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I will never forget the first time
I visited a client in jail.
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The heavy metal door slammed behind me,
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and I heard the key turn in the lock.
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The cement floor underneath me
had a sticky film on it
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that made a ripping sound,
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like tape being pulled off a box,
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every time I moved my foot.
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The only connection to the outside world
was a small window placed too high to see.
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There was a small, square table
bolted to the floor
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and two metal chairs,
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one on either side.
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That was the first time
I understood viscerally,
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just for a fleeting moment,
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what incarceration might feel like.
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And I promised myself all those years ago
as a young, public defender
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that I would never,
ever forget that feeling.
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And I never have.
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It inspired me to fight for each
ane every one of my clients' freedom
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as if it was my own.
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Freedom.
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A concept so fundamental
to the American psyche
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that it is enshrined in our consitution.
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And yet,
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America is addicted to imprisonment.
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From slavery through mass incarceration,
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it always has been.
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Look, we all know the shocking numbers.
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The United States incarcerates
more people per capita
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than almost any nation on the planet.
closed TED
