And this was so confusing to me. 00:20:28.527 --> 00:20:30.128 My son could have took the 10 years 00:20:30.195 --> 00:20:33.599 if he thought it was that serious, but he didn't take it. 00:20:33.665 --> 00:20:35.167 He said, "No, I didn't do anything, 00:20:35.233 --> 00:20:38.403 and I'm not taking the 10 years." 00:20:38.470 --> 00:20:41.239 We're not thinking they're gonna get him no life 00:20:41.306 --> 00:20:44.610 because he didn't take the 10 years they offered him. 00:20:44.676 --> 00:20:46.612 - If you're offered a plea negotiation, 00:20:46.678 --> 00:20:50.749 which is usually a reduced number of years or sentence, 00:20:52.184 --> 00:20:54.853 and if you turn that down, the prosecutors will usually 00:20:54.920 --> 00:20:58.457 withdraw that deal basically saying, "Okay, no more. 00:20:58.523 --> 00:20:59.424 You don't want this deal? 00:20:59.491 --> 00:21:01.460 Okay great, it's off the table." 00:21:01.526 --> 00:21:03.829 And now if you go to trial, 00:21:03.895 --> 00:21:06.531 what can happen is if you're found guilty, 00:21:06.598 --> 00:21:10.168 you can be sentenced at a higher rate. 00:21:10.235 --> 00:21:12.170 Now that doesn't mean that it's automatic, 00:21:12.237 --> 00:21:14.640 but it's what they refer to as a trial tax. 00:21:14.706 --> 00:21:18.210 - I recently found out my dad had a life sentence. 00:21:18.276 --> 00:21:20.646 For years my dad's been in prison, 00:21:20.712 --> 00:21:23.782 but I've never heard those words come out of his mouth. 00:21:23.849 --> 00:21:26.284 Never, and still to today, he does not say them. 00:21:26.351 --> 00:21:28.286 He's never said them to me. 00:21:28.353 --> 00:21:32.391 I only know now because I'm learning more about his case. 00:21:32.457 --> 00:21:35.460 - When someone gets sent to prison, 00:21:35.527 --> 00:21:38.196 you are not just incarcerating one person. 00:21:38.263 --> 00:21:41.366 There are concentric circles that ripple out, 00:21:41.433 --> 00:21:44.670 and the effects of one person's incarceration 00:21:44.736 --> 00:21:46.805 really makes waves. 00:21:46.872 --> 00:21:49.975 It makes waves for their family, for their children. 00:21:51.309 --> 00:21:55.647 For example Edward Douglas, his daughter Shanice 00:21:55.714 --> 00:22:00.485 has not hugged him since she was eight years old, she's 23. 00:22:01.720 --> 00:22:04.556 That has a profound and traumatic impact 00:22:04.623 --> 00:22:07.325 upon not only your sense of safety 00:22:07.392 --> 00:22:10.762 and belonging in the world, but your understanding 00:22:10.829 --> 00:22:14.099 of the American criminal justice system, 00:22:14.166 --> 00:22:17.202 what it's meant to do, and who it's meant to protect. 00:22:17.269 --> 00:22:19.905 - He's missed so much, oh my God. (laughing) 00:22:19.971 --> 00:22:24.976 First boyfriend, my graduation, I went to prom twice. 00:22:26.344 --> 00:22:29.848 I was an athlete in high school, I won state championship. 00:22:29.915 --> 00:22:32.517 One year I won first place, and the next year 00:22:32.584 --> 00:22:35.520 I went back I won second place, he missed that. 00:22:35.587 --> 00:22:36.755 I know he would've been so proud of that 00:22:36.822 --> 00:22:39.024 'cause my dad's an athlete himself. 00:22:39.091 --> 00:22:40.692 It's just so much he's missed, 00:22:40.759 --> 00:22:43.762 like my first going to college, 00:22:45.197 --> 00:22:49.067 and practically the milestone of my life. 00:22:49.134 --> 00:22:51.103 He's missed all of that. 00:22:51.169 --> 00:22:53.872 - I have been in the hospital, I had back surgery 00:22:55.307 --> 00:22:58.376 and I couldn't talk to my child for five whole months 00:22:58.443 --> 00:23:00.545 on the phone because they wouldn't let him 00:23:00.612 --> 00:23:04.883 call the hospital because it wasn't on the list, 00:23:04.950 --> 00:23:07.385 and they wouldn't let him call me. 00:23:07.452 --> 00:23:10.555 When I came home out the hospital and I picked up the phone, 00:23:10.622 --> 00:23:13.058 and they started telling me it was from the prison. 00:23:13.125 --> 00:23:16.828 I say, "Hello," and he say, "Hello woman." 00:23:16.895 --> 00:23:19.431 'Cause that's what he always called me, "Hello woman". 00:23:19.498 --> 00:23:21.466 And I bust up and started crying. 00:23:22.834 --> 00:23:25.737 - For my father to be in prison, he's still a father. 00:23:25.804 --> 00:23:28.406 He's still, like a lot of people say like, 00:23:28.473 --> 00:23:31.176 "Oh, because he's behind bars he can't be a father." 00:23:31.243 --> 00:23:33.578 A lot of people are shocked to hear me say 00:23:33.645 --> 00:23:36.581 that my father has always still been my father. 00:23:36.648 --> 00:23:39.751 I say that because he's always given me great advice, 00:23:39.818 --> 00:23:43.121 never steered me wrong in anything, 00:23:43.188 --> 00:23:45.423 and he still does for me. 00:23:45.490 --> 00:23:49.694 In time of needs even behind bars, he still makes it happen. 00:23:50.829 --> 00:23:55.267 - My dad, to me growing up was, 00:23:56.601 --> 00:24:01.173 he was my leader, my teacher, my mom and dad in one. 00:24:03.241 --> 00:24:06.411 He taught me how to fish. 00:24:08.780 --> 00:24:12.784 And not just fish for fish, but fish for crabs, 00:24:12.851 --> 00:24:15.854 and I used to love going to the river in Puerto Rico 00:24:15.921 --> 00:24:19.057 and fishing with him. 00:24:20.692 --> 00:24:23.295 (soft somber music) 00:24:28.633 --> 00:24:31.336 - One of the real perversions of the three strikes drug law 00:24:31.403 --> 00:24:34.206 is that it only counts drug strikes. 00:24:34.272 --> 00:24:38.844 So if you have a person who committed a murder in 1989, 00:24:38.910 --> 00:24:43.014 or a kidnapping in 1992, and then they're caught 00:24:43.081 --> 00:24:46.585 with 140 grams of crack in 2003, 00:24:46.651 --> 00:24:49.387 that person only has one drug strike. 00:24:49.454 --> 00:24:53.592 So they're not facing a mandatory minimum of life in prison. 00:24:53.658 --> 00:24:55.560 But then you have someone like Edward Douglas, 00:24:55.627 --> 00:24:58.930 who possessed marijuana in 1989, 00:24:58.997 --> 00:25:03.101 and then possessed a small amount of cocaine in 1992. 00:25:03.168 --> 00:25:05.170 And under the three strikes drug law, 00:25:05.237 --> 00:25:08.106 he's subject to a mandatory minimum, whereas the person 00:25:08.173 --> 00:25:11.176 who had committed violent crimes before was not. 00:25:11.243 --> 00:25:14.679 - Where I'm working on a state and local level, 00:25:14.746 --> 00:25:19.184 I've got a case where the man walked up to a parked car, 00:25:19.251 --> 00:25:22.954 shot the victim in the face, killed him immediately. 00:25:23.021 --> 00:25:25.257 And given the circumstances of the case, 00:25:25.323 --> 00:25:26.858 he got six years in prison. 