I was 3,000 miles away when I got the
call that made me fall to my knees I got
a call from my daughter and I couldn’t
believe what I was hearing
my daughter was such a beautiful person
she was filled with so much love and
compassion and she was what I used to
call my little mother Teresa but that
call when it came in it just took my
breath away when you get a call from
your kid and you can’t control what
you’re hearing you really have to sit
back and think you have to think about
what is actually happening here what am
i hearing
my daughter was calling me to tell me
that she was in trouble she was calling
in 2012 to be exact to tell me that she
had been arrested she’d been arrested
for armed robbery she had gone in with
two co-defendants because she had been
hooked on a drug and it was called Molly
this drug got her so far out there that
even I didn’t know who she was things
began to change this was my daughter
this is what she looked like before it
all happened and this was my daughter
after let me tell you something the drug
Molly can change your very entire
existence and it did that for her as
well
I was so shocked to hear what I was
hearing and I just I just I couldn’t
even imagine and fathom what was
happening that my life and her life was
changing right before our very own eyes
and all I could say to myself is why why
is this happening to us why is this
happening to a college student a student
who was doing so well in life and then
all of a sudden overnight it’s gone I
don’t know if it’s ever happened to you
guys
but it definitely happened to me how
many of you guys have someone who’s
incarcerated you know someone who’s
incarcerated or god forbid your own
incarcerated I’m glad to know one I’m
not alone but two I want to thank you
for being bold and three I want you to
realize that I realized some of us won’t
raise our hand for many different
reasons I understand that you know there
is a there is a major major major stigma
that goes along with being incarcerated
I understand that there’s judgement that
occurs and some of us are ashamed some
of us are even embarrassed to admit that
but you know I have to admit even I was
that person before my daughter was
incarcerated I was that person who
looked at a criminal and said I should
be afraid of that person not only should
I be afraid of that person but I also
should look at them as once a criminal
always a criminal they’ll never change
so don’t give him a second chance just
throw him away I was that person and I
am terribly ashamed to admit it but the
reality is there’s many of us sitting
right here in this room sitting out in
the world who think just like that
because it didn’t happen to you it
doesn’t affect your world it doesn’t you
don’t even know anybody in your world or
in your society or in your culture or in
your family where it’s actually
affecting you but for me it affected me
and so it hit me so deep down in my
heart that I had to dig deep down to
myself and say to myself hmm let me find
out for my daughter what’s going on
around there so I started asking my
daughter questions I started asking her
simply what’s going on in there and she
started giving me stories that were
unfathomable stories that were just
mind-blowing I could not believe that
they were in fact true I thought to
myself there’s no possible way no
possible way that what you’re telling me
could be true so what that did was that
led me down a road that opened up
another door for me and as this door
began to open it opened in a way that is
unique it’s probably going to blow some
of your minds but for me it worked in it
it actually helped me to understand what
my daughter was going through how many
of you guys have seen the show 60 days
in it’s a jail show on A&E
anybody 60 days in do you recognize that
person right there that’s me I hope you
liked my break but that shows sixty days
in they basically came to me and they
said to me you know would you like to
know what it’s like to be in jail and I
said well how would I do that and they
said well you’re gonna spend sixty days
undercover in jail this is gonna be the
real deal and not only is it gonna be
the real deal we’re gonna document every
move that you make and you’re gonna go
in there completely undercover to where
nobody knows that you’re in they’re not
the staff not the inmates not anybody
how many of you guys would do that 60
days you’re going with me anybody no I
guess not huh I don’t blame you I would
never go again and for the record that
would be a no I’m never going back ever
again I while I was in there you know I
uncovered a lot of different things and
some of the things that I learned were
just they were flabbergasting I mean I
learned that there are three different
types of people that go to jail in
prison
and for the record there’s two different
types of situations going on here jail
is for people who go and in two years or
less they may do their time they may be
they may not do their time but jail
they’re in and out of prison is for long
