1
00:00:27,417 --> 00:00:31,958
Everything that I do is driven
by a need to redeem myself,

2
00:00:31,959 --> 00:00:35,501
with an obligation
to give back to our society.

3
00:00:36,741 --> 00:00:40,897
It all started when the metal door
slammed shut onto the cell.

4
00:00:41,297 --> 00:00:44,013
It sent shivers down my spine.

5
00:00:44,843 --> 00:00:48,582
The chamber was cold,
and it smelled of stale air.

6
00:00:49,012 --> 00:00:54,320
You know, there's something
about a door slamming shut,

7
00:00:54,334 --> 00:00:57,876
that provides an eerie level

8
00:00:57,992 --> 00:01:01,669
of finality and reflection.

9
00:01:02,250 --> 00:01:05,834
You hear the echo of it in your mind
for a long time to come.

10
00:01:08,386 --> 00:01:10,488
And as that door slammed,

11
00:01:10,489 --> 00:01:15,193
I started remembering
all that advice that my parents,

12
00:01:15,194 --> 00:01:21,521
and my teachers gave me,

13
00:01:22,121 --> 00:01:23,726
and I ignored it.

14
00:01:24,546 --> 00:01:27,927
And there I was,
with plenty of time to reflect,

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00:01:27,928 --> 00:01:29,796
on all that information,

16
00:01:29,797 --> 00:01:32,876
that I met with disbelief,

17
00:01:33,636 --> 00:01:36,936
laughter, and scorn.

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00:01:38,956 --> 00:01:44,213
June 24th, 1992, I made mistakes
that I couldn't fix.

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00:01:44,673 --> 00:01:48,231
After a long night of being violent,

20
00:01:48,232 --> 00:01:54,577
I ended it with beating a man,
taking his wallet,

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00:01:56,117 --> 00:01:58,490
then trying to run him over with a car.

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00:01:58,491 --> 00:02:01,572
That's how, at age 17,

23
00:02:02,262 --> 00:02:07,640
that I was arrested,
charged, and convicted,

24
00:02:08,169 --> 00:02:09,862
as an adult.

25
00:02:14,102 --> 00:02:19,698
At an age where most kids are thinking
about their high school prom,

26
00:02:20,598 --> 00:02:23,602
or thinking about who
they're going to vote for next,

27
00:02:24,292 --> 00:02:26,871
I was facing 11 years.

28
00:02:34,141 --> 00:02:36,950
And while facing those 11 years,

29
00:02:37,790 --> 00:02:41,929
again I had plenty of time
to think about all of my decisions.

30
00:02:47,959 --> 00:02:52,453
After being sentenced
to prison for 11 years,

31
00:02:58,493 --> 00:03:00,109
it took,

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00:03:00,110 --> 00:03:05,311
well, you may think that out of all
the information that I did receive,

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00:03:07,091 --> 00:03:09,161
that somehow it would get through to me,

34
00:03:09,162 --> 00:03:11,282
but it didn't.

35
00:03:15,442 --> 00:03:17,559
Then I was finally sentenced,

36
00:03:21,689 --> 00:03:26,074
to prison, where I met some of the most
interesting people that you'll ever meet.

37
00:03:26,075 --> 00:03:27,867
(Laughter)

38
00:03:27,868 --> 00:03:33,070
I met a man who ate mice, rats, and bugs.

39
00:03:34,250 --> 00:03:36,348
This man was also serving a life sentence

40
00:03:36,349 --> 00:03:39,535
for trying to kill another man
after a drugs deal went bad.

41
00:03:41,445 --> 00:03:45,892
I watched grown men melt
into puddles of insanity,

42
00:03:45,893 --> 00:03:49,012
as their minds could no longer
take the conditions

43
00:03:49,013 --> 00:03:53,079
of the monotony of being
in solitary confinement.

44
00:03:58,649 --> 00:04:01,463
I watched massive amounts of violence,

45
00:04:01,464 --> 00:04:05,904
that included guards beating prisoners,

46
00:04:06,694 --> 00:04:08,072
prisoners being stabbed,

47
00:04:08,073 --> 00:04:11,215
and all this before I turned 18.

48
00:04:15,015 --> 00:04:19,107
And again, you would think
that with that information,

49
00:04:19,108 --> 00:04:21,548
and with what I saw,
and what I experienced,

50
00:04:21,550 --> 00:04:23,533
that that would get through to me.

51
00:04:23,534 --> 00:04:24,900
But it actually wasn't.