00:25:26.925 --> 00:25:29.461 So six years in prison for shooting a man in the face 00:25:29.527 --> 00:25:32.530 and killing him, as opposed to life in prison 00:25:32.597 --> 00:25:34.866 without parole in a federal system 00:25:34.933 --> 00:25:38.937 for having three drug charges. 00:25:39.004 --> 00:25:40.939 It just doesn't seem to balance out there. 00:25:41.006 --> 00:25:42.540 - I mean like, it's completely unfair. 00:25:42.607 --> 00:25:47.612 You can have a very violent background and rap sheet, 00:25:49.047 --> 00:25:51.783 and still not have the three strikes for drug convictions. 00:25:51.850 --> 00:25:53.952 And that's really illogical, 00:25:54.019 --> 00:25:57.389 and it's contrary to the idea of public safety. 00:25:58.556 --> 00:26:00.125 - [Reporter] The Senate overwhelmingly passed 00:26:00.191 --> 00:26:03.128 a criminal justice reform bill on Tuesday night. 00:26:03.194 --> 00:26:06.631 The First Step Act would change sentencing laws, 00:26:06.698 --> 00:26:09.334 establish more early release programs, 00:26:09.401 --> 00:26:13.438 and expand job training meant to reduce recidivism. 00:26:13.505 --> 00:26:15.907 - Hello? - Hi, Ms. Douglas? 00:26:17.309 --> 00:26:19.978 - Hi, how you doing? - Good morning, how are you? 00:26:20.045 --> 00:26:23.682 - I'm doing fine, and you? - I'm doing well. 00:26:23.748 --> 00:26:25.617 I wanted to just call and let you know 00:26:25.684 --> 00:26:29.087 that I just got off of the phone with the judge. 00:26:29.154 --> 00:26:30.755 We had a hearing. - Yes. 00:26:31.890 --> 00:26:33.792 - And the judge signed the order 00:26:33.858 --> 00:26:36.361 to release Edward immediately. 00:26:37.729 --> 00:26:39.898 - [Vera] Oh my God, girl. 00:26:41.199 --> 00:26:43.168 I told you you was bad. 00:26:43.234 --> 00:26:44.369 (MiAngel and Bella laughing) 00:26:44.436 --> 00:26:46.671 I don't know how much more my heart can take. 00:26:46.738 --> 00:26:49.341 - Oh, Ms. Douglas, that means the whole team 00:26:49.407 --> 00:26:52.544 is joined with you forever now. 00:26:52.610 --> 00:26:56.881 - [Vera] Just what I want, joined with me forever. 00:26:56.948 --> 00:26:58.616 - Yeah. - Yes. 00:26:58.683 --> 00:27:01.453 - Yeah, you won't forget about us will you? 00:27:01.519 --> 00:27:03.288 - [Vera] Ooh, not at all. 00:27:03.355 --> 00:27:04.289 How am I gonna forget about you? 00:27:04.356 --> 00:27:05.724 When he come, when he come home, 00:27:05.790 --> 00:27:07.726 he's coming down there and work for y'all, with y'all now. 00:27:07.792 --> 00:27:09.060 (MiAngel and Bella laughing) 00:27:09.127 --> 00:27:12.964 - He's coming to join the fight. (laughing) 00:27:13.031 --> 00:27:15.000 Perfect, perfect. 00:27:15.066 --> 00:27:16.401 - Lady, lady, lady. 00:27:16.468 --> 00:27:18.303 Your mama named you the right thing, 00:27:18.370 --> 00:27:21.006 'cause she knew what you was gonna do. 00:27:21.072 --> 00:27:23.808 My angel, she walked in my door. 00:27:23.875 --> 00:27:28.546 Your name is MiAngel, but God sent you to be my angel. 00:27:28.613 --> 00:27:30.648 - Aw Ms. Douglas, thank you. 00:27:32.250 --> 00:27:35.253 - Hello? Hi Mr. Douglas! How are you? 00:27:35.320 --> 00:27:37.088 - [Edward] Hey Ms. Cody, how you doing? 00:27:37.155 --> 00:27:40.425 - [MiAngel] I'm good, so we wanted to talk to you 00:27:40.492 --> 00:27:43.094 about some things that are happening in your case. 00:27:43.161 --> 00:27:45.096 - [Edward] Okay. 00:27:45.163 --> 00:27:47.232 - [MiAngel] The government has agreed 00:27:47.298 --> 00:27:49.367 to immediately release you. 00:27:49.434 --> 00:27:50.602 - [Edward] Okay. 00:27:50.668 --> 00:27:52.670 - [MiAngel] The judge is going to have you 00:27:54.005 --> 00:27:56.908 be present to participate in a hearing today, 00:27:56.975 --> 00:27:58.676 it's gonna happen by phone. 00:27:58.743 --> 00:28:00.111 - [Edward] Okay. 00:28:00.178 --> 00:28:01.746 - [MiAngel] Here's what's gonna happen, 00:28:01.813 --> 00:28:05.350 both sides, your defense lawyers and the prosecutor, 00:28:05.417 --> 00:28:07.952 are going to tell the judge that we all agree 00:28:08.019 --> 00:28:11.122 that you are over-serving time in prison, 00:28:11.189 --> 00:28:13.958 and that you should be immediately released. 00:28:14.025 --> 00:28:16.795 (Edward crying) 00:28:43.455 --> 00:28:45.590 - [Edward] Excuse me, thank you, thank you, thank you. 00:28:45.657 --> 00:28:49.060 - [MiAngel] Take your time, take your time, take your time. 00:28:53.064 --> 00:28:56.468 Take as much time as you need. 00:28:56.534 --> 00:29:00.438 - [Edward] Yeah, I'll be glad to see my mom and my kids. 00:29:00.505 --> 00:29:02.507 - [MiAngel] Yeah, yeah. 00:29:02.841 --> 00:29:05.243 (people excitedly chattering) 00:29:05.310 --> 00:29:06.511 - That's him? - That's him. 00:29:06.578 --> 00:29:08.513 (telephone ringing) 00:29:08.580 --> 00:29:11.249 (people excitedly chattering) 00:29:11.316 --> 00:29:13.184 - I told your mom the same thing, hi. 00:29:14.486 --> 00:29:16.754 - [MiAngel] I'm just filming. 00:29:16.821 --> 00:29:18.490 - You're the one, right? - MiAngel. 00:29:18.556 --> 00:29:21.392 (women squealing) 00:29:26.531 --> 00:29:31.536 - Hey, hey, hey. (laughing) 00:29:32.170 --> 00:29:33.271 How you doing? 00:29:33.338 --> 00:29:36.007 (Edward and Vera laughing) 00:29:38.843 --> 00:29:40.512 You all right? - Yeah. 00:29:40.578 --> 00:29:42.881 - I love you. - You're my baby. 00:29:42.947 --> 00:29:46.384 (laughing) It's so good to see you. 00:29:46.451 --> 00:29:49.120 - I love you, oh Lord. - Yes, I know. 00:29:49.187 --> 00:29:51.322 You're all right, you're breaking my heart. 00:29:51.389 --> 00:29:54.192 (group laughing) 00:30:00.031 --> 00:30:01.699 How you doing, Mama? 00:30:03.801 --> 00:30:05.970 9:45 my counselor opens the door so I jumps up. 00:30:06.037 --> 00:30:07.739 Like, "What you opening the door for?" 00:30:07.805 --> 00:30:10.642 He said, "No, no, your lawyer called and said 00:30:10.708 --> 00:30:13.912 you got a conference call with the, 00:30:13.978 --> 00:30:16.714 with the, (crying) With the judge," right? 00:30:22.453 --> 00:30:26.157 So when she said, "You're gonna get immediate release," 00:30:26.224 --> 00:30:29.427 I just dropped the phone and started crying, 00:30:29.494 --> 00:30:32.697 and they was crying with me and I'm looking at them like, 00:30:32.764 --> 00:30:34.232 "What is y'all crying for?" 00:30:34.299 --> 00:30:37.368 You know, I'm really looking at them and it was genuine. 00:30:37.435 --> 00:30:39.837 And they was like, "We're really happy for you. 00:30:39.904 --> 00:30:42.106 You know, you're one of the best inmates 00:30:42.173 --> 00:30:44.709 that we have dealt with," and I'm like, "Thank you." 00:30:44.776 --> 00:30:46.945 So then once I got through from talking to her, 00:30:47.011 --> 00:30:49.180 and she's telling me what's happening. 00:30:49.247 --> 00:30:53.251 So I say, "Okay," so I goes back out to the common area 00:30:53.318 --> 00:30:57.121 and we got tables, so I just jumps on the table and I said, 00:30:57.188 --> 00:30:59.023 "Y'all, I'm getting immediate release." 