All language subtitles for VICE S06E01 Raised in the System

Can I sit here?

- Yeah.
- All right.

- How y'all doing today?
- All right.

- All right.
- I'm all right.

What's life like for y'all right now?

- Day by day, bro.
- Oh, yeah?

You're trying to make the time
go by, you know what I'm saying?

How long have you been in the system?

When I first got locked
up, is that what you mean?

- Yes, sir.
- So I was 12.

Been in just since 12 to 17 now.

I'm about to like... eight, nine times.

I missed the last three Christmases

just being locked up
on Christmas. I won't...

Like just on... I'm always
locked up on Christmas, so.

I was 15 years old...

just like five years before I
was believing in Santa Claus.

I mean, I'm going on
three years, um, but...

and I got... I got
50 more, to be honest.

I got 50 more years to do.

Um...

So it ain't... Me, I got a while left,

but I'm gonna... I'm gonna
try to turn it around.

I'm gonna find a way to
turn it around somehow.

I don't know.

Hmm.

What's up with you, sista?

My first time being
incarcerated, I was about 14.

I been in and out ever since then.

The last... most last
recent time I caught,

when I was 16, they
tried me as an adult.

Growing up in my
household was different.

Sometimes no light, no water, no food,

so I turned to the streets, for real.

And the streets got me, but
now it ain't got me no more.

But... I'm supposed go to the DOC today.

How long you gonna be in DOC for?

I had 33 years total, they suspended 18.

I did three up here, but
they ain't count, so...

- You have 33 years?
- Yeah.

You caught your first
charge at, what, 13, 14?

Yeah, like 13, 14.

And the gun charges, the robbery,

and the grand theft auto charges...

- Mm-hmm.
- ... that you landed,

that is what you are being charged
with 33 years in prison for?

Yeah. But I feel, like, for my parents.

My dad, he already 64.

So I'm like, damn, I may not come home.

What if he pass away or something?

I can't tell him I'm sorry

for all the wrongs I done did,
and all that, and I love you.

I can't say that. He'll
already be gone then.

- Yeah.
- Part of me,

glad I'm locked up, 'cause
I got my shit together

while I'm doing them...
doing them years,

but it don't take 30 years for
you to get your shit together.

This building we're in right now

was actually built in the mid 1990s,

when people were starting to respond

to youth crime with adult consequences,

and people were describing kids
as juvenile super-predators.

- Mm-hmm.
- So, they were building

adult-like facilities like this

because they thought that was
the right way to respond to kids.

And what they forgot
was, they were kids.

There are no violent
offenses that are juvenile.

You shoot somebody, you're an adult.

Recent statistics may indicate

violent crime is declining nationwide,

but it's rising among young people.

They should be caged like wild animals

because that's what they are.

If I had my way, I'd borrow
the Ringling Brothers' cages

and cage these drug pushers

and exhibit them, so
the kids can see scum.

This has reached epidemic proportions.

They are not just gangs of kids anymore.

They are often the kinds of kids
that are called super predators:

no conscience, no empathy.

I'm directing the FBI

and other investigative agencies

to target gangs that involve
juveniles in violent crime,

and to seek authority
to prosecute as adults

teenagers who maim and kill like adults.

So, this your first
time ever being arrested?

- Right? Okay.
- Mm-hmm.

And you're 13.

So what got you here today?

Um, my dad and my mom,
they got separated,

and then my mom got full custody of me,

and I was just staying
at my dad's yesterday.

- Oh, okay.
- And I thought I was able to

stay with my dad, but I guess I wasn't.

So, Mom said you couldn't
go to Dad's tonight?

Okay. So then that's when
you had the little tussle

with the officer and your mom?

How long Mom and Dad been
having those problems?

Mm-hmm. For a long time.

A long time?

It's all right.

We'll get you a tissue if you need one.

There's a lot going on, isn't it?

Just keep breathing for me, okay?

This 13-year-old experienced
his first run-in with the law:

pushing a cop during an argument

about which parent he
was going to stay with.

But instead of putting
him in a jail cell,

the officials here in Toledo, Ohio,

are figuring out how they can
help him rather than detain him.

Your case is gonna be unofficial.

- Do you know what that means?
- Nope.

It's kind of like you don't
have a record at court, okay?

And then, we're going to
talk to you and your mom

about some things that may help you.

Hi, Dad. How are you?

- This is a little overwhelming. Yeah, I know.
- Yup. This is almost overwhelming.

Yup. We don't want him getting into
our system. You know how that is.

