TED

How I’m Helping Thousands Rebuild Their Lives After Prison | Susan Burton | TED

People in Santa Monica weren't going to prison for substance use, for alcoholism. And I thought, why didn't that judge give me a paper and say, "Miss Burton, go to AA." Was I not worth a piece of paper? Was I not worth direction toward a solution?

Fresh Air

Harriet Clark spent 37 years visiting her mom in prison

for most of my life, you know, my mother had to make prison a place I wanted to come to. You know, our visits had to be enjoyable. And so in that sense, too, it was very rare that we were sitting there getting into the nitty gritty of her crime, especially when I was young. You know, fundamentally, she was trying to play with me and have fun with me and let me feel close to her.

Fresh Air

Harriet Clark spent 37 years visiting her mom in prison

I think fundamentally the prison looked to me like a hill. It's hard for me to remember what the prison looked like to me as a child because I went there for almost 40 years and it changed a lot in that 40 years. It became much more prison-like.