Kind: captions
Language: en
everybody welcome to another episode of
impact Theory you are here my friends
because you believe that human potential
is nearly Limitless but you know that
having potential is not the same as
actually doing something with it so our
goal with this show and Company is to
introduce you to the people and ideas
that are going to help you actually
execute on your dreams all right today's
guest was wrongfully convicted of sexual
assault at the age of 7 and sentenced to
28 years in a Maximum Security Prison
this miscarriage of Justice robbed him
of nearly 10 years of his life and while
most people would have been lost to
hopelessness or swallowed by blinding
rage after a chance encounter with a
fellow inmate snapped him out of his
passive approach to a situation he
decided he was going to fight for his
freedom armed with a radical new
enthusiasm he threw himself headlong
into the prison's Library beginning the
long and arduous process of teaching
himself law realizing the need for help
he launched a tireless Outreach campaign
that saw him writing upwards of 50
letters per week and this Onslaught
finally got the Wisconsin Innocence
Project to come to his Aid and help him
secure the legal team that would
ultimately assist him in winning his
freedom in 2007 but hell bent to do more
than simply get out of prison despite
being broke having no credit history and
a 10-year Gap on his resume he decided
to double down on his education living
on his mother's couch he first attended
Community College then transferred to
Roosevelt College where he graduated
with high honors and obtained a ba in
criminal justice in recognition of his
extraordinary work and talents he became
the 2012 recipient of the Chicago Bar
association's Abraham Lincoln maritz
public interest scholarship which he
used to attend law school after
graduating in 2015 he went on to pass
the New York State bar win a coveted
position to clerk for the seventh
Circuit Court of Appeals the very court
that overturned his
conviction guys please help me in
welcoming the co-founder of life after
Justice the investigator of the Year
award recipient and Relentless advocate
for legal reform Jarrett
Adams it is an honor to have you um
everybody I'm sure every time this
happens freaks out about your story I
mean it is it is in fact it was uh 2
seconds before you came on George who
you met yeah uh said literally if you
were going to ask me to say what my
nightmare is my nightmare would be to be
wrongfully convicted what is that moment
like it's a hopeless feeling um and
you're surrounded around a bunch of
hopelessness um inside of the Criminal
Justice System you know I I quickly real
realized that it wasn't about the truth
of my case because if it was I I never
would have been tried convicted anything
right it was about who I was who was
accusing me and what resources did I
have right and in my case I'm young
black man no resources just a high
school education and I was accused by a
white woman of of of rap so all of those
were like the ingredients to to to see
the Injustice happen to you in the
criminal justice system so to to go
through it at first um there was a
transformation that I took while in
prison um shock was definitely the first
of of anything just the initial shock to
be 17 turning 18 turning 19 um I'm
receiving Letters From My Friends who
had gone off to college got their first
car got their first credit card max out
maxed out their first credit card you
know what I mean just just stuff like
that just the stuff where like look this
is the maturation process that kids go
through and that sets them up to who
they be who they become in life right um
that setup for me was was taking place
inside of a Maximum Security Prison with
a 28-year sentence um I started to to to
just go into a dark just desolate
there's no way I'm getting out of here
type of place it was a a a a splash
wakeup to race the criminal justice
system and what it's like to be uh under
underprivileged um and to and to face
the criminal justice system and I'm
watching the worst of the worst horror
movies uh to be accused of something um
of raping a woman and I and I was raised
by like a a single mother my my two
aunts my grandmother so more than
anything I felt like in debt to explain
to them this is a lie but I didn't
really have to do that with them cuz
like they knew me you could have called
and say look I took some on skateboard
or just some juvenile stuff right but
you weren't going to call and say I shot
nobody robbed nobody or raped anyone
right like they just weren't going for
that they weren't buying it and that's
when the conversations they started to
have with me was a bit more raw a bit
more you know what you've grown up in in
all black neighborhood you've never
experienced racism we've told you
certain things are out here and boom
this is what's going on this is why
stuff doesn't make sense to you uh we
can't afford to get you an attorney um
we don't know much about the law no one
in my family have been arrested charged
with any crimes or anything like that so
it was one of these things where I could
recite to you the entire Tupac album but