I've been trying to get out
of the system since I started,

and I'm still in the
system, fighting for him.

And I told you, I don't
want you being like me.

Done told you that... How
many times, a million times?

It's so important to help at-risk youth

at the first signs of trouble,

because kids who touch
the system at a young age

have a greater chance
of serving serious time

just a few years later.

Eric's first contact with the
system was at 11 years old.

And now at 17, he's facing
punishment for armed robbery.

This is the matter of
Eric, aggravated robbery...

felony of the first degree.

Eric is currently on
probation for burglary F2

and carrying concealed weapon,

this being his third time on probation.

He was on GPS monitoring.

Within one week, he committed
this current offense.

So, Eric, this is a... sad day.

For whatever reason that would be,

you made the decision.

You have the ability
to make the changes.

You're just gonna have to make
the changes in a different setting.

I am going to commit you to the
Department of Youth Services,

and I'm gonna give you
the maximum sentence

of a minimum of three
years up to age 21.

- Thank you. Good luck.
- Thank you.

For Judge Denise Cubbon,

sentencing teens like
Eric to juvenile prison

is a method of last resort.

She's presided over this
juvenile court for 13 years

and has seen firsthand
how incarcerating kids

not only fails to reduce crime,

it has set up generations
of young people

for a lifetime of failure.

The thought for years was

that incarceration would
rehabilitate people,

but that's not the case.

We were sending kids to the
Department of Youth Services...

that's kids' prison...

by leaps and bounds.

And they would come home
and what would they do?

What they know best:

Continue to commit offenses,

because they became unemployable,

they perhaps didn't have
education to rely on.

The reality is we lost a
population of young kids,

and to what?

Our crime rates were continuing to rise.

Things weren't any better.

If anything, they may have been worse.

Growing up in a violent neighborhood,

I saw firsthand how the young people

in my community ended up in the system.

While some went in for selling drugs,

I went in rehab for using.

I been in my own version of this

growing up, and yeah, it sucks.

Trust me, though, I wish
when I was in this situation,

I took it more seriously.

I would've saved myself more
grief when I went back out.

How you feel about the
program, that you're in here?

Ever since I was young out there...

seven, eight, nine... on
the block, selling drugs.

To me, if I don't change
the way I'm thinking,

I'm gonna be somewhere worser than here

or probably dead.

In the streets, the same
people gonna be there,

the same drugs. Ain't
nothing gonna change,

and you gotta realize that in
order to do something different.

Basically they teach us, how
you think is how you behave.

If I'm thinking I wanna be big
and bad, I'm gonna act big and bad.

But if I'm thinking, do the right thing,

I'm gonna do the right thing.

I realize there are certain
things I gotta let go of,

and I'm in-between
what I wanna let go of

and what I don't.

- It's a battle within yourself.
- Mm-hmm.

That's how I feel sometimes.
I come out at war with myself,

like I ain't really got no peace at all.

And that bothers me.

Kriston, one youth
with multiple offenses,

was most recently arrested
for a firearm charge.

What do you think is the cause

for all the violence in your community?

Everybody wanna fit in,

so it became a trend
to become a gangbanger,

it became a trend to
have all that money.

Me and my good friend had a term:

If I got regular Oreos,

but you got the Double Stuf Oreos,

we're coming to get your
Oreos, 'cause we need 'em.

So basically, that's how we live.

We enjoy shooting each other.

We enjoy pulling up on your
street and shooting at you.

I been around it all my
life. All my cousins...

You're a baby. Sixteen,
you're still a baby.

You make 16 like you're an
old man. You're still a baby.

What are you talking about? I
got socks older than 16 years old.

With over 850,000
juvenile arrests a year

and 48,000 kids sitting
in lock-up daily,

the US has

the highest incarceration rate

of kids on Earth.

And once these young people are
sentenced to juvenile facilities,

they've been found to be 38 times
more likely to reoffend as adults.

For my nephew Dominic,
it took one fatal mistake

as a teenager to be sentenced

to 25 years to life in prison.

One day defending his twin brother,

who was being accosted
by a gang of teenagers,

Dom shot and killed another
teen with an illegal firearm.

Let's talk about that
one moment in your life.

Could you or would you have
handled the situation differently?

I've often thought about
this whole situation,

sometimes until exhaustion.

I lay down at night in that cage,

and I say to myself, "What happened?

Where'd you go wrong at?"

But I also think that we
don't have to be defined

- by that one worst moment in our life.
- Absolutely.