term two years plus and so when they
sent me to jail I learned that there
were three different types of people I
learned so many lessons but but the main
lesson was that one that there are
people that are absolutely guilty have
made a mistake they will learn from
their mistakes and they’ll never go back
again I learned that there are people
that are true criminals people who will
actually commit a crime over and over
again they’re a menace to society and we
need to watch our backs when it comes
down to them I also learned that there
are people that are innocent in the
prison innocent falsely accused they
really didn’t do it and I know that’s
the famous saying you know I didn’t do
it I didn’t do it but I promise you
there are people in there who really
didn’t do it and so as a part of what I
learned I learned that you know you
don’t know somebody’s story until you
really know somebody’s story you can’t
judge a book by a cover
why do I say that because I met a young
lady she was a heroin user and she was
my bunkmate my cellmate the girl that
slept above me and she had been
prostituted since the age of eight years
old and the reason why she was on heroin
was because her parents administered the
heroin to her for these gruesome acts to
occur and some of us like to say well
when you’re on drugs why don’t you just
get off drugs it’s that simple right
it’s that simple just say no well have
you ever considered the fact that some
people have a disease it’s called
addiction some people were raised in a
culture they have no idea they don’t
know anything else other than what
they’ve been taught she was eight years
old for God’s sake and being prostituted
and being given heroin and so as an
adult what does she do she comes in and
out of the system in and out of system
in and out of the system that’s heroin
that’s what it does to you you know what
else I learned I learned about why we
should care about mass incarceration the
reason why we should care about mass
incarceration I want to show you a few
more pictures there oh by the way that’s
me down at the very bottom you see me at
that bottom row you love my mugshot they
could have picked the best shot ever 60
days in A&E thank you so much why should
we care about mass incarceration
you know mass incarceration is killing
us spiritually financially and socially
and until we really get a hold of the
fact that it is a humanity issue and it
is it is a human rights issue we won’t
begin to understand you know people’s
rights are being consistently broken and
taken away from them and and don’t get
me wrong I don’t condone it I don’t
condone crime not at all I do believe
that when you’ve done something wrong
you do need to pay the price but the
crime other time must fit the crime my
daughter what for what she did for a
first-time offender she should have
never gone to prison for ten years ten
years she was 18 years old first offense
yes she was guilty yes she turned
herself in they didn’t have to spend the
tax dollars to find her she turned
herself in because she was taught to do
what was right she was born and raised
in a family where I was in firm belief
that she was going to turn out to be the
good ol American Dream but you know
sometimes we will be pinched and woken
up from that dream and before you know
it you’re in a nightmare it can happen
to you
it can’t happen but human rights are
being violated I witnessed it with my
own two eyes
let’s take a look I’m volunteering to go
to jail for 60 days
I have a child that is incarcerated I
wanted to know what it felt like to be
on the other side my biggest fear is
that the prison system will fail my
daughter that she’ll come out as a true
criminal I hope that I can impact that
system
when I first came in it was like that
most eerie feeling that I’ve ever had I
would have never expected American jails
to look like that on the inside that was
like some stuff to either see in a
foreign country it’s disgusting
if nothing else I’ll say disgusting
after years building up my mental stream
I felt like it’s being torn down in a
matter of hours minutes I could never
have understood what my daughter was
going through ever
until I walk one minute in her shoes
being in jail it’s a financial issue you
know it’s a financial issue I didn’t
know what it felt like until I walked in
those shoes when I saw from my own two
eyes that human rights are being
violated I had to think well what else
is happening it’s a financial issue you
see one out of 35 people are
incarcerated one out of 25 children
have parents who are incarcerated 80
billion dollars a year it costs to
incarcerate 2.5 million people we should
care about mass incarceration it’s
affecting you where do you think the 80
billion dollars comes from your
pocketbooks my pocketbook
everybody’s pocketbook eighty billion
dollars hmm I think 80 billion dollars
could probably pay the price of every
teacher in America for the next year why
don’t we take the time to possibly think
about using this as a way to kind of