like none of my Constitutional
Amendments or any of those type of
things right um and I looked back on
that and I said to myself first of all
how did I how am I so ill prepared how
are we so ill prepared to like deal with
this right to be accused is one thing
but to like not have the resources to
prove your innocence is like a total
it's it's a totally different animal um
and you're there and you're watching
this and there's absolutely nothing you
can do about it and that is a terrible
lonely isolating feeling um for me
definitely but when I would turn around
and I would look at my mother in court
and to just look at those those wrinkles
and those creases of Anguish on her
forehead it spoke to me what she wasn't
able to say in words she felt like she
had failed me by not having resources to
be able to afford to buy me an attorney
but I felt even more um in pain because
like I I told her I was going to spend
the night over a friend's house and We
snuck to a party where this allegation
was able to be made in the first place
so I I felt like I just felt so so torn
up by that so torn up to the point where
um I'm in prison yeah I'm mad I'm there
but if you ask me what took first
place me being there and being mad I was
there or me being mad at how I
disappointed my mother like that came A1
like I mean what did this woman do but
go to work um work crazy early hours to
provide for me and my brother um and I
just man I just just just almost just
blew not only my life away but but her
life because um the people who are in
prison aren't in prison themselves
whether it be rightfully or wrongfully
um if you use the analogy of a bomb when
it hits its Target collateral damage is
always affected that's what the criminal
justice system is um my mother was very
much so imprisoned uh by me being there
you know couldn't go to church go out
certain events and people would ask hey
how's Jared doing um how do you go on to
start a story with like yeah he's in
prison uh but he didn't do it doesn't it
sound familiar to like a lot of you know
the things that people say and so um it
was that it was that that I locked on to
and have you guys reconciled that like
I'm assuming you've talked a lot about
that since you got out yeah we we we
developed a really close relationship um
while you know while I was there you got
closer while you were in prison or when
you got home while I was there because
and the reason I say that is because we
know our parents as kids right but we
don't really get to know them until
we're adults right you know what I mean
like like like who they are as people
right we we know um who they are as
parents but we don't get to know him as
as people and it was it was it was that
maturation process that that that I was
you know able to go through even in the
hell ho like prison the letters the the
send me verses from the book of Psalm in
the Bible they're having conversations
the the real unfiltered conversations of
look let me let me tell you what this is
about and let me tell you why you you
can't do certain things in America if
you're of black and brown um skin color
that other people can you don't get
Second Chances right you're you're not
like you're not one of the Duke lacrosse
team teammate members you know what I
mean who got accused of a rape never
went to prison even a prosecutor was
disbarred right and that that case was
so similar to mine but it was just like
I got 28 years and got convicted because
of like the circumstances I spoke to you
about before so we just had a real
conversations and and and it it you know
it made me become an adult um far beyond
my years it kept me alive so to speak to
where it was like you know I'm getting
these letters I'm able to communicate
with her on the outside I'm able to
understand like what's important to me
whether inside or when I get outside no
matter how painful it is I got to keep
going and I gotta keep going because
what is my passion what is my focus your
focus and your passion will numb you to
failure into pain of striving to get to
where you're trying to go all right well
I have to ask cuz we're going to get to
that but I have to ask why come out and
get a law degree why not come out and
just burn [ __ ] to the ground yeah well
you know you know listen don't let me
come across as if someone who's just
like not mad and happy and joio like
hell no I'm mad like for real I am but
but but the reality the reality of it is
this right so so now look there are a
lot of things that come with prison
right but when you do a credit report
check your last known address shows up
my last known address was a supermax in
Wisconsin so it was like you know I
couldn't get away from like that Gap in
my life at all and stuff like that and
so so what I was saying there's a stigma
that is attached to people who go to
prison people who go to prison and who
come out of prison whether rightfully or
wrongfully you we just assume like this
this guy or this girl has got to be a
character for morning is the New Black
like something's like you know something
like that right so my mother and my
aunts would pay attention to me and they
would look at me and they would just
