Prison Reform

“My mom was a single mom and there were nine of us. All of the kids worked in the fields. I started when I was twelve. We picked cucumbers, apples, corn, strawberries, all of it. None of us went to school. Nobody cared-- if you move around a lot, the system loses track of you. Whenever the harvest was done, we’d go somewhere else. We always signed a contract. The farmers would give us a place to live and a little bit of money, and we worked in their fields. But there was never any money left when we finished. One day when I was eighteen, a friend of mine asked me to hide some marijuana in our trailer. He gave me a little money. I gave it to my mom. And that’s how it all began.”
More from this series
“I’ve been teaching the GED course for 21 years. I’ve helped over 300 students get their certificates.”
“I knew a person who worked for an insurance company. I’d give her some money and then she’d give me all the information I needed to open fake credit lines.”
“I’ve organized a lot of programs in prison. One of the classes I started is called Creative Parenting.”
“I thought it was a bomb at first. It pushed the building, so I was thrown against the wall.”
“I was working at a nightclub in Honduras, making $4 a night, and some guy tells me that I can make $6,000 in twelve days just by working on a boat.”
“My childhood ended early. I was sexually abused by two family members until the age of eleven.”
“He’s a beautiful person. He always tells me: ‘We’ve got to find a way to win by losing.’”
“My mom was a single mom and there were nine of us. All of the kids worked in the fields.”
“This is my fifth time in prison. Every crime I’ve committed has come from my addiction.”