52
00:04:24,901 --> 00:04:27,619
It was actually one
of the most unlikeliest people,

53
00:04:27,620 --> 00:04:31,832
in one of the most unlikeliest of places
that finally did get through to me.

54
00:04:31,833 --> 00:04:34,503
And it's a man who
I'll always be grateful to.

55
00:04:34,504 --> 00:04:37,002
His name was Alamin.

56
00:04:38,876 --> 00:04:43,914
In our conversations, he would tell me
that his cell was actually his tomb,

57
00:04:43,915 --> 00:04:45,477
and that's how he would call it.

58
00:04:45,478 --> 00:04:48,537
He would say, "This is my tomb,
this is where I'm living at."

59
00:04:48,538 --> 00:04:52,220
He was serving two life sentences,

60
00:04:52,960 --> 00:04:55,801
and when there were disturbances
or things going on,

61
00:04:55,802 --> 00:04:58,932
the guards always wanted to make sure
they knew where he was,

62
00:04:59,462 --> 00:05:03,003
because they knew he was a man with no
reservations about what he might do.

63
00:05:03,792 --> 00:05:06,543
As we served our time together,

64
00:05:08,450 --> 00:05:11,934
he started teaching me a little
about the strategy of chess.

65
00:05:13,454 --> 00:05:16,870
Eventually, I started to understand

66
00:05:16,871 --> 00:05:22,019
about how to look at chess
in a whole different light.

67
00:05:23,789 --> 00:05:26,502
We were both in solitary confinement,

68
00:05:26,503 --> 00:05:31,126
but through the clutter,
through the 30 floors,

69
00:05:31,127 --> 00:05:36,239
through the constant
banging and yelling,

70
00:05:37,079 --> 00:05:41,441
I would get down on the floor and yell
my chess moves through the vent,

71
00:05:41,442 --> 00:05:43,733
and he would yell his.

72
00:05:47,553 --> 00:05:50,657
Through those chess moves,

73
00:05:50,658 --> 00:05:56,294
he would always make sure that he would
take time to execute them

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00:05:56,295 --> 00:05:58,573
with another lesson.

75
00:06:00,483 --> 00:06:04,431
Some of those are lessons
that I started thinking about

76
00:06:04,432 --> 00:06:07,178
in that cell, that dirty,

77
00:06:08,968 --> 00:06:12,758
sometimes toilet-flooded cell.

78
00:06:14,648 --> 00:06:20,079
I started to practice virtues in life.

79
00:06:22,667 --> 00:06:25,709
And some of those virtues
that I started practicing

80
00:06:26,248 --> 00:06:29,169
were simple, yet profound.

81
00:06:31,429 --> 00:06:33,253
It all tied into chess,

82
00:06:33,254 --> 00:06:36,846
through those many years
of laying on the floor,

83
00:06:36,847 --> 00:06:38,577
playing this game.

84
00:06:38,578 --> 00:06:42,283
One, first lesson;

85
00:06:43,753 --> 00:06:47,981
respect everybody, no matter
what their differences.

86
00:06:50,871 --> 00:06:54,129
Looking at the chessboard;
respect each individual piece,

87
00:06:54,130 --> 00:06:58,957
and understand that each square
they are in is an important square.

88
00:06:58,958 --> 00:07:04,457
Two; protect the weak.

89
00:07:04,458 --> 00:07:06,320
You may look at the pawn,

90
00:07:06,321 --> 00:07:10,060
and it may appear at the beginning
of the game as the weakest piece,

91
00:07:10,061 --> 00:07:15,118
but it actually has the most potential,
more than any other piece on the board

92
00:07:15,119 --> 00:07:17,976
to actually become
the most powerful piece.

93
00:07:21,056 --> 00:07:24,483
Three; be humble.

94
00:07:26,773 --> 00:07:30,728
Play the game as if every move counts.

95
00:07:31,698 --> 00:07:34,429
And that's how you make decisions in life.

96
00:07:35,469 --> 00:07:37,534
Don't take it as a given.

97
00:07:37,535 --> 00:07:40,528
Lastly, practice restraint.

98
00:07:40,529 --> 00:07:45,122
When playing the game,
do not chase pieces;

99
00:07:45,123 --> 00:07:47,200
play the game to win.

100
00:07:47,690 --> 00:07:51,423
We used to play 10, 20, 30,

101
00:07:52,493 --> 00:07:54,609
40, games of chess.

102
00:07:54,829 --> 00:07:58,818
And tied in there,
I learned the art of losing.

103
00:07:58,819 --> 00:08:00,960
Because I lost a lot of games.

