The distinction between perpetrator and survivor stops making sense because most perpetrators are survivors

Sometimes a single data point tells a story that cries out for our attention, reflection and action. In California, 35,000 people, two thirds of whom are Black and Brown, are serving life sentences in the state's prison system. Nationally, 200,000 men and women are serving life sentences, one of every 6 prisoners overall. And while the criminal justice system is long overdue for structural reform, we also need to examine, name and repair both the public systems, from housing to healthcare, that fail to meet basic needs and our societal failure to intervene when young people are struggling and showing signs of distress. It is the life's work of Keith Wattley, my guest on this episode of Power Station, to provide prisoners who have served decades behind bars with the legal and therapeutic interventions they did not receive earlier in life. Doing so uncovers that the violence and trauma they experienced led them to perpetrate violence on others. Uncommon Law, the game changing nonprofit organization that he founded 20 years ago makes navigating California's parole process and a pathway home possible. Imagine, as Keith says, if we all had the right to heal.