00:30:59.090 --> 00:31:02.894 So all the guys, and we got like 120, I kid you not, 00:31:02.961 --> 00:31:05.897 we got like 120 guys in the pod with us, 00:31:05.964 --> 00:31:07.265 and they just run and they're just 00:31:07.332 --> 00:31:09.400 jumping on tables with me, right? 00:31:09.467 --> 00:31:11.636 "Yeah yeah," "Thank you, man." 00:31:11.703 --> 00:31:14.372 We're just hugging, and we're just hugging, right? 00:31:14.439 --> 00:31:16.808 And they said, "For real?" I said, "Yes, they just told me. 00:31:16.874 --> 00:31:18.309 I just gotta talk to the judge." 00:31:18.376 --> 00:31:21.212 So then, they come back and they say, 00:31:21.279 --> 00:31:23.881 "Hey, y'all gotta lock down for like 10 minutes." 00:31:23.948 --> 00:31:27.318 So they say, "We ain't locking down, we all gotta hug him." 00:31:27.385 --> 00:31:31.256 So all 127 came and just hugged me. 00:31:31.322 --> 00:31:34.158 You know, yes every last, everybody in there. 00:31:34.225 --> 00:31:37.562 (soft thoughtful music) 00:31:43.901 --> 00:31:46.938 - So in the debate about the First Step Act, 00:31:47.005 --> 00:31:51.009 one of the primary opponents of that legislation 00:31:51.075 --> 00:31:54.512 was a Senator in Arkansas who kept raising this idea 00:31:54.579 --> 00:31:56.080 that we'll be less safe, 00:31:56.147 --> 00:31:58.816 that we'll let dangerous criminals out on the street. 00:31:58.883 --> 00:32:00.685 I always thought that was an interesting argument, 00:32:00.752 --> 00:32:03.421 because when you look at who is actually 00:32:03.488 --> 00:32:06.024 going to prison under the three strikes law, 00:32:06.090 --> 00:32:08.793 and when you compare that to who is cooperating 00:32:08.860 --> 00:32:12.196 and becoming government informants, 00:32:12.263 --> 00:32:16.034 what we found is the person who's more dangerous 00:32:16.100 --> 00:32:18.303 is the one who cooperates with the government, 00:32:18.369 --> 00:32:20.204 who gets a get out of jail free card, 00:32:20.271 --> 00:32:22.040 who gets a reduced sentence. 00:32:22.106 --> 00:32:25.843 And people like Edward Douglas, who are low-level fishes, 00:32:25.910 --> 00:32:29.314 who have no information about anyone else to cooperate, 00:32:29.380 --> 00:32:32.050 they're the ones who end up going to prison for life. 00:32:32.116 --> 00:32:34.886 So for example in Edward's case, 00:32:34.952 --> 00:32:39.190 the confidential informant that the government chose 00:32:39.257 --> 00:32:43.227 to wear a wire to set him up, had prior convictions 00:32:43.294 --> 00:32:45.563 for armed robbery and attempted murder. 00:32:45.630 --> 00:32:47.699 Edward Douglas had no priors other than 00:32:47.765 --> 00:32:49.967 possessing marijuana in the 1980s 00:32:50.034 --> 00:32:53.071 and possessing cocaine in the 1990s. 00:32:53.137 --> 00:32:56.374 That informant ended up getting probation 00:32:56.441 --> 00:32:58.242 for setting up Edward. 00:32:58.309 --> 00:33:01.079 What he did with that get out of jail free card was, 00:33:01.145 --> 00:33:02.580 went out and committed more crime. 00:33:02.647 --> 00:33:05.917 He kidnapped someone and he committed a robbery, 00:33:05.983 --> 00:33:08.920 to the tune of $750,000. 00:33:08.986 --> 00:33:11.489 So at the same time while Edward is sitting 00:33:11.556 --> 00:33:13.324 in federal prison for life, 00:33:13.391 --> 00:33:16.060 this cooperator is out committing more crime. 00:33:16.127 --> 00:33:17.929 And many times what I find is, 00:33:17.995 --> 00:33:19.931 if you don't surrender your trial rights, 00:33:19.997 --> 00:33:23.267 if you exercise your sixth amendment rights for a trial 00:33:23.334 --> 00:33:26.104 and you lose, you're going to prison for life. 00:33:26.170 --> 00:33:28.506 And that's really not about public safety, 00:33:28.573 --> 00:33:33.578 that's about prosecutorial efficiency, which is not justice. 00:33:34.479 --> 00:33:35.680 - You know, if you do something, 00:33:35.747 --> 00:33:37.782 you're supposed to be held accountable for it. 00:33:37.849 --> 00:33:40.418 I truly understand that, but I'm just saying 00:33:40.485 --> 00:33:43.254 to give people the time that they give them, 00:33:43.321 --> 00:33:44.856 just for drugs and you got people. 00:33:44.922 --> 00:33:49.761 I been around rapists, murderers, while I was in the Fed, 00:33:50.962 --> 00:33:52.630 seeing they had less time than me. 00:33:52.697 --> 00:33:54.699 - From the time MiAngel called me 00:33:54.766 --> 00:33:57.402 and asked me about taking the case, 00:33:57.468 --> 00:33:58.936 and I said, "I don't have any money." 00:33:59.003 --> 00:34:00.705 She say, "You don't need any money. 00:34:00.772 --> 00:34:03.608 I didn't ask you for a dime. I wanna do this." 00:34:03.674 --> 00:34:04.976 And when I met her, 00:34:06.377 --> 00:34:09.614 she looked nothing like I thought she would look like. 00:34:09.680 --> 00:34:12.884 I'm thinking this older person and whatever, 00:34:12.950 --> 00:34:15.987 and she walks in here and looking like a little girl to me. 00:34:16.053 --> 00:34:20.658 You know, and I go like, "My God, you are a young lady, 00:34:20.725 --> 00:34:22.994 and you're doing all of this?" 00:34:23.060 --> 00:34:24.929 - It's a thing with MiAngel and with Bella 00:34:24.996 --> 00:34:28.633 where they taught me about healing, right? 00:34:28.699 --> 00:34:31.602 About, sometimes it's more than what's happening, 00:34:31.669 --> 00:34:33.771 and more about reflection. 00:34:33.838 --> 00:34:36.274 And it was at the moment when I knew 00:34:36.340 --> 00:34:39.243 Douglas was coming home, that every day was worth it. 00:34:39.310 --> 00:34:40.845 - [Family Member] Oh my God, yes. 00:34:40.912 --> 00:34:41.045 But I'm 27 and no one around me knows. 00:34:41.612 --> 00:34:44.015 But he's like my best friend. 00:34:44.081 --> 00:34:45.783 When I was in undergraduate, 00:34:45.850 --> 00:34:48.152 I worked extra jobs to put money on his book 00:34:48.219 --> 00:34:50.421 to be able to do calls. 00:34:50.488 --> 00:34:52.590 Like when they were talking about their collect calls, 00:34:52.657 --> 00:34:55.593 those $8 used to hurt me, right? 00:34:55.660 --> 00:34:57.595 But that $8 was nothing compared 00:34:57.662 --> 00:34:59.163 to the 15 minutes. 00:34:59.230 --> 00:35:00.331 - [Family Member] That you had with your father. 00:35:00.398 --> 00:35:01.866 - That I had with him. - That's good. 00:35:01.933 --> 00:35:04.669 - ' Cause that would be my only time with him. 00:35:04.735 --> 00:35:06.504 And there's times where I would have to go like a year 00:35:06.571 --> 00:35:08.706 without seeing him because I'll get deployed, 00:35:08.773 --> 00:35:11.209 or because they'll move him again. 00:35:11.275 --> 00:35:13.511 So I never got to see him, 00:35:13.578 --> 00:35:16.314 so all we had was our communication. 