better of society to see what else we
could do to make things better because
at this present time we’re not doing
what we need to do with the money that
we’re spending but we’re expecting
different results
I think Einstein said it best when he
said you know we keep doing the same
things but we keep expecting different
results that’s called insanity and I
feel like we’re walking in a space of
insanity when it comes down to mass
incarceration mass incarceration is not
just a humanities issue and a community
issue it’s also I’m sorry a financial
issue it’s also a community issue and
ultimately a family issue did you know
that 77 percent of those who’ve been
incarcerated are actually coming back
out to society no matter what they’ve
done no matter how long they’ve been in
or no matter what the impact is to the
society as a whole they’re coming back
and since they’re coming back we have to
be more than aware that they’re going to
affect our neighborhoods so we have to
care about mass incarceration because it
is a community issue we have to
realize and start to think differently
we have to start to think of felons as
not just a burden to our society but the
potential that we could change the way
the the correctional systems are being
handled we should think about are they
coming out corrected the answer is no
they’re coming out worse off than when
they went in why because there’s
absolutely no programs in place we
should start thinking about mental
health programs about re-entry programs
we should start thinking about all the
different ways that we could actually
begin to be a change have you ever
thought about this if you woke up
tomorrow and you were told you have no
money you have no place to go you have
no one to ask now put yourself there
imagine it with me you have nobody not
grandma sue sue not Billy Bob not uncle
uncle sure nobody but yet you are told
to be a productive citizen what are you
gonna do what do we expect people to do
when they have no where to lay their
heads know where to get a meal no way to
get a job that’s what we’re doing to
these people we are saying come back to
society but you figure it out but don’t
do anything wrong but come on back
that’s what we’re saying why should we
care about mass incarceration we should
care about mass incarceration because
you know because the bottom line is is
that we are our brothers keepers we are
our brothers keepers and our sisters
keepers it is up to us to be the leaders
and the forerunners in the world of
change not just talk about change but be
about change because I never expected
this to happen to me I am not the face
of incarceration neither is my daughter
but it is happening the opioid crisis is
it is here it is now it is happening so
what can you do
oh I’m so glad you asked me again what
can I do well what you can do is you can
remove the stigma and talk honestly
about it see in today’s time there’s no
real ways that we can talk about this
and not feel totally uncomfortable
I mean I’m screaming and I’m standing up
can’t imagine what you’re doing in your
shoot and you’re just in your chairs
right now I’m really uncomfortable
talking about this subject because most
people as soon as you start talking
about this subject then the first thing
they want to do is shut it down they
want to ignore it they want to push it
away as the dirty dark subject but we
have to start talking about this thing
openly and honestly so that we can find
the solutions to the problems don’t we
talk about other problems and don’t we
find solutions this is a problem we need
to find a solution
what about educating ourselves if you
haven’t already done this and and I’m
proud of you if you have but if you
haven’t already done this the best way
that you can educate yourself is just
like I did you can stand up and you can
sign the justice declaration when I went
to that justice declaration calm and I
started learning about things I learned
about advocacy I learned about lobbying
I learned about what I could personally
do to make a difference because the
problem does feel like it’s this big but
these people which is the Prison
Fellowship I’m in no connection with him
but they did help me to pull myself
through and make me understand
specifically what it was that I needed
to learn and do to become a change agent
so my question to you is will you sign
the check the justice declaration will
you sign it if you will you’ll find out
all the information that you need and
you won’t feel overwhelmed
you’ll feel what I felt and that’s
freedom the freedom to know that we live
in America the land of the free and the
home of the brave the freedom to know
that I personally had to go to jail to
lose my freedom so that other people
could be free so that you all can
understand and hear the truth coming
from someone who has a biased opinion or
who is who sees all sides will you say
will you stand with me and be the change
that we need to be will you stand with
me thank you
thank you thank you
okay