And for me, that's what this is about.

Mm-hmm.

Wow.

What year was this?

Probably it's '94, '95.

Look how young I look.

You looked young, you were
young, you were a baby.

How many men that are in here now

went into the system as
minors, like yourself?

You know what? It's been a lot.

Coming to prison, there
were a lot of people

from our community who were 18, 17.

A lot of young men who were going
through different challenges...

everything from mental
health to sexual abuse issues,

lack of education, lack of
awareness, lack of self-confidence.

Their priorities are twisted.
They're not making it.

While behind the prison walls,

Dominic has decided to pay it forward

by counseling and mentoring
the other men there.

He leads a group called Exodus,

where he encourages them to
do the work on the inside,

so they can make a healthy
and successful transition.

Because of Dom's resolve and
his resemblance to the fighter,

they lovingly call him "Tyson."

I'm one of the adolescents,

one of the guys who came
in at a very young age, 16.

What we are doing down
here is changing lives.

If it wasn't for Tyson, I wouldn't be

who I aspire to be, who I am now.

I love because of these men.

Okay.

- Peace.
- Peace.

How y'all brothers doing, man?

- How's everybody doing?
- Great. Great.

Part of this process is to
remember what we've done.

Too many children,
too many grandchildren,

have been affected by our conduct.

Most of you guys have
well over 10 years served

in a maximum security prison.

How many people came to
prison at a very young age?

I want you to raise your hand.

Think about that. Think about that.

I came to prison when
I was 16 years old.

I'm 40 years old at the moment.

One thing that I value most
in this life is my family.

Due to my actions, I disgraced them.

I came to jail at 16.

A lot of people gave up on me.

That kind of messed
with my insecurities.

It just was me choosing the streets
and going the route I went in.

I became rebellious,

and I ran with this
rebelliousness to the streets.

I turned 13 when I ran with it,

thinking that I was man enough
to command those streets.

What are gonna be some
of the tools that you use

that is gonna keep you out of prison?

Basically finding the root,
the root of the problem,

going way back, where
everything started.

For many incarcerated
people across the country,

their troubles with crime,
violence, and the system

started when they were young.

The arrest rates for many crimes,

like murder, robbery, and car theft,

peak in late teenage years

and then begin to fall drastically.

Dr. Larry Steinberg is
a leading psychologist

in analyzing juvenile crimes,

and what he has found
is that this phenomenon

is directly connected to
adolescent brain development.

So, Larry, why do you think
we have one of the largest

juvenile justice problems in all of
the developed countries in the world?

I think there are a couple of reasons.

One is that we criminalize
normal adolescent behavior.

You know, adolescence
is a time when kids do

a lot of risky and reckless things.

There's a part of the brain,
called the prefrontal cortex,

that's really important for self-control

and anticipating the future
consequences of your decisions.

This brain system
isn't completely mature

- until people are in their early 20s.
- Yes.

We know that teenagers already have

an easily aroused reward
system in their brain.

You're more likely to
get angry at that age.

You're more likely to feel
threatened at that age.

And we're now understanding
that there's this mismatch

between this easily
aroused part of the brain

and a still immature part of your brain.

We like to say, "It's a
time when the accelerator

is pressed down to the floor

but there's not a good
braking system in place,"

and that's what adolescence is like.

We can't reform criminal justice

without reforming juvenile justice,

because there's almost nobody

- who's locked up in prison...
- As an adult.

... as an adult who
wasn't doing stuff...

- Something stupid when they were young.
- ... when they were young.

Dr. Steinberg has been exploring

the psychological differences
between teens and adults

through a series of experiments

on how peer pressure
affects impulsive behavior.

The idea here is that
the faster you get there,

the more money that you're able to get.

But along the way you're gonna
come to a series of intersections,

and at each one, you're going
to have to make a decision.

And if you keep going, you might
beat the light and get there faster.

But if the light turns red, you
could crash into another car. Okay?

This is definite... no way.

Oh!

Oh-ho!

Oh man!

What was the difference
in the brain activity?

Well, what we found in this research

was that when teenagers
are with their friends,

their reward centers
get activated especially,

but we didn't see any
difference for adults.

We then developed this theory

that the presence of
their friends activates

their brain's reward centers

in ways that makes them pay attention

to the potential
rewards of a risky choice

and to not pay attention
to the potential downside.

Being accepted by peers,
that also is something

that we find in the world of addiction,

which is where I come from.