00:35:16.380 --> 00:35:19.317 So I'm so grateful for MiAngel, 00:35:19.383 --> 00:35:22.487 because her selflessness, and her passion, 00:35:22.553 --> 00:35:26.357 and her following her purpose led me to tap into mine. 00:35:28.359 --> 00:35:30.528 (soft soothing music) 00:35:34.432 --> 00:35:36.133 - My name is Eric Wilson, 00:35:37.235 --> 00:35:40.972 and I was incarcerated for 22 years. 00:35:42.440 --> 00:35:45.510 I was in a federal prison as a first-time offender, 00:35:45.576 --> 00:35:47.445 for a nonviolent drug offense. 00:35:48.613 --> 00:35:51.549 Never been in the state prisons or anything. 00:35:51.616 --> 00:35:56.220 Straight to the Feds, straight to a life sentence for drugs. 00:36:00.258 --> 00:36:02.527 - [Marshall] My brother Eric was my hero. 00:36:02.593 --> 00:36:05.897 He did everything a man was supposed to do, so I thought. 00:36:05.963 --> 00:36:07.932 He married his high school sweetheart, 00:36:07.999 --> 00:36:10.468 had children and provided for his family. 00:36:11.969 --> 00:36:16.574 Eric is still my hero because he don't blame the system. 00:36:16.641 --> 00:36:21.212 He didn't blame anyone but himself for being locked up. 00:36:21.279 --> 00:36:24.682 He says it was the decisions that caused the situation. 00:36:24.749 --> 00:36:28.452 Eric has never point the finger at anyone but himself. 00:36:30.521 --> 00:36:32.990 As a man, I have to respect his truth. 00:36:35.359 --> 00:36:37.995 My brother missed out on a lot in 20 years. 00:36:40.865 --> 00:36:45.436 - In January 2017, right before Obama left, 00:36:45.503 --> 00:36:47.004 Obama gave me a clemency, 00:36:48.506 --> 00:36:52.443 and he knocked my time down and that's how I came home. 00:36:52.510 --> 00:36:56.614 To go from 22 years, get a phone call, 00:36:56.681 --> 00:36:58.849 and get kicked out of prison the same day. 00:37:00.851 --> 00:37:04.322 So it's just like I was in a dream. 00:37:04.388 --> 00:37:06.557 And sometimes it's like I'm still in a dream 00:37:06.624 --> 00:37:10.461 when my phone ring and I can answer, 00:37:10.528 --> 00:37:12.196 or I can call somebody at will. 00:37:15.199 --> 00:37:18.135 (MiAngel laughing) 00:37:22.640 --> 00:37:25.142 - Oh, how you doing? - Oh my God. 00:37:25.209 --> 00:37:28.579 (soft thoughtful music) 00:37:31.415 --> 00:37:34.885 (upbeat uplifting music) 00:37:39.924 --> 00:37:43.594 - Is she straight ahead? - She's in the van. 00:37:46.163 --> 00:37:48.032 - Oh my, you look beautiful. - Thank you. 00:37:48.099 --> 00:37:52.136 - (laughing) Well I can get in the back. (laughing) 00:37:52.203 --> 00:37:55.573 (upbeat uplifting music) 00:37:58.042 --> 00:38:01.112 I'm going to DC to meet with Cory Booker, 00:38:01.178 --> 00:38:02.346 Senator Cory Booker. 00:38:02.413 --> 00:38:04.148 - [Interviewer] How are you feeling about that? 00:38:04.215 --> 00:38:06.350 - I feel great. I feel great because, 00:38:06.417 --> 00:38:09.186 there's a purpose where I'm going. 00:38:09.253 --> 00:38:13.024 So like I said, I feel great just to advocate 00:38:13.090 --> 00:38:15.192 for the guys that I left, you know? 00:38:15.259 --> 00:38:18.396 Because they was my family for 16 years, and I was thinking, 00:38:18.462 --> 00:38:20.831 at times I was thinking that they'd be 00:38:20.898 --> 00:38:23.167 by family for life, you know? (laughing) 00:38:23.234 --> 00:38:25.536 Because you know, I had that life sentence so, 00:38:26.937 --> 00:38:31.208 so it was a bittersweet moment when I walked out the door, 00:38:31.275 --> 00:38:33.711 especially to see my sisters and them. 00:38:33.778 --> 00:38:36.914 And then the bitter part was just leaving the guys. 00:38:36.981 --> 00:38:38.916 - We started The Decarceration Collective 00:38:38.983 --> 00:38:43.054 with money that we saved up as federal defenders, 00:38:43.120 --> 00:38:46.190 as public defenders, our personal savings. 00:38:46.257 --> 00:38:49.360 So the first year, it was like extremely difficult. 00:38:49.427 --> 00:38:54.432 'Cause you're working nonstop, you're not paying yourselves. 00:38:55.599 --> 00:38:57.001 And I think part of that is the nature 00:38:57.068 --> 00:39:01.739 of starting a nonprofit and trying to be true 00:39:01.806 --> 00:39:04.375 to the values of indigent defense, 00:39:04.442 --> 00:39:08.045 and that is understanding that people can't pay. 00:39:08.112 --> 00:39:11.082 And so we always told ourselves our mission 00:39:11.148 --> 00:39:14.752 was to be the best lawyers that money could not buy 00:39:14.819 --> 00:39:17.455 for people who could not afford counsel. 00:39:17.521 --> 00:39:20.091 But it's a very, very difficult process 00:39:20.157 --> 00:39:22.560 to stay faithful to that. 00:39:22.626 --> 00:39:24.595 I think part of it is (laughing) 00:39:24.662 --> 00:39:26.263 just being committed to doing it 00:39:26.330 --> 00:39:28.866 even when the money isn't flowing, 00:39:28.933 --> 00:39:31.535 even when you don't know how you're gonna 00:39:31.602 --> 00:39:33.871 pay the rent the next month. 00:39:33.938 --> 00:39:36.273 - It has been amazing because she showed me how to 00:39:36.340 --> 00:39:39.510 not just be someone's attorney. 00:39:40.678 --> 00:39:45.249 She showed me how to be like a caretaker. 00:39:45.316 --> 00:39:48.986 So she's helped me learn how to have the interaction, 00:39:49.053 --> 00:39:50.454 to let them know that I care. 00:39:50.521 --> 00:39:53.657 I care beyond this piece of paper. 00:39:53.724 --> 00:39:55.626 I know that you're a human, 00:39:55.693 --> 00:39:57.461 I understand that you're a father, 00:39:57.528 --> 00:39:59.263 or I know that you like music. 00:39:59.330 --> 00:40:01.432 So I'm gonna relate to your music. 00:40:01.499 --> 00:40:02.967 Like this is the music I listen to, what do you listen to? 00:40:03.033 --> 00:40:06.437 Beyond what's on this piece of paper, 00:40:06.504 --> 00:40:09.406 because music, that has nothing to do with your case, 00:40:09.473 --> 00:40:11.308 but it has everything to do with you, 00:40:11.375 --> 00:40:14.345 and MiAngel helped me see that. 00:40:14.411 --> 00:40:18.182 (gentle inspirational music) 00:40:20.417 --> 00:40:21.418 - Hi. - Yes. 00:40:23.521 --> 00:40:24.655 - [Eric] How you doing? 00:40:24.722 --> 00:40:26.524 - I'm good, you are, you make me happy. 00:40:26.590 --> 00:40:28.826 You make my soul rejoice. 00:40:29.426 --> 00:40:31.262 Both men about liberation. 00:40:31.328 --> 00:40:33.164 I'm proud to stand here with Edward Douglas, 00:40:33.230 --> 00:40:36.433 and you are the first person to be liberated 00:40:36.500 --> 00:40:38.302 thanks to the First Step Act. 00:40:38.369 --> 00:40:40.004 You were unjustly incarcerated. 00:40:40.070 --> 00:40:42.973 Man it was a enough drug, lighter than a baseball, 00:40:43.040 --> 00:40:45.643 and you got a life sentence. 00:40:45.709 --> 00:40:47.144 - Life sentence. - Life sentence. 