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"[In America] we’re talking about separation of families at the border—it’s also a criminal justice issue. We’re not stopping to say, wait a minute, if we lock mom or dad up, what’s going to happen to the child. If you trace back to just how our system was built, you can trace this all the way back to slavery. Families have been separated continuously and those are scars that don’t go away."
"The longer you’re inside, the more difficult it is to reunite with your family. It’s especially hard on children and the majority of people in both state and federal correctional facilities are parents of minors. I literally got to know my daughter in prison visiting rooms. She grew up without me. First birthdays, first steps, first lost tooth, I wasn’t there for any of those things. Watching her struggle with me not being there was hugely difficult. I’ve been home now eight years, and we still struggle with a lot of the scars of me not being there."
"More people are currently serving life sentences today than all of the people who were in prison in 1970."
"Life sentences can be directly linked to the vestiges of institutional racism in our country and slavery. It’s a conversation no one wants to have and we have not owned it as a country."
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