So one of the really
interesting discoveries

that brain scientists have made

is that people who start
using early in adolescence

are seven to 10 times more
likely to develop an addiction

than people who use the same
substances in the same amounts,

but don't start until they're 21.

Nobody is saying that we should excuse

- criminal behavior.
- No sir, no sir, not at all.

But we need to respond in ways

that are going to help that person

return to the community
in a better place.

We wanted to see what programs in the US

are trying to find a better way.

Back in Judge Cubbon's
district in Toledo,

they are reducing the
incarceration numbers

by placing each kid in a program

that best suits their
individual situation.

Tyron was detained for carrying

a concealed weapon at 16.

He is now in a probation program

that allows him to continue to live

in his community and attend school.

You was locked up?

Yeah, I got there catching a gun charge.

Okay, all right. How old were you
when you caught the gun charge?

- Sixteen.
- Sixteen. And what program are you in right now?

- CTC.
- CTC?

What do those three letters stand for?

A community treatment center.

Community treatment center.

What's your situation and
what are your obligations?

Show up every day, go to school,

talk to them about
what I be going through

and stuff like that. Life skills.

Are there any adult males

in your family or in contact that...

- Contact in a good way?
- Positive, yeah.

Pssh. Pfft!

- Not that I know of.
- Everybody in the game, huh?

Everybody got an addiction.

Addicted to the streets.

I lost my best friend
when I was locked up.

Murdered? Yeah?

You ever think about
doing something stupid?

All the time.

I got some shit to worry about.
I got this other one where...

We followed Tyron to one
of his program check-ins.

That's not my cup of tea.

- Okay.
- That's not my flavor of ice, you know?

You feel me though?

- I feel you, man.
- You feel me though, "G"?

I feel you.

- No, you gotta say...
- "G."

- Good morning.
- Good morning.

This is the Lucas County
Court of Common Pleas,

juvenile division. This
is the matter of Tyron.

So, we'll start. Mr. Wilson.

Yes, Your Honor. Since the last review,

we've been working with Tyron,
he's been cooperative with CTC,

he has not missed, he
has been attending school.

And the concern we have

is that he is not returning
home in the evenings,

and that's part of his
condition of the CTC program.

So in the last two weeks, how
many nights has he not been home?

Every night.

The concern is safety again,

his whereabouts when
he's not in our sight.

Marijuana usage?

- Yes, he did...
- Oh. Okay, yeah.

He did test positive.

Okay. Mom.

All these good reports is fine,

but I don't see them, 'cause
y'all ain't gotta live with me.

You sitting up here, and you
call yourself a grown man.

I don't know where he's at at night,

I don't hear from him, I
don't get no calls from him.

And I'm gonna guess
that you're frustrated

because you're in recovery yourself?

Okay.

Okay, so the floor is yours.
Why aren't you going home?

- My mama.
- So, what's the problem?

All right, so I don't believe in God.

She want me...

she be wanting me to go to church.

She be trying to force
me to go to church,

and I don't believe in God. She...

she get mad when I say that. You see?

- That's my belief, though. I...
- Okay, listen to me

while your mother is out of the room.

If you told me where you were staying,

- I wouldn't approve? Is that correct or not correct?
- I already told him that.

- You're not answering my question.
- Yes.

Okay, so, Tyron, we... the
court and me, personally...

are giving you an opportunity

to take advantage of services...

Nope, nope, nope. I'm talking,
you're listening, okay?

You can sit down.

We know that you can do this,

but your safety and safety of others...

that's why we have to know
where you are all the time.

I will give you credit on school,

but I'm not gonna give you credit

on leaving the house and being
disrespectful to your mom.

You have to go walk the steps

so you can be trusted in situations.

It's hard. Yes, this is a high-risk
offending kid with a lot of needs,

but if we can keep him in the community,

we are increasing the likelihood that

that kid is gonna be successful.

When did you start seeing your numbers

go the other way, go down?

In the '90s, we had a population rate

in our detention center that varied
between 75 and 100 children, daily.

Today, we have 24.

Rather than be sent to
adult-like prison facilities,

offenders who qualify

enter Lucas County's comprehensive
rehabilitation program.

Youth who are accepted into

the Lucas County Youth Treatment Center

are felony offenders. It is lockdown.

We do a lot of cognitive
behavioral work:

education, mental health.

Most kids in kids' prison

would not have that opportunity.

We saw the positive effects

of this program six months later

when we met up with one of our
friends, seeing some real change.

This was like a wakeup call.

Like, I can't... I
can't go back out there

and make the same decisions that I made

because I know the outcome.