00:40:47.211 --> 00:40:49.480 Because of two priors that didn't have any jail time. 00:40:49.547 --> 00:40:50.781 - Right. 00:40:50.848 --> 00:40:53.150 - And I just want you to say to me you represent 00:40:53.217 --> 00:40:56.287 what's possible and what has to happen, right? 00:40:56.353 --> 00:40:57.822 - Exactly. 00:40:57.888 --> 00:40:59.023 - Do you have any message you want to send to folk? 00:40:59.089 --> 00:41:01.725 - I just want to say thanks for everything, 00:41:02.726 --> 00:41:04.395 and the fight continues. 00:41:04.461 --> 00:41:06.363 - The fight continues, 'cause you have too many 00:41:06.430 --> 00:41:07.565 other brothers that you know 00:41:07.631 --> 00:41:08.833 that are unjustly incarcerated as well. 00:41:08.899 --> 00:41:10.067 - Exactly. 00:41:10.134 --> 00:41:11.068 - In these disproportionate sentences. 00:41:11.135 --> 00:41:12.536 - Exactly. - All right man. 00:41:12.603 --> 00:41:14.004 And what did you say the first thing you ate 00:41:14.071 --> 00:41:16.373 when you came out of prison was, what was it? 00:41:16.440 --> 00:41:17.508 - Popeye Chicken. 00:41:17.575 --> 00:41:18.709 (Cory laughing) 00:41:18.776 --> 00:41:19.877 - Popeye's Chicken? - Popeye Chicken. 00:41:19.944 --> 00:41:21.178 - Better than anything in prison? 00:41:21.245 --> 00:41:23.848 - Ooh better, way better, (laughing) 00:41:23.914 --> 00:41:25.749 - Well when I went in a restaurant, 00:41:25.816 --> 00:41:27.651 the people behind the counter, you know, 00:41:27.718 --> 00:41:31.322 in Kentucky Fried Chicken, that's where I went, 00:41:31.388 --> 00:41:34.391 there's a lot of young people that work there. 00:41:34.458 --> 00:41:36.994 Teenagers, and now I'm sitting there, 00:41:37.061 --> 00:41:38.562 and they looking at me and I'm, 00:41:38.629 --> 00:41:43.000 I'm in a gray jogging suit from prison, 00:41:43.067 --> 00:41:44.568 and they don't know I'm from prison, 00:41:44.635 --> 00:41:47.438 but I'm looking at the menu and I'm trying to figure out 00:41:47.504 --> 00:41:51.508 how the menu go because it wasn't like that 20 years ago. 00:41:51.575 --> 00:41:54.211 So I'm looking up at the menu and I'm trying 00:41:54.278 --> 00:41:58.682 to piece together a meal and they looking like, 00:41:58.749 --> 00:41:59.917 "Can we help you?" 00:41:59.984 --> 00:42:01.218 And I'm like, "Oh, one minute please. 00:42:01.285 --> 00:42:02.620 I gotta figure this one out." 00:42:04.788 --> 00:42:05.256 (upbeat music) 00:42:05.923 --> 00:42:07.892 - When I went downtown to see the probation officer, 00:42:07.958 --> 00:42:10.127 I get on the bus, so I use my mother's card. 00:42:10.194 --> 00:42:12.563 I mean, my daughter gave me a couple of cards 00:42:12.630 --> 00:42:15.699 that you put in the bus, whatever the Goal, or whatever. 00:42:15.766 --> 00:42:17.868 - The Venture. - The Venture card. 00:42:17.935 --> 00:42:20.871 I put the Venture card in the money slot, right? 00:42:20.938 --> 00:42:23.407 So he looking at me like, "What you doing?" 00:42:23.474 --> 00:42:24.875 I said, "What do you mean, what I'm doing?" 00:42:24.942 --> 00:42:25.809 He said, "It don't go there." 00:42:25.876 --> 00:42:27.311 I said, "Well, I don't know." 00:42:27.378 --> 00:42:28.879 So then, (laughing) 00:42:28.946 --> 00:42:30.748 so he said, "Nah, it goes in there," so he let me go. 00:42:30.814 --> 00:42:32.750 So then I go to see my daughter after 00:42:32.816 --> 00:42:34.418 I leave the probation officer, right? 00:42:34.485 --> 00:42:38.389 So my daughter stays on 35th in them townhouses. 00:42:38.455 --> 00:42:40.124 And I never been over there, you know? 00:42:40.190 --> 00:42:42.893 So I'm like, "Okay, I got my phone." 00:42:42.960 --> 00:42:44.662 So I can't, I don't know how to use my phone. 00:42:44.728 --> 00:42:48.999 So I'm like, I'm still like, "Where they live at?" 00:42:49.066 --> 00:42:50.100 I'm walking all through. 00:42:50.167 --> 00:42:53.270 So I goes to the CTA Department. 00:42:53.337 --> 00:42:54.738 So when I get in there, I asked the man, 00:42:54.805 --> 00:42:56.607 I said, "Hey, do you got a pay phone?" 00:42:56.674 --> 00:42:59.510 And he looked at me like, "We don't do pay phones no more." 00:42:59.576 --> 00:43:03.080 And I'm like, "I don't know," you know? 00:43:03.147 --> 00:43:05.616 So he like, "Ain't no pay phone." 00:43:05.683 --> 00:43:08.118 - (laughing) And then when I order a soda, 00:43:08.185 --> 00:43:09.954 I order up a orange soda, 00:43:10.020 --> 00:43:12.823 and they give me a cup and I'm like. 00:43:12.890 --> 00:43:15.492 Then they're like, "Oh no, you gotta fill it over there." 00:43:15.559 --> 00:43:18.062 And that wasn't so when I left. 00:43:19.229 --> 00:43:21.131 They filled the pops and everything. 00:43:21.198 --> 00:43:23.334 Now you, they got it over to the side. 00:43:23.400 --> 00:43:26.270 It takes a little getting used to. 00:43:26.337 --> 00:43:27.304 - They got a detox water. 00:43:27.371 --> 00:43:28.605 - Did they have these though? 00:43:28.672 --> 00:43:29.773 That's all that I need to know. 00:43:29.840 --> 00:43:32.142 - Whoa. - This wasn't around. 00:43:32.209 --> 00:43:33.544 - This was around. - That was around? 00:43:33.610 --> 00:43:35.512 - Yeah, this wasn't around. - This wasn't around. 00:43:35.579 --> 00:43:36.480 Okay, can you give me that one? 00:43:36.547 --> 00:43:37.614 I wanna be the first one 00:43:37.681 --> 00:43:40.317 to get you some Jalapeno Cheddar Cheetos. 00:43:40.384 --> 00:43:42.052 - Okay, yes Cheetos, and then I got a couple of bags 00:43:42.119 --> 00:43:44.221 of regular Cheetos at the house. 00:43:44.288 --> 00:43:47.658 (uptempo syncopated music) 00:43:47.725 --> 00:43:48.892 - [Officer] Senator Booker, how are you? 00:43:48.959 --> 00:43:50.194 - I'm doing all right, I'm doing all right. 00:43:50.260 --> 00:43:51.662 - [Officer] Nice to see you. 00:43:51.729 --> 00:43:54.198 - Nice to see you too, nice to see you too. 00:43:54.264 --> 00:43:57.067 - [Bella] You don't wanna shake my hand or something? 00:43:57.134 --> 00:43:58.836 - Hey, what's up? - Okay, how're you doing? 00:43:58.902 --> 00:44:00.838 Okay, keep that same energy. 00:44:00.904 --> 00:44:02.539 - [Cory] Are you ready? 00:44:02.606 --> 00:44:05.509 What you represent to me now is more than just 00:44:05.576 --> 00:44:07.678 a symbol of what the past was. 00:44:07.745 --> 00:44:10.547 You represent a symbol of what we still have to do. 00:44:10.614 --> 00:44:12.516 Every prison I go to, so I tell this story all the time. 00:44:12.583 --> 00:44:14.351 This little thing I go, I asked wardens, 00:44:14.418 --> 00:44:16.186 these are the people in charge. 00:44:16.253 --> 00:44:17.388 I always say to them, 00:44:17.454 --> 00:44:18.856 "Are there people that don't belong here?" 00:44:18.922 --> 00:44:20.057 And they go, "Yeah, there are people 00:44:20.124 --> 00:44:21.425 that just should not be here." 00:44:21.492 --> 00:44:23.927 - You know part of it is I think, 00:44:23.994 --> 00:44:25.863 and this is not something that's just endemic 00:44:25.929 --> 00:44:27.498 to The Decarceration Collective. 