call that made me fall to my knees I got
a call from my daughter and I couldn’t
believe what I was hearing
my daughter was such a beautiful person
she was filled with so much love and
compassion and she was what I used to
call my little mother Teresa but that
call when it came in it just took my
breath away when you get a call from
your kid and you can’t control what
you’re hearing you really have to sit
back and think you have to think about
what is actually happening here what am
i hearing
my daughter was calling me to tell me
that she was in trouble she was calling
in 2012 to be exact to tell me that she
had been arrested she’d been arrested
for armed robbery she had gone in with
two co-defendants because she had been
hooked on a drug and it was called Molly
this drug got her so far out there that
even I didn’t know who she was things
began to change this was my daughter
this is what she looked like before it
all happened and this was my daughter
after let me tell you something the drug
Molly can change your very entire
existence and it did that for her as
well
I was so shocked to hear what I was
hearing and I just I just I couldn’t
even imagine and fathom what was
happening that my life and her life was
changing right before our very own eyes
and all I could say to myself is why why
is this happening to us why is this
happening to a college student a student
who was doing so well in life and then
all of a sudden overnight it’s gone I
don’t know if it’s ever happened to you
guys
but it definitely happened to me how
many of you guys have someone who’s
incarcerated you know someone who’s
incarcerated or god forbid your own
incarcerated I’m glad to know one I’m
not alone but two I want to thank you
for being bold and three I want you to
realize that I realized some of us won’t
raise our hand for many different
reasons I understand that you know there
is a there is a major major major stigma
that goes along with being incarcerated
I understand that there’s judgement that
occurs and some of us are ashamed some
of us are even embarrassed to admit that
but you know I have to admit even I was
that person before my daughter was
incarcerated I was that person who
looked at a criminal and said I should
be afraid of that person not only should
I be afraid of that person but I also
should look at them as once a criminal
always a criminal they’ll never change
so don’t give him a second chance just
throw him away I was that person and I
am terribly ashamed to admit it but the
reality is there’s many of us sitting
right here in this room sitting out in
the world who think just like that
because it didn’t happen to you it
doesn’t affect your world it doesn’t you
don’t even know anybody in your world or
in your society or in your culture or in
your family where it’s actually
affecting you but for me it affected me
and so it hit me so deep down in my
heart that I had to dig deep down to
myself and say to myself hmm let me find
out for my daughter what’s going on
around there so I started asking my
daughter questions I started asking her
simply what’s going on in there and she
started giving me stories that were
unfathomable stories that were just
mind-blowing I could not believe that
they were in fact true I thought to
myself there’s no possible way no
possible way that what you’re telling me
could be true so what that did was that
led me down a road that opened up
another door for me and as this door
began to open it opened in a way that is
unique it’s probably going to blow some
of your minds but for me it worked in it
it actually helped me to understand what
my daughter was going through how many
of you guys have seen the show 60 days
in it’s a jail show on A&E
anybody 60 days in do you recognize that
person right there that’s me I hope you
liked my break but that shows sixty days
in they basically came to me and they
said to me you know would you like to
know what it’s like to be in jail and I
said well how would I do that and they
said well you’re gonna spend sixty days
undercover in jail this is gonna be the
real deal and not only is it gonna be
the real deal we’re gonna document every
move that you make and you’re gonna go
in there completely undercover to where
nobody knows that you’re in they’re not
the staff not the inmates not anybody
how many of you guys would do that 60
days you’re going with me anybody no I
guess not huh I don’t blame you I would
never go again and for the record that
would be a no I’m never going back ever
again I while I was in there you know I
uncovered a lot of different things and
some of the things that I learned were
just they were flabbergasting I mean I
learned that there are three different
types of people that go to jail in
prison
and for the record there’s two different
types of situations going on here jail
is for people who go and in two years or
less they may do their time they may be
they may not do their time but jail
they’re in and out of prison is for long
term two years plus and so when they