I feel like >I'm the one
taking that step outside the box

when I go to school, get an education,

go to college, start my own business.

Gangbanging or being in the streets,

it's gonna lead me to one or two boxes:

a cell or a casket.

So why continue to do the same thing?

I think about what suit I'm gonna buy

when I get out, not
what gun I'm gonna buy.

Mmm, mmm, mmm, mmm, mmm!

There's always a method to
my madness, young brother.

I'm trying to die of a heart attack
from being, like, 80 or something.

I'm not trying to die
from being shot. What?

It is crucial to rehabilitate
youth like Kriston

as soon as possible because
of where they can end up

if they commit >more
serious crimes down the line.

This is Grandma House.

This is maximum security for women.

The women that come here for,
like, the most heinous crimes.

- Yeah, yeah.
- All on this facility?

- Yeah. 15.
- And they put you here as a 15-year-old girl?

Felicia Pearson is probably
best known as "Snoop,"

one of my costars on The Wire.

Before Felicia's career in TV,

she served time in a
maximum-security prison

for second-degree murder.

What was going through
your mind at 15 years old...

Like, "How the hell I
get in this motherfucker?

How the hell I get in here?"

I'm thinking that I gotta go to
war as soon as I come in here,

because I'm locked up
in here with adults.

It ain't no place that a
child supposed to grow up.

Felicia's troubles began early in life.

She was born to a crack-addicted mother

and was raised by foster
parents in East Baltimore.

This is where Mama brought
you home from the hospital?

Yeah, right here. This the house.

She planted this tree.

This is a good luck charm.
You know what I'm saying?

For real, man. Anybody that
just stab it, kick it...

I don't care what you do to it,

some bad luck gonna come
to you, I promise you, man.

And this is where Pop used to
get the switches out the tree...

... and whip my ass! Yeah!

Did you know where your
biological mother ever lived?

Yeah, over west. They
let me be with her,

and she had took my clothes and stuff,

and my counselor was like,
"Nah, you can't come back."

Yeah. Come on.

- That the last time you seen her?
- Yeah.

They said she had got locked up

when I was locked up
over at city jail...

- Yeah.
- ... but I ain't know who she was.

I probably wouldn't
recognize her because...

Wait, wait, wait, wait. You
and your biological mother

- were locked up at the same time?
- Yeah.

Yup. And she just probably
walked right past me.

I think about that
shit all the time, man.

With no positive role models,

she fell deep into the street life

of drugs, violence,
and ultimately murder.

I was sitting on the steps round there,

everybody like, "Fight, fight, fight!"

So we used to run to a
fight. You know how it is...

- Yeah, we all did that dumb shit.
- Yeah. Yeah.

- So I runs around this corner...
- Uh-huh.

... they fighting over here,

I'm over here... like just watching
it, you know what I'm saying?

Shorty comes out swinging.

So I'm standing... remind
you, I'm standing right here,

and she... swinging and
jump, so I say, "Yo! Ho, ho!"

They say she hit me, I don't remember.

You know what I mean? So I whips out.

Like, "Yo, back!" She's seen it. Pop!

Felicia's story is not uncommon.

Many young kids who grow up surrounded

by violence and poverty end
up making similar mistakes.

I was feeling alone in this world.

I didn't care about nothing,

like absolutely nothing.

I didn't care that...
if I die, I didn't care.

- You was angry.
- Yeah, angry.

Angry at the world. Angry at myself.

What Felicia learned is that
kids look for mentor figures

who can actually relate
to where they come from.

You basically told me
that pretty much everyone

you ever had to look
up to in this community

either were gangsters, did time.

What effect did that
have on you, mentally?

- It had a lot. I looked up to 'em, you know?
- Yeah.

And I thought that was the right way.

Our youth now most definitely

need people, like big homies, mentors.

Kids now, they look at you, and be like,

"Well, if you've never been locked up,

- how can you tell me anything?"
- Yeah.

If you haven't been down this
road, you can't tell me shit.

Using reformed offenders as mentors

has actually proven to be
one of the most effective ways

of reaching our at-risk youth

as evidenced by an
innovative mentorship program

in what was once one of
America's most dangerous places:

Richmond, California.

The CHP is working closely
with Richmond police

after a rash of recent
highway shootings.

Five bullets came from a white Mazda...

A brother and sister
shot to death in Richmond.

A man and woman were shot and killed

in North Richmond last night.

The violence in Richmond was so bad,

the city decided to
do something radical:

to reach out directly to
potential violent offenders.