104
00:08:00,961 --> 00:08:02,750
(Laughter)

105
00:08:02,751 --> 00:08:05,710
But through our many
conversations, interactions,

106
00:08:05,711 --> 00:08:11,335
and just our ability to communicate,

107
00:08:11,372 --> 00:08:13,936
I realised that my redemption
was going to be obtained

108
00:08:13,937 --> 00:08:18,556
through education, perseverance,
and helping others out.

109
00:08:21,386 --> 00:08:24,922
I began to read, and I read a lot.

110
00:08:25,632 --> 00:08:27,944
I read everything
from Plato to Nietzsche,

111
00:08:27,959 --> 00:08:33,001
to Machiavelli to Carl Von Clausewitz.

112
00:08:33,460 --> 00:08:34,681
I read everything.

113
00:08:34,682 --> 00:08:38,659
You may be surprised, but some
of the most accessible books to prisoners

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00:08:38,659 --> 00:08:40,125
are law books.

115
00:08:40,126 --> 00:08:43,940
They are heavy, they are really sturdy.

116
00:08:43,941 --> 00:08:47,006
Not only do they make good weights,

117
00:08:47,007 --> 00:08:50,810
but I also, through
reading those law books,

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00:08:50,811 --> 00:08:53,657
and understanding
them a little bit better,

119
00:08:53,658 --> 00:08:57,596
realised I could fight battles
without ever having to pick up a sword.

120
00:09:02,156 --> 00:09:06,800
But I knew that I had to make sure,
and I wanted to make sure,

121
00:09:06,801 --> 00:09:10,692
that once I was released,
I was to never to return again.

122
00:09:10,693 --> 00:09:13,729
But in order to do that,
when I did get out,

123
00:09:13,730 --> 00:09:17,789
I need to make sure I educated
myself much further.

124
00:09:20,609 --> 00:09:23,819
Well, thank goodness
for fast food restaurants,

125
00:09:23,820 --> 00:09:27,829
because the fast food
industry does hire felons.

126
00:09:27,830 --> 00:09:31,637
When I got out, I started
working at Taco Bell,

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00:09:31,638 --> 00:09:35,534
and I also enrolled at the local
community college.

128
00:09:36,394 --> 00:09:38,992
And in that local
community college,

129
00:09:38,993 --> 00:09:42,201
I started there and eventually,

130
00:09:42,202 --> 00:09:45,331
two, three colleges later,
five years later,

131
00:09:45,334 --> 00:09:50,085
I eventually graduated
with my Bachelors of Paralegal Studies.

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00:09:51,844 --> 00:09:55,859
(Applause)

133
00:10:02,542 --> 00:10:06,084
After I graduated,
because of my volunteerism,

134
00:10:06,117 --> 00:10:11,240
and because of the fact that I did obtain
a much more formal education,

135
00:10:11,241 --> 00:10:13,347
I was granted permission
by the state of Iowa

136
00:10:13,467 --> 00:10:16,268
to actually work in a facility
with juveniles.

137
00:10:16,517 --> 00:10:20,782
Actually at the same facility
where I spent time as a juvenile.

138
00:10:21,822 --> 00:10:27,295
Currently, I supervise over 50 employees
that include case-workers,

139
00:10:27,296 --> 00:10:31,033
that include program supervisors,
residential counselors,

140
00:10:31,034 --> 00:10:32,913
and nighttime workers.

141
00:10:33,501 --> 00:10:38,876
I also provide crisis intervention
to our local police department, hospitals,

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00:10:39,334 --> 00:10:43,751
and I also work part-time at our local
juvenile detention center.

143
00:10:43,782 --> 00:10:45,442
I was a guest there too.

144
00:10:51,822 --> 00:10:55,507
I feel as though I'm making a difference,
but that's not really enough for me,

145
00:10:56,470 --> 00:10:57,850
not at all.

146
00:10:58,340 --> 00:11:01,190
What I need to do,
and what I knew I needed to do,

147
00:11:01,191 --> 00:11:03,178
in order to affect real change,

148
00:11:03,179 --> 00:11:08,237
and in order to affect any type of policy
change on a local, state,

149
00:11:08,238 --> 00:11:10,733
and federal level, I knew that I needed

150
00:11:10,734 --> 00:11:13,124
to further my education
even more than that.

151
00:11:13,564 --> 00:11:16,833
I eventually did receive
a masters degree in criminal justice,

152
00:11:17,733 --> 00:11:22,279
and I'm very close to receiving
a PhD in criminal justice.