00:44:27.564 --> 00:44:31.235 It is part of being within a system 00:44:31.301 --> 00:44:35.439 that funds prosecution but not decarceration, 00:44:35.506 --> 00:44:39.443 that we channel hundreds of thousands 00:44:39.510 --> 00:44:43.113 and millions of dollars into prosecuting people, 00:44:43.180 --> 00:44:48.185 but their re-entry is woefully underfunded. 00:44:49.653 --> 00:44:52.056 Organizations that support re-entry, mental health services, 00:44:52.122 --> 00:44:55.059 legal services, woefully underfunded. 00:44:55.125 --> 00:44:57.594 And that's part of the system where the apparatus, 00:44:57.661 --> 00:44:59.696 that quite frankly, my clients had experienced 00:44:59.763 --> 00:45:01.398 before they went to prison, 00:45:01.465 --> 00:45:04.134 and then they experience when they get out. 00:45:04.201 --> 00:45:06.303 And so part of it is understanding 00:45:06.370 --> 00:45:08.238 I think America has to choose, 00:45:08.305 --> 00:45:11.241 are we going to fund decarceration for people? 00:45:11.308 --> 00:45:14.878 If we're really committed to ending mass incarceration, 00:45:14.945 --> 00:45:19.583 then that has to be a systemic shift in how we prioritize 00:45:19.650 --> 00:45:21.919 and invest our money into people, 00:45:21.985 --> 00:45:24.054 because people are getting out of prison. 00:45:24.121 --> 00:45:27.291 And the question is to what, to what support? 00:45:27.357 --> 00:45:29.293 For many of my clients, the first system 00:45:29.359 --> 00:45:33.263 that ever really paid any focused attention to them 00:45:33.330 --> 00:45:35.265 was the criminal justice system. 00:45:35.332 --> 00:45:36.767 It wasn't the educational system. 00:45:36.834 --> 00:45:38.602 It wasn't the mental health system. 00:45:38.669 --> 00:45:40.504 It wasn't the healthcare system, 00:45:40.571 --> 00:45:42.773 but you get a lot of attention when it's 00:45:42.840 --> 00:45:46.176 the United States of America versus Edward Douglas, 00:45:46.243 --> 00:45:47.811 or you or I. 00:45:47.878 --> 00:45:49.947 And so I think the shift has to be, 00:45:50.013 --> 00:45:53.684 when do we really recognize people as whole human beings? 00:45:56.520 --> 00:45:58.789 - [Tyrie] As a man incarcerated in federal prison, 00:45:58.856 --> 00:46:01.925 I've made positive steps to change my life. 00:46:01.992 --> 00:46:05.996 I've earned a GED, completed drug education programs, 00:46:06.063 --> 00:46:07.965 completed a parenting course, 00:46:08.031 --> 00:46:10.634 received college credits in business management, 00:46:10.701 --> 00:46:14.304 have completed courses in futures in stock markets, 00:46:14.371 --> 00:46:18.142 while working 10 plus years in Prison Industries UNICOR. 00:46:18.208 --> 00:46:21.145 - In jail, they teach you, you're programmed, 00:46:21.211 --> 00:46:22.613 you gotta get a schedule. 00:46:22.679 --> 00:46:25.516 You gotta get something to maintain, to keep yourself busy. 00:46:25.582 --> 00:46:30.053 And I kind of practice that in a sense in the free world, 00:46:30.120 --> 00:46:32.456 because right off the back, I know, 00:46:32.523 --> 00:46:35.859 okay, what's your goals? 00:46:35.926 --> 00:46:37.361 You don't want to get a job. 00:46:37.427 --> 00:46:40.063 You got a felony, so you gotta get a trade. 00:46:40.130 --> 00:46:41.331 So what you was doing in jail, 00:46:41.398 --> 00:46:43.667 y'all was MIGging and TIGging in jail. 00:46:43.734 --> 00:46:45.135 So why not go to school for it? 00:46:45.202 --> 00:46:47.337 So I immediately, I go to school for it. 00:46:47.404 --> 00:46:52.409 So now I'm positioning myself to be successful out here 00:46:53.877 --> 00:46:57.581 like I was in jail and able to put, to achieve the goal 00:46:57.648 --> 00:47:00.017 to get the clemency and get my freedom back. 00:47:00.083 --> 00:47:05.088 And now I have a goal to position myself to stay free. 00:47:06.256 --> 00:47:07.691 I'm building all the foundation around me. 00:47:07.758 --> 00:47:10.494 School, good people, you know what I'm saying? 00:47:10.561 --> 00:47:14.031 And I'm still in tune with my legal team 00:47:14.097 --> 00:47:16.833 that helps me and guides me. 00:47:16.900 --> 00:47:21.004 So I'm all right, and then I got my family. 00:47:21.071 --> 00:47:25.108 So I got the support on the outside to succeed. 00:47:27.010 --> 00:47:31.815 And that's what I'm on out here because it took me 22 years. 00:47:34.418 --> 00:47:35.786 Why would I give it back up? 00:47:37.988 --> 00:47:42.125 - As a child my father taught me, 00:47:44.928 --> 00:47:47.798 from the age of 14 years old, how to take care of myself, 00:47:48.632 --> 00:47:51.034 to be a productive young man. 00:47:53.003 --> 00:47:57.941 I let him down, I went to prison. (crying) 00:47:58.008 --> 00:48:01.311 (soft thoughtful music) 00:48:10.220 --> 00:48:14.157 Mom, Dad, I'm sorry (weeping). 00:48:16.627 --> 00:48:18.161 - I spent a lot of time with family, 00:48:18.228 --> 00:48:21.965 but with my grandkids, I spend the most time with. 00:48:22.032 --> 00:48:25.035 My kids, they was born when I got locked up. 00:48:26.236 --> 00:48:28.905 So they, my grandkids had to come. 00:48:28.972 --> 00:48:31.942 So it's like, I got a do-over with the grandkids. 00:48:32.009 --> 00:48:33.677 So I'm all the time with them, 00:48:33.744 --> 00:48:34.945 taking them to Chuck E Cheese. 00:48:35.012 --> 00:48:36.647 So I'm spending time with them and stuff. 00:48:36.713 --> 00:48:40.117 So it's like when I'm with them, 00:48:40.183 --> 00:48:43.287 that helps you stay focused on the goal. 00:48:43.353 --> 00:48:46.990 You know, "Hey, you got this second chance." 00:48:47.057 --> 00:48:49.126 It's like a second chance all the way around 00:48:49.192 --> 00:48:51.328 with raising kids and everything. 00:48:51.395 --> 00:48:55.132 So family is way important, 00:48:55.198 --> 00:48:59.469 especially the little ones, because they keep me focused. 00:48:59.536 --> 00:49:01.305 - He was peeking around the corner. 00:49:01.371 --> 00:49:04.107 I came in, 'cause I dropped everyone off at the door 00:49:04.174 --> 00:49:05.309 and you know, you have to park on the street. 00:49:05.375 --> 00:49:08.779 So I went and parked my car and I came in, 00:49:08.845 --> 00:49:12.149 and I was taking my coat off right here at the freezer. 00:49:12.215 --> 00:49:14.518 And everybody was just looking at me around the corner. 00:49:14.584 --> 00:49:17.120 I didn't even know it was him peeking around the corner. 00:49:17.187 --> 00:49:18.488 He looked just like my brother. 