sent me to jail I learned that there
were three different types of people I
learned so many lessons but but the main
lesson was that one that there are
people that are absolutely guilty have
made a mistake they will learn from
their mistakes and they’ll never go back
again I learned that there are people
that are true criminals people who will
actually commit a crime over and over
again they’re a menace to society and we
need to watch our backs when it comes
down to them I also learned that there
are people that are innocent in the
prison innocent falsely accused they
really didn’t do it and I know that’s
the famous saying you know I didn’t do
it I didn’t do it but I promise you
there are people in there who really
didn’t do it and so as a part of what I
learned I learned that you know you
don’t know somebody’s story until you
really know somebody’s story you can’t
judge a book by a cover
why do I say that because I met a young
lady she was a heroin user and she was
my bunkmate my cellmate the girl that
slept above me and she had been
prostituted since the age of eight years
old and the reason why she was on heroin
was because her parents administered the
heroin to her for these gruesome acts to
occur and some of us like to say well
when you’re on drugs why don’t you just
get off drugs it’s that simple right
it’s that simple just say no well have
you ever considered the fact that some
people have a disease it’s called
addiction some people were raised in a
culture they have no idea they don’t
know anything else other than what
they’ve been taught she was eight years
old for God’s sake and being prostituted
and being given heroin and so as an
adult what does she do she comes in and
out of the system in and out of system
in and out of the system that’s heroin
that’s what it does to you you know what
else I learned I learned about why we
should care about mass incarceration the
reason why we should care about mass
incarceration I want to show you a few
more pictures there oh by the way that’s
me down at the very bottom you see me at
that bottom row you love my mugshot they
could have picked the best shot ever 60
days in A&E thank you so much why should
we care about mass incarceration
you know mass incarceration is killing
us spiritually financially and socially
and until we really get a hold of the
fact that it is a humanity issue and it
is it is a human rights issue we won’t
begin to understand you know people’s
rights are being consistently broken and
taken away from them and and don’t get
me wrong I don’t condone it I don’t
condone crime not at all I do believe
that when you’ve done something wrong
you do need to pay the price but the
crime other time must fit the crime my
daughter what for what she did for a
first-time offender she should have
never gone to prison for ten years ten
years she was 18 years old first offense
yes she was guilty yes she turned
herself in they didn’t have to spend the
tax dollars to find her she turned
herself in because she was taught to do
what was right she was born and raised
in a family where I was in firm belief
that she was going to turn out to be the
good ol American Dream but you know
sometimes we will be pinched and woken
up from that dream and before you know
it you’re in a nightmare it can happen
to you
it can’t happen but human rights are
being violated I witnessed it with my
own two eyes
let’s take a look I’m volunteering to go
to jail for 60 days
I have a child that is incarcerated I
wanted to know what it felt like to be
on the other side my biggest fear is
that the prison system will fail my
daughter that she’ll come out as a true
criminal I hope that I can impact that
system
when I first came in it was like that
most eerie feeling that I’ve ever had I
would have never expected American jails
to look like that on the inside that was
like some stuff to either see in a
foreign country it’s disgusting
if nothing else I’ll say disgusting
after years building up my mental stream
I felt like it’s being torn down in a
matter of hours minutes I could never
have understood what my daughter was
going through ever
until I walk one minute in her shoes
being in jail it’s a financial issue you
know it’s a financial issue I didn’t
know what it felt like until I walked in
those shoes when I saw from my own two
eyes that human rights are being
violated I had to think well what else
is happening it’s a financial issue you
see one out of 35 people are
incarcerated one out of 25 children
have parents who are incarcerated 80
billion dollars a year it costs to
incarcerate 2.5 million people we should
care about mass incarceration it’s
affecting you where do you think the 80
billion dollars comes from your
pocketbooks my pocketbook
everybody’s pocketbook eighty billion
dollars hmm I think 80 billion dollars
could probably pay the price of every
teacher in America for the next year why
don’t we take the time to possibly think
about using this as a way to kind of
better of society to see what else we