A controversial program
is actually paying people

not to shoot each other.

The Office of Neighborhood Safety

is a government agency
with one single focus:

reduce firearm assaults and
associated injury and/or death.

How did you start to do that?

In 2009, the city saw

45 firearm-related homicides...

... and more than 180
nonfatal shootings.

And we determined that there were
actually 28 people responsible

for 70 percent of that 2009 activity.

That was an aha moment for me.

We can wrap our arms around that.

- Yeah.
- Like many cities, we were focused

on what are known or called "hot spots,"

"spots where things happen."

- Mm-hmm.
- But I thought it'd be smarter

to appreciate that hot spots
are hot because of hot people.

So rather than focus on a location,

focus on helping people.

You've got to know who's
perpetrating that gunfire,

and you've got to be
willing to partner with them.

And so I asked the city
manager if he would allow me

to create a classification
called Neighborhood Change Agent,

someone who's not only been
incarcerated in his or her past,

but someone who has a gun
charge in his or her past.

Change agents recruit kids to enroll

in an 18-month fellowship
where they are steered

towards a better way of life.

What made you want to be
a part of this program?

Everything I did on the inside

was telling me I needed
to work with people.

This is definitely something
I was meant to be a part of.

Our job is to target those young men

- who will solve their conflicts with guns.
- Mm-hmm.

We in the streets every day,
we meet them in their hoods,

and we engage them, we
try to build a relationship

and hopefully show them
different ways to solve conflicts.

You don't give up, huh?

No, never give up.
Because you never know

when that window's gonna open,

and we want to be there to
come through when it does open.

That window opened for James

with a young, formerly
jailed youth named Deandre,

who is now a member of the fellowship.

- Deandre, Michael, man.
- Nice to meet you, man.

- Same here, brother.
- Been making some tremendous strides

- as far as doing something different in his life, man.
- That's what's up.

- That's what's up, brother.
- I'm real proud of him.

I noticed there's some, um,
artwork on your garage walls there.

- What happened?
- I mean we was out, sitting in front,

then somebody came up, started
shooting from right there.

Thought we was somebody, but we wasn't.

That's just life in Richmond.
It can happen just that quick.

That quick. I got the
bullets right here.

- Crazy.
- Got one in the mailbox there too.

You gotta be kidding me, bro.

What was the first thing
that you clicked in your head

when you said, "I want a
relationship with these brothers?"

What really got to me was I standing
outside one day on the corner,

and James ride up and asked me like,

"What are you doing with yourself?"

And I really thought about it, like,

"He right. What am I doing with myself?"

And with Deandre, he reminded me of me,

so I stayed on him. I still stay on him.

We here. We're gonna be
here... for the long haul.

Once the fellows >respond to
the program for six months,

they help them form a "life map,

and they start to get paid.

Why not incentivize a life map?

After six months of positive,
healthy participation levels,

they become eligible to
earn up to $1,000 a month

for nine of the remaining
12 months of the fellowship.

So we're talking about up to $9,000

over an 18-month period.

Do you know the cost to
incarcerate a violent youth offender

- in the state of California per year?
- How much?

Over $200,000 a year,

- per inmate.
- Per inmate.

Average stay, three to
five years. You do the math.

And with an annual
budget of only $980,000,

ONS has helped drive
the annual homicides

in Richmond down by 70
percent since it started.

This success has opened up a pathway

for the young men in the program

to pursue gainful employment.

- Thank you.
- You're welcome.

- Now I need a belt.
- Yeah, you do,

- to keep your pants up.
- Hold your pants up,

you can hold your life together.

All right, so you're good,

now you got to put that
in, online, everywhere.

What won't you do? If
they called you right now

and they wanted you to clean windows...

I'm cleaning windows.

Would you clean the toilet?

- Yeah, of course, I'll clean the toilet.
- Okay.

I'm at a point right now
where I don't have a choice.

But you did have a choice.

You just gave up a
job, that was a choice.

Why would you do that?

- That just boggles my mind.
- Dude, I was in the freezer.

- I can't work in no freezer.
- So, there we go.

Now we found out what won't
you do. You won't be cold.

You do know that homeless
people be hella cold, right?

- Yeah.
- You do know if you don't get a job soon,

- you gonna be homeless?
- Yeah.

What if it's an oven? Can you be at 130?

- I can be hot.
- Okay. We a tropical people anyways, right?

If the man does not
work, he does not eat.

I don't care if you cold,
you can't quit no job

- until you got another one to go to, bro.
- True.