00:49:18.555 --> 00:49:19.656 I promise I didn't know it was him. 00:49:19.723 --> 00:49:20.657 I'm like, "Oh, here you go." 00:49:20.724 --> 00:49:22.292 Like, "Oh my God, no wait." 00:49:22.359 --> 00:49:23.827 (group laughing) 00:49:23.894 --> 00:49:26.196 I expected to cry, but I didn't. 00:49:26.263 --> 00:49:30.434 I was just in my head like, "Crying is over, it's over." 00:49:32.569 --> 00:49:34.204 I didn't cry, and I was so shocked at myself. 00:49:34.271 --> 00:49:37.240 Like, "It's over, I don't have to cry anymore." 00:49:37.307 --> 00:49:41.178 - I could say this, and I mean this from my heart. 00:49:41.244 --> 00:49:45.515 I know it's favor, I know how hard these women worked. 00:49:45.582 --> 00:49:50.587 That it's over 2000 people in jail that I've read of, 00:49:52.956 --> 00:49:57.027 that's in there for life, for drugs and everything. 00:49:57.094 --> 00:50:02.099 Yet, my son walked out the door, 00:50:03.467 --> 00:50:05.936 and everybody else is still there trying to get out. 00:50:06.002 --> 00:50:07.904 These women worked hard. 00:50:07.971 --> 00:50:10.774 When I told her, I said, "What's your next step?" 00:50:10.841 --> 00:50:13.009 "I gotta rest a few days." 00:50:13.076 --> 00:50:15.545 Then I said, "Well, do you have other cases?" 00:50:15.612 --> 00:50:16.747 "Oh yeah, I got other cases 00:50:16.813 --> 00:50:19.683 but I rest a few, and then I go back to them." 00:50:29.760 --> 00:50:31.395 - [Tyrie] Words alone could never express 00:50:31.461 --> 00:50:35.031 the remorse I feel for my choice to use and sell drugs. 00:50:35.098 --> 00:50:38.135 I knew I had to pay a price for my bed decisions, 00:50:38.201 --> 00:50:41.705 so now I try to take life as it comes with no complaints. 00:50:41.772 --> 00:50:44.574 I deal with life and everything else for what it is, 00:50:44.641 --> 00:50:46.743 not for what I think it should be. 00:50:46.810 --> 00:50:49.212 I have refused to grow bitter and allow 00:50:49.279 --> 00:50:51.715 the mistakes of my past and the weight of prison 00:50:51.782 --> 00:50:54.117 to bury me before I'm physically dead. 00:50:54.184 --> 00:50:56.953 I tell myself every day, it's not a disgrace 00:50:57.020 --> 00:51:00.557 to have been a criminal, it's a disgrace to remain one. 00:51:00.624 --> 00:51:03.427 I want to chance to atone for my criminal acts. 00:51:03.493 --> 00:51:07.164 I want to show my family I am someone they can be proud of, 00:51:07.230 --> 00:51:09.933 show society that there are people incarcerated 00:51:10.000 --> 00:51:12.736 who made mistakes, but if given a chance 00:51:12.803 --> 00:51:15.172 will prove they are now fit to be a part 00:51:15.238 --> 00:51:17.240 of society and ready to contribute. 00:51:18.408 --> 00:51:20.677 I know it is not about what lies behind me 00:51:20.744 --> 00:51:24.147 or what lies ahead of me, it's about what lies within me 00:51:24.214 --> 00:51:27.184 that will help me manifest a bigger and brighter future. 00:51:29.252 --> 00:51:33.557 - Nobody deserves to be away from their family that long. 00:51:35.592 --> 00:51:40.397 No man, or woman, deserves to get a life sentence 00:51:42.666 --> 00:51:45.502 in prison for selling drugs, why? 00:51:50.173 --> 00:51:53.343 22 years, four months, one day, a hour 00:51:54.678 --> 00:51:57.914 is what I spent at a federal bureau, in prison. 00:52:00.517 --> 00:52:03.253 And there are people that are back there 00:52:05.088 --> 00:52:10.093 that need to get same thing that I got. 00:52:12.896 --> 00:52:15.632 - I went to my first prisons in law school. 00:52:15.699 --> 00:52:19.369 I'm almost embarrassed it took me 24 years to visit. 00:52:19.436 --> 00:52:22.239 And I saw all these guys with life sentences 00:52:22.305 --> 00:52:24.174 that were just, their whole life was focusing 00:52:24.241 --> 00:52:25.876 on helping guys who were gonna come in and go out 00:52:25.942 --> 00:52:27.310 you know, far before them. 00:52:27.377 --> 00:52:29.479 And the way you sort of conducted yourself 00:52:29.546 --> 00:52:30.647 while you were in there to say, 00:52:30.714 --> 00:52:33.149 "Hey look, I still have breath in my body, 00:52:33.216 --> 00:52:35.151 blood in my veins, I can still try to make a difference 00:52:35.218 --> 00:52:37.153 in the lives of other people." 00:52:37.220 --> 00:52:38.555 That's pretty, that's really profound. 00:52:38.622 --> 00:52:39.756 - Yeah, that was my intentions, 00:52:39.823 --> 00:52:41.725 'cause I wasn't gonna let it dictate, 00:52:41.791 --> 00:52:43.727 being in jail, I wasn't gonna let it dictate me, 00:52:43.793 --> 00:52:46.029 you know, doing the wrong things and stuff. 00:52:46.096 --> 00:52:48.398 So I went in there and got my education, 00:52:48.465 --> 00:52:51.167 working in suicide watch, and helping the guys. 00:52:51.234 --> 00:52:53.670 I was commissioner of the sports program. 00:52:53.737 --> 00:52:55.739 You know, 'cause it's something, 00:52:55.805 --> 00:52:57.007 it's something being in there. 00:52:57.073 --> 00:52:58.575 - Well, they can imprison your body, 00:52:58.642 --> 00:53:00.010 but they can't take your soul. 00:53:00.076 --> 00:53:01.711 - That's right especially-- - And your mind, yeah. 00:53:01.778 --> 00:53:03.680 - And when they tell you, "You got a life sentence," 00:53:03.747 --> 00:53:08.018 and I just told that judge, "Well, I'll be back." 00:53:08.084 --> 00:53:09.085 - Yes. - "I'll be back." 00:53:09.152 --> 00:53:09.986 - Yeah. 00:53:11.087 --> 00:53:14.190 - It took a lot from me. - Yeah. 00:53:14.257 --> 00:53:16.860 - But I'm not bitter, I'm not bitter at all. 00:53:16.927 --> 00:53:18.695 - I can see it in your spirit right now. 00:53:18.762 --> 00:53:20.230 - It helped me, it helped me grow as a man. 00:53:20.297 --> 00:53:21.464 - Yes. 00:53:21.531 --> 00:53:24.267 - It helped me grow as a man so you know, 00:53:24.334 --> 00:53:26.436 now I just wanna help the other gentlemens 00:53:26.503 --> 00:53:29.639 that's, you know, affected like I am. 00:53:29.706 --> 00:53:32.242 - Yeah well, and that's my fight too, man. 00:53:32.309 --> 00:53:33.343 - Okay. - Yeah. 00:53:34.344 --> 00:53:37.514 (slow dramatic music) 00:54:01.338 --> 00:54:06.109 - The moment my father was sentenced to life in prison 00:54:06.176 --> 00:54:08.244 probably was the moment, 00:54:08.311 --> 00:54:10.814 nothing but weight was on my shoulders. 00:54:10.880 --> 00:54:14.684 He raised me to think that I was going to save him. 00:54:16.486 --> 00:54:20.156 So while granted it was great to have him send me books, 00:54:20.223 --> 00:54:24.861 send me things to read, to always help me with my career, 00:54:24.928 --> 00:54:29.933 it also hurt to know that if I didn't do this, 00:54:31.368 --> 00:54:36.106 I'm letting him down, that I have to study for him. 00:54:37.741 --> 00:54:40.110 I have to pull this all-nighter for him. 00:54:40.176 --> 00:54:43.480 So anytime I got tired, it wasn't like, 00:54:43.546 --> 00:54:44.781 "Okay, just take a nap." 00:54:44.848 --> 00:54:47.450 It was, "Okay, if you don't stay up, 00:54:47.517 --> 00:54:50.286 it's gonna be your fault that he rots in this cage. 00:54:50.353 --> 00:54:52.956 If you don't do some jumping jacks, 00:54:53.023 --> 00:54:55.058 get some coffee, get it together." 