could do to make things better because
at this present time we’re not doing
what we need to do with the money that
we’re spending but we’re expecting
different results
I think Einstein said it best when he
said you know we keep doing the same
things but we keep expecting different
results that’s called insanity and I
feel like we’re walking in a space of
insanity when it comes down to mass
incarceration mass incarceration is not
just a humanities issue and a community
issue it’s also I’m sorry a financial
issue it’s also a community issue and
ultimately a family issue did you know
that 77 percent of those who’ve been
incarcerated are actually coming back
out to society no matter what they’ve
done no matter how long they’ve been in
or no matter what the impact is to the
society as a whole they’re coming back
and since they’re coming back we have to
be more than aware that they’re going to
affect our neighborhoods so we have to
care about mass incarceration because it
is a community issue we have to
realize and start to think differently
we have to start to think of felons as
not just a burden to our society but the
potential that we could change the way
the the correctional systems are being
handled we should think about are they
coming out corrected the answer is no
they’re coming out worse off than when
they went in why because there’s
absolutely no programs in place we
should start thinking about mental
health programs about re-entry programs
we should start thinking about all the
different ways that we could actually
begin to be a change have you ever
thought about this if you woke up
tomorrow and you were told you have no
money you have no place to go you have
no one to ask now put yourself there
imagine it with me you have nobody not
grandma sue sue not Billy Bob not uncle
uncle sure nobody but yet you are told
to be a productive citizen what are you
gonna do what do we expect people to do
when they have no where to lay their
heads know where to get a meal no way to
get a job that’s what we’re doing to
these people we are saying come back to
society but you figure it out but don’t
do anything wrong but come on back
that’s what we’re saying why should we
care about mass incarceration we should
care about mass incarceration because
you know because the bottom line is is
that we are our brothers keepers we are
our brothers keepers and our sisters
keepers it is up to us to be the leaders
and the forerunners in the world of
change not just talk about change but be
about change because I never expected
this to happen to me I am not the face
of incarceration neither is my daughter
but it is happening the opioid crisis is
it is here it is now it is happening so
what can you do
oh I’m so glad you asked me again what
can I do well what you can do is you can
remove the stigma and talk honestly
about it see in today’s time there’s no
real ways that we can talk about this
and not feel totally uncomfortable
I mean I’m screaming and I’m standing up
can’t imagine what you’re doing in your
shoot and you’re just in your chairs
right now I’m really uncomfortable
talking about this subject because most
people as soon as you start talking
about this subject then the first thing
they want to do is shut it down they
want to ignore it they want to push it
away as the dirty dark subject but we
have to start talking about this thing
openly and honestly so that we can find
the solutions to the problems don’t we
talk about other problems and don’t we
find solutions this is a problem we need
to find a solution
what about educating ourselves if you
haven’t already done this and and I’m
proud of you if you have but if you
haven’t already done this the best way
that you can educate yourself is just
like I did you can stand up and you can
sign the justice declaration when I went
to that justice declaration calm and I
started learning about things I learned
about advocacy I learned about lobbying
I learned about what I could personally
do to make a difference because the
problem does feel like it’s this big but
these people which is the Prison
Fellowship I’m in no connection with him
but they did help me to pull myself
through and make me understand
specifically what it was that I needed
to learn and do to become a change agent
so my question to you is will you sign
the check the justice declaration will
you sign it if you will you’ll find out
all the information that you need and
you won’t feel overwhelmed
you’ll feel what I felt and that’s
freedom the freedom to know that we live
in America the land of the free and the
home of the brave the freedom to know
that I personally had to go to jail to
lose my freedom so that other people
could be free so that you all can
understand and hear the truth coming
from someone who has a biased opinion or
who is who sees all sides will you say
will you stand with me and be the change
that we need to be will you stand with
me thank you
thank you thank you
okay
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