Like, that's just a rule of thumb.

Step in the right direction, brother.

Proud of you, man. It's
good to see you, brother.

It's good to see you too.

You got a support system in here.

It make me feel good, because I
never had that type of support before.

- Yeah?
- Yeah.

I wish I had this when I was coming up.

- I'm glad I had it.
- I love you say that.

Programs like the one in Richmond

help ex-offenders get
back up on their feet,

because when you don't have help,

prospects can look very grim.

My cousin Niven and I grew up together

in the Vanderveer projects
in East Flatbush, Brooklyn.

Niven was incarcerated
for second-degree murder

for a crime he committed
when he was 14 years old.

Isn't it odd after all you've been
through, all I've been through,

we could still, at the end of the day,

come back to this little projects' roof.

We experienced it all in here.

Damn. Yeah, I stood
right there watching 9/11.

That was crazy. You know where I was?

- Where?
- I was in solitary confinement.

I was in the box for like 18
months. That's why I never forget it.

Niven did a portion of his time

and was released on probation.

The problem was he had
no skills or support.

And to make matters worse,

because of where his
felony conviction happened,

by law he was not
allowed to return home.

So he ended up in the
last place he wanted to be.

This is where they dropped
me off when I came out, man.

This was my first stop.

I heard about it the
day before I came home.

Guys was telling me, "They
sending you to the Armory?"

They said, "Yo, it's crazy in there.

That shit looked worse than Attica."

Why would the system make
you live in the shelter?

I don't understand the
science behind that.

You do a crime in your neighborhood,

you banned from that neighborhood,

and that might be where
all your family at.

In your case, that's
exactly what happened.

You went in, you did
your first straight 13,

you came home, so what happened?

I end up dipping in and out of
the projects in the neighborhood,

messing with some of my mans and them,

because I had nothing else to do.

I let the streets take me.

I end up getting
rearrested for a drug case.

Long story short,

I ended getting 11 more years
because of my prior record.

Once you have that felony stamp,

you got the big "X" on your chest,

you barely get a job,

the jobs that you get
is way below standard,

you can't live off
them, you can't survive,

but I'm living check to check, man.

After nearly a lifetime in the system,

Niven was able to find
work as a custodian.

For many former offenders,
they simply can't find work,

so they go right back to the
streets, what they know best.

Back in Richmond, they know this,

so even after the fellowship ends,

change agents continue to help
members navigate through life.

So he applied for a
government security clearance

to be able to get on
to refineries or ports.

It's easier to talk to
somebody who been through

some of the stuff that
you've been through.

If it wasn't for them, I highly doubt

I'd be here right now.

I was involved heavily with the streets,

back and forth to jail,

just having somebody in your
corner who won't let you slip.

I'm going to go through the
whole thing to make sure.

Here, take... You can't
fax a staple though.

He's just always there when I need him.

I mean, he only a phone call away.

He has a daughter. I just
recently had a daughter.

The hope is >that programs
like this can create a path,

not just for this
generation but for the next.

These young people aren't growing
up, thinking about what college

they're going to go to when
they're in the second grade.

They don't even see a benefit
of graduating high school.

I don't know what a doctor
needs to do to become a doctor,

because there ain't no
doctor living in my community.

I don't know how to become a lawyer,

'cause there is not a lawyer
living in my community.

I know how to be a gangster,
I know how to sell dope,

I know how to pull that pistol,
because that's what I see every day.

The epitome of success
is I got out the hood.

You ain't gonna leave no bread
crumbs for somebody else to follow?

Creating the path right now is vital,

because a quarter of
African-American children...

- Say hi.
- ... will have a parent incarcerated at some point,

raising the risk of them
entering the system themselves.

Having a kid really
just brought me to life.

Before that... before I
had her, I was just like,

basically, I ain't got
nothing to live for.

I might as well just stay
in the streets. You feel me?

Many of the young men we met
were already young fathers

and in jeopardy of perpetuating
the cycle all over again.

Uh, how old is your son now?

- Nine months.
- Okay.

You have a child that you want to
participate in the child's life,

but right now, the child
has to be safe all the time.

Okay.

Man, I gotta...

Yes.

Mm-hmm.

But we can help stop the cycle

of kids entering the
system before it starts.

You're welcome.

- Good afternoon.
- Good afternoon, Dr. Muhammad.

I teach at the university,

but I do a lot, a lot
of work in the community.

I started off doing interviews

with kids your age who had
parents who were in prison.