153
00:11:22,280 --> 00:11:25,381
(Applause)

154
00:11:33,085 --> 00:11:38,977
What I'm looking at is, "How do we work
with kids in the system?"

155
00:11:38,978 --> 00:11:44,761
We have to examine everything
that gets them where they're at.

156
00:11:45,141 --> 00:11:49,109
We have to examine the trauma that a lot
of these kids have experienced,

157
00:11:49,649 --> 00:11:53,816
We have to then introduce
trauma-informed care.

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00:11:55,726 --> 00:12:00,120
If you take anything from what I've said,
I want you to take this;

159
00:12:00,490 --> 00:12:03,189
when you look at these kids,
when you look at them,

160
00:12:03,190 --> 00:12:05,339
even the adults, these young adults,

161
00:12:05,340 --> 00:12:07,006
I want you to look at them,

162
00:12:07,007 --> 00:12:09,208
and instead of saying,
"What's wrong with you?"

163
00:12:09,328 --> 00:12:11,598
I want you to say, "What happened to you?"

164
00:12:11,599 --> 00:12:16,241
That is the lens that will allow you
to sort of look at these people

165
00:12:16,242 --> 00:12:17,835
in a different manner, so then,

166
00:12:17,836 --> 00:12:21,769
as these policies eventually
go through the game,

167
00:12:21,770 --> 00:12:24,546
they become one of the most
powerful pieces as well.

168
00:12:25,306 --> 00:12:30,769
Currently, as I mentioned,
I'm working in this field.

169
00:12:31,579 --> 00:12:33,920
This is something
that is important to me,

170
00:12:33,921 --> 00:12:37,208
but if I could change four things

171
00:12:37,209 --> 00:12:41,960
to help facilitate the habilitation
of these juveniles,

172
00:12:43,686 --> 00:12:45,599
I want to list those out.

173
00:12:45,600 --> 00:12:48,981
Now, notice I said "habilitation".

174
00:12:49,671 --> 00:12:51,548
It wasn't a mispronunciation.

175
00:12:52,168 --> 00:12:56,890
Habilitation is what I say because

176
00:12:57,720 --> 00:13:00,129
we can't really say "rehabilitation"

177
00:13:00,130 --> 00:13:03,648
because that assumes
that you have to be able to go back

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00:13:03,649 --> 00:13:07,453
to what you were, and a lot
of these kids were not there,

179
00:13:07,459 --> 00:13:11,085
so how can you rehabilitate someone
who was never habilitated to begin with?

180
00:13:11,091 --> 00:13:12,566
You can't.

181
00:13:14,676 --> 00:13:20,148
The first thing that I believe we need
to take a look at and focus on,

182
00:13:20,149 --> 00:13:23,419
when looking at reforming
the juvenile justice system

183
00:13:23,420 --> 00:13:28,326
is one; we need to look at the individual.

184
00:13:29,046 --> 00:13:32,640
We've got to understand
what got him or her there,

185
00:13:32,650 --> 00:13:35,485
especially if they are at a young age.

186
00:13:36,465 --> 00:13:39,797
One thing I want you guys
to realise is that this,

187
00:13:39,798 --> 00:13:43,130
what I'm talking about,
and what I'm speaking about,

188
00:13:43,131 --> 00:13:45,801
it isn't just my experience
that's making me say this,

189
00:13:45,802 --> 00:13:48,619
but this is what science says.

190
00:13:50,239 --> 00:13:55,761
The adolescent brain
doesn't fully form until age 25;

191
00:13:57,721 --> 00:14:03,101
the frontal lobe is still
not connected at all.

192
00:14:06,151 --> 00:14:09,658
What you have then
is someone telling these kids,

193
00:14:09,659 --> 00:14:11,337
"Don't do this, don't do this!"

194
00:14:11,338 --> 00:14:16,064
Not understanding that in addition
to the frontal lobe not being connected,

195
00:14:16,065 --> 00:14:19,818
you also have someone
who has also probably

196
00:14:19,819 --> 00:14:23,951
had multiple amounts of trauma,

197
00:14:23,952 --> 00:14:26,624
violence in their life
that they witnessed.

198
00:14:29,884 --> 00:14:32,918
That affects the brain on another level,

199
00:14:32,919 --> 00:14:37,365
in the way that it sees, hears,
feels things, and perceives situations.

200
00:14:37,366 --> 00:14:39,791
We need to focus on the individual,

201
00:14:41,191 --> 00:14:43,807
and that's the first
thing I want us to look at.

202
00:14:43,808 --> 00:14:48,052
Second thing is we need
to actually engage the family.