00:54:55.125 --> 00:55:00.130 And that word of feeling guilty, it's real. 00:55:01.197 --> 00:55:04.534 Because as I celebrate Edward Douglas 00:55:04.601 --> 00:55:07.203 and I'm so happy, I feel guilty. 00:55:08.371 --> 00:55:10.540 The first person that I've played a role 00:55:10.607 --> 00:55:13.043 in getting them out was not my father. 00:55:14.277 --> 00:55:18.181 And when I told my daughter about Douglas 00:55:18.248 --> 00:55:19.916 and the family, she looked so happy. 00:55:19.983 --> 00:55:21.818 But her first words were, 00:55:21.885 --> 00:55:24.354 "So are we gonna be able to do this for my granddad? 00:55:24.421 --> 00:55:25.722 When's he getting out?" 00:55:25.789 --> 00:55:28.058 That was the first thing she said. 00:55:28.124 --> 00:55:30.660 And now I've transferred this weight on her 00:55:30.727 --> 00:55:32.328 without even noticing. 00:55:32.395 --> 00:55:34.431 - Something my mother said to me 00:55:35.565 --> 00:55:38.068 shortly after he was sentenced then, 00:55:39.569 --> 00:55:42.238 it was like she was congratulating me 00:55:42.305 --> 00:55:46.910 about the work that I'm do, but she said something like, 00:55:48.278 --> 00:55:51.214 "You know, I know God sent me you so that 00:55:51.281 --> 00:55:54.751 you could help me get my son back." 00:55:58.288 --> 00:56:02.192 You know, and so think about what type of pressure 00:56:04.294 --> 00:56:08.598 that puts on a young person like on a daughter, on a family. 00:56:09.666 --> 00:56:12.802 You know to think that my, 00:56:12.869 --> 00:56:15.705 my accomplishments can't be my own. 00:56:15.772 --> 00:56:19.375 It can't just be about me trying to develop 00:56:19.442 --> 00:56:22.078 and be the best person I can be or, 00:56:22.145 --> 00:56:23.046 you know, use my talents. 00:56:23.113 --> 00:56:27.050 It's really weighted, you know, 00:56:27.117 --> 00:56:29.753 it's really like, and of course, 00:56:29.819 --> 00:56:34.257 there's nothing more I want to free my brother, you know? 00:56:34.324 --> 00:56:36.960 But to have that type of pressure, 00:56:37.026 --> 00:56:39.162 I think about her saying that every day. 00:56:41.498 --> 00:56:42.966 But you gotta want it. You gotta, I mean it's like, 00:56:43.166 --> 00:56:46.503 we gotta want Edward's freedom more than we want 5:00, 00:56:46.569 --> 00:56:48.738 or more than you want food, more than you want sleep. 00:56:48.805 --> 00:56:51.141 You know, I feel like that's what the work requires. 00:56:51.207 --> 00:56:54.744 That's what I hope that people learn from this 00:56:54.811 --> 00:56:56.279 is like, you have to want it. 00:56:56.346 --> 00:57:00.283 Like we will scratch concrete until you are out. 00:57:00.350 --> 00:57:02.919 - She's one of the most selfless people I've ever met. 00:57:02.986 --> 00:57:05.989 It's been times where even with working on his case, 00:57:06.055 --> 00:57:07.757 I'm like, "Have you ate?" 00:57:07.824 --> 00:57:10.260 Like, "Do you need me to feed you? 00:57:10.326 --> 00:57:12.529 Do you want to take a break, go home?" 00:57:12.595 --> 00:57:14.597 I'm still convinced she sleeps in the office, 00:57:14.664 --> 00:57:17.367 but she says she doesn't, but I'm convinced she does. 00:57:17.433 --> 00:57:20.003 But she is definitely one of the most selfless people 00:57:20.069 --> 00:57:23.339 that I've met, and her work ethic can't be described. 00:57:23.406 --> 00:57:25.642 I don't think anybody works as hard 00:57:25.708 --> 00:57:28.311 as she does for other people. 00:57:28.378 --> 00:57:31.548 Not a moment of her life has anything to do with her. 00:57:31.614 --> 00:57:34.784 It's times where we have to make her celebrate herself, 00:57:34.851 --> 00:57:38.154 but she will gladly celebrate everybody else, 00:57:38.221 --> 00:57:40.023 and she wants everybody else to be happy 00:57:40.089 --> 00:57:43.226 and be free before she even breathes. 00:57:43.293 --> 00:57:44.794 Are you crying? - No. 00:57:44.861 --> 00:57:46.629 - Maybe, are you crying? - No, no. 00:57:48.131 --> 00:57:50.633 I've never cried. 00:57:50.700 --> 00:57:52.769 - [LaSheda] Miss, "I've never in my life." 00:57:53.603 --> 00:57:56.773 - If my dad was granted clemency, oh my goodness. 00:58:00.376 --> 00:58:02.812 Just knowing that, you know, 00:58:02.879 --> 00:58:06.816 he could be home and that he would be home 00:58:06.883 --> 00:58:08.384 and that I can actually 00:58:12.722 --> 00:58:17.660 see him outside of a prison and see him free. 00:58:19.896 --> 00:58:22.565 That would mean everything to us. 00:58:24.567 --> 00:58:29.572 My children, I know for my daughter too, 00:58:32.242 --> 00:58:34.444 because she loves the guitar and I know that 00:58:36.679 --> 00:58:38.581 he could teach her a couple of things. 00:58:45.788 --> 00:58:48.958 Just having him home would mean everything. 00:58:50.260 --> 00:58:52.095 Absolutely everything. 00:58:53.596 --> 00:58:56.933 (soft thoughtful music) 00:59:57.193 --> 01:00:02.198 - Not only was I in prison, but I was locked up inside me 01:00:03.366 --> 01:00:06.836 because I could not act as a free person. 01:00:06.903 --> 01:00:11.040 Now I am free because my mind is free, 01:00:11.107 --> 01:00:12.809 my spirit is free. 01:00:12.875 --> 01:00:17.880 And so I think that I am free now in more than one way. 01:00:23.753 --> 01:00:27.123 (soft thoughtful music) 01:00:41.604 --> 01:00:45.208 - Good morning everybody, another cold day. 01:00:48.044 --> 01:00:50.580 Feels great to be free though. 01:00:50.646 --> 01:00:53.383 About to get my work day started. 01:00:59.455 --> 01:01:03.493 The beauty of this situation is working every day, 01:01:03.559 --> 01:01:06.529 at the end of the day you have something 01:01:06.596 --> 01:01:09.999 to look forward, to coming home to your family, 01:01:11.434 --> 01:01:15.571 nice home-cooked meal and the love of just being free. 01:01:20.810 --> 01:01:24.247 (soft thoughtful music) 01:01:35.191 --> 01:01:36.526 - I'm just checking on you. 01:01:39.162 --> 01:01:40.430 Oh, y'all picked him up? 01:01:42.265 --> 01:01:45.735 (gasping) Oh, okay let me talk to him. 01:01:45.802 --> 01:01:49.138 (soft thoughtful music) 01:02:02.518 --> 01:02:06.622 Hey Jamelle, so you're in the car, huh? 01:02:08.791 --> 01:02:11.594 I'm missing your pickup, but I told your family 01:02:11.661 --> 01:02:13.396 I'm gonna come over tomorrow. 01:02:13.463 --> 01:02:16.332 Yeah okay, I'm sending you a hug. 01:02:16.399 --> 01:02:20.503 I'll see you tomorrow, okay, all right. 01:02:26.075 --> 01:02:28.311 Thank you so much for being a conductor. 01:02:30.746 --> 01:02:33.416 Oh thank you, okay, love you, oh. 01:02:36.919 --> 01:02:39.956 (squealing) That was one of the guys, he got out. 01:02:40.022 --> 01:02:43.326 (soft thoughtful music)