The conversation that we're
gonna start talking about today

is gonna get kind of deep,

and I want you guys to really kind
of know that I'm here with you.

By a show of hands,

are there any kids in the classroom

who have anyone in their community

that spent time in prison or in jail?

Are there any individuals
in the class today

who experienced
incarceration in their family?

Last question. Are there
individuals in this class

who are children of
incarcerated parents?

When you start talking
about these sort of things,

it's kind of heavy, you
don't know where to start,

so that's where you
get The Prison Alphabet,

the coloring book that we're
going to talk about today.

Why not target the children
of the incarcerated parents

early on, engaging them, and
meeting them where they are

and letting them know
it's okay to talk about it?

Because we're not talking about it,

- it turns into this large snowball.
- The elephant in the room.

- Yeah. Yeah.
- That kind of thing.

You ever see anybody get
arrested that you know?

They actually took my father and my
uncle, right there in front of me.

Now that I'm actually thinking about it

and I'm talking to someone about it,

it hurts, it hurts a lot.

And you know that's okay, right?

It's okay to say you hurt.

It's okay.

Drama, right?

Oh, the phones. Why'd
you pick the phones?

You have family members inside?

Who you got?

Do you miss him?

Is your daddy alive?

What happened?

Yeah.

That's a pretty, pretty big
statement you made there, Michael.

I think you could do it, though.

What do you want to be when you grow up?

Everything's gonna be all right

as long as you keep your head focused

on wanting to be the one

that breaks the mold in your family,

that changes the pattern
of the way things happen.

All right, man.

- Did you hear him?
- Yeah.

That's really fucked up.

This young man knew to
take his pain and his past

and use it to be a blessing
in someone else's life.

I'm sorry. Yeah. Um... I can't.

So, I want to call up to the front

some of the individuals
who I did not hear from.

See, the entire thing that
this conversation was about

was really digging in from your heart,

and now it's onto papers,

and then we start to share.

So we're gonna start with you.

Incarceration had a
horrible effect for me

when my mom got locked up.

It put me into a bad place.

One, it broke me,
because she was my have,

and I just broke down.

Two, it left me with my
dad, who beat me until...

who beat me until my
skin was black and blue.

I told my mother and my father

I felt bad that they didn't show love,

and they both apologized to each other.

I'm going to share what
I heard from that story,

and that's the ability
to maintain bonds.

We don't dictate who
our parents are gonna be,

how they treat us, but we do dictate

what we think about the
hand that we've been dealt.

And what I'm hearing today is,

that's a hand and a breath
of forgiveness, of strength.

That's the good things about stories:

You don't have to go in and erase
anything that's ever happened

or add anything in.
You just have to own it.

And the thing that you want to do
with it is not make it a crutch,

so you don't want to be, "Oh, my mom
was locked up, that's why I fight.

My dad was in a gang, that's
why I don't listen to teachers."

That's lame! At the end of the day,

you want to own your story,

so that you can throw that crutch,
and now you're just walking.

What made you feel safe to
open up to Dr. Muhammad and me?

I saw a lot of things while
making this documentary.

The loss of innocence in
America broke my heart.

And just like the mantra that
my nephew Dominic lives by,

"A setback is just a
setup for a comeback."

After more than 20
years of pristine records

- and giving back behind bars...
- Come here, bud.

... my nephew Dominic
was granted clemency

for the remainder of his sentence.

All right, thank... thank you.

- It's beautiful, man.
- Yeah.

I'm ready. This is what
I've been preparing for

for 20 years, seven months, 18 days.

I'm ready to go. I'm
ready to make an impact

in the community in a
very, very positive way.

I stand there with you, bro.

But the main thing I've
learned on this journey

is that yes, our young people

should be held accountable
for their choices.

But until we find other ways
of dealing with our children

besides locking 'em up,

another generation will
be doomed to the same fate.

Every single kid will mess
up. It's called adolescence.

But if we can reach them
before they're put in a cage...

... if our courts can
rehabilitate and coach them

before they get too deep in the game,

and if we can show the at-risk youth

that there's a different way,

then maybe we can stop this cycle.

We've been loving on youngsters
that ain't never seen love before.

We're showing young
people that they matter,

that they're important,

that we need them to
have a brighter future.

We're helping these young
folks understand and believe

that they count and they have
something to contribute to society.

The programs we saw for now

are just a glimmer of
hope and not the standard,

but they show us that we have a chance

of preserving our future.

Hey.

Stay up. You all right,
bro? All right, Mike.

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