203
00:14:48,053 --> 00:14:51,023
The family need supportive
services put in there as well,

204
00:14:51,024 --> 00:14:52,125
because a lot of times,

205
00:14:52,126 --> 00:14:54,643
we work on the child,
but we don't work on the family,

206
00:14:54,644 --> 00:14:56,723
so you send the child back to the family,

207
00:14:56,724 --> 00:14:58,833
and we're right back
where we started, right?

208
00:14:58,834 --> 00:15:01,753
Is that habilitation?
That's rehabilitation there then, right?

209
00:15:01,873 --> 00:15:04,668
That's not what we want;
not that type of rehabilitation.

210
00:15:05,708 --> 00:15:09,354
We have to work
with them at the same time.

211
00:15:09,355 --> 00:15:12,508
You have to work with the family,
you have to work with the child,

212
00:15:12,509 --> 00:15:14,781
and you have to create
a child interaction plan,

213
00:15:14,782 --> 00:15:16,722
that will allow them to go back;

214
00:15:16,723 --> 00:15:18,348
The child with the right tools,

215
00:15:18,349 --> 00:15:22,867
and the family with the right pieces
of services placed in there

216
00:15:22,868 --> 00:15:25,525
to support them
with what's going on in their lives,

217
00:15:25,526 --> 00:15:29,931
and their individual, diverse situations,
whatever those might be.

218
00:15:30,651 --> 00:15:33,963
Third; I want us to really,

219
00:15:33,964 --> 00:15:36,381
and this is one of the more
personal things for me

220
00:15:36,382 --> 00:15:40,811
is that we cannot allow

221
00:15:40,812 --> 00:15:44,801
juveniles to be with adults

222
00:15:44,802 --> 00:15:47,019
in prison settings.

223
00:15:47,789 --> 00:15:51,325
I have to tell you that when I first went
to the Iowa State Penitentiary,

224
00:15:51,326 --> 00:15:55,151
there was 550 prisoners there,

225
00:15:55,152 --> 00:15:58,117
I was the youngest for at least a year.

226
00:15:58,118 --> 00:15:59,999
And I was still 17,

227
00:16:00,000 --> 00:16:05,083
the neighbor to my right when I walked in
and I go to the lines of cells,

228
00:16:05,125 --> 00:16:08,365
I go to a cell, my neighbor
to the right, his name was "Shank",

229
00:16:08,366 --> 00:16:09,793
he's doing a life sentence.

230
00:16:09,794 --> 00:16:12,167
Neighbor to my left,
he's doing a life sentence,

231
00:16:12,168 --> 00:16:14,751
and he just shanked somebody.

232
00:16:15,893 --> 00:16:17,695
So what we've got then is,

233
00:16:17,709 --> 00:16:21,460
this is who is influencing our kids
when we put them in there.

234
00:16:22,401 --> 00:16:28,075
Then, my first cellmate
was a 50-year old man,

235
00:16:28,083 --> 00:16:30,083
who was in there
for second-degree murder.

236
00:16:30,084 --> 00:16:31,313
And I'm 17.

237
00:16:31,314 --> 00:16:34,284
Again, he had the whole thing going on,

238
00:16:34,292 --> 00:16:40,783
from the "three-time loser" on his arms,
to, you know, everything going on.

239
00:16:40,784 --> 00:16:43,576
That was my roommate;
that was my cellmate.

240
00:16:44,292 --> 00:16:49,327
We cannot continue to house
juveniles and adults together.

241
00:16:49,328 --> 00:16:51,604
That's wrong.

242
00:16:52,918 --> 00:16:55,918
(Applause)

243
00:16:57,542 --> 00:17:02,834
Lastly, the other point
I want to make, the fourth one,

244
00:17:02,848 --> 00:17:08,598
is that we've talked about the individual,
we've talked about the family,

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we've talked about, "They've done
something; where do we put them at?"

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00:17:15,701 --> 00:17:18,571
But then they've also got to go back
to the community, right?

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That's what shapes everybody
as they're growing up, is the community.

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We need to re-establish
community connections.

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Those community connections
have to involve job opportunities,

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they have to involve the ability
to complete education,

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school, because school
was one of my saviors.

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And they also have to be able
to engage in community service.

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Everybody here has a choice,
and that choice is simple.

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You can either continue to invest

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00:17:57,964 --> 00:18:00,328
in prisons, and we do, a lot, don't we?

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We invest in a lot of prisons.

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Or we can invest in our children.

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Thank you.

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(Applause)