like notice like I was really quiet and
they were like look why you not mad we
mad as hell like you not mad like
something isn't right here right so they
they were encouraging me to go and and
to to get therapy to get help but I kind
of felt like they were calling me crazy
you know what I mean like it was just
more so one of these things where I
fought it for a little while um of going
to get help that I so desperately needed
right so that's why I'm able to be you
know how I am now and be able to deal
with certain things I was able to let it
out because you did go get help I did go
get therapy I had to go down there I had
to go and sit down and um because I I
inside internally really was ready to
burn stuff to the ground and be upset
but I learned through going to get the
therapy and be able to let it out that I
learned that this thing is a powerful
thing right here right and you can bald
It Up Smack a few people with it you
probably feel good momentarily there are
repercussions with doing that but you'll
probably feel good momentarily but if
you take the same thing and you just do
this with it right you'll be surprised
how much more powerful and Lasting that
that it becomes so that's why I wanted
to become an attorney but how did you
get convinced of that I mean so like I'm
just putting myself in your shoes you're
17 Yeah by definition you're dumb
because you're 17 right I was dumb as
hell at 17 so I'm I'm just going to
assume right so you like when I when I
look at your story from the outside and
go that [ __ ] is so unfair and like I'm a
big guy like if you come to me and start
crying about fair I'm just going to tell
you life is a fair but that's so unfair
that it's like Jesus what do you do with
that so I know I would have had a lot
baled up I would have been super pissed
off I don't know how easy it would have
been for me to go I can ball this up and
smash somebody it'll feel good but
repercussions or I can write and really
move something because there's a huge
Chasm of
nothingness in the middle right which is
the more obvious choice cuz I wouldn't
have gone out punching people that's not
my makeup but I could see losing years
to feeling sorry for myself to the the
black hole in the middle so what one
walk us through the interaction you have
on lockdown that really flips a switch
for you that makes you realize you're
going to fight and find Freedom and then
what the other moment is when you
realize I'm going to do something more
than than just burn things to the ground
right well actually you know a lot of
what you just described it was it was
more it's like my life and who I was was
Mor fre right in in front of me so yeah
I went through those angry stages those
mad no one cares I'm the victim and
stuff like that I went through that but
but but by doing that I cannot stress
this Enough by doing that it added to
the definition that was in my mother's
forehead with those wrinkles and those
creases of Anguish so I locked on to
that like how do I lock on to that to
block out the pain the anger um and
frustration that I was and that is
bringing Beauty back to her life I told
I said I said you know what and you know
uh this woman was was was having her
head down crying um not knowing what to
do um coming to visit me five six hours
away uh broke her leg one day coming to
visit me in the winter time accept
accepting expensive phone calls I was
indebted to that woman and I was going
to pay her back you could believe that
right didn't know I was going to become
an attorney but I knew the next time she
walked up in that church and sat in the
front row she was going to be proud to
say what Jared was doing and not ducking
her head right so and that's what I
locked on to and and and I say this
whenever I go and I speak to kids and
stuff like that you have to be crazy in
believing what your goal and your
passion is because when something is
crazy even though it's crazy you still
do it right you know what I mean and so
that's what you have to become you have
to become insane right where did you
learn this I mean I cannot tell you I
had to pick this up in prison like I had
to pick this up in prison I had to are
you learning step by step is somebody
like saying some of this stuff like this
is so powerful right no I mean I look
this is all based on research and and I
and I'll tell you this so you're reading
so I'm reading like crazy reading like
reading books in a day and a half you
know what I mean if it's good you know
so uh I um
I we were we were I was in Maximum
Security Prison Green Bay Wisconsin was
one of the most violent prisons like in
the state like it had the nickname
Gladiator school right and so you know
like look it lived up to its title it's
just a ridiculous setting place for
anything to be called Corrections like
nah man it's like Department of
warehousing let's be honest like that's
what it is so one day it was it was an
incident that happened where it was just
like it was like a stabbing or beating
or something like that and they put
everybody on on lockdown at this time so
when they put you on lock down you're on
lockdown uh 24 hours a day you're in
your sale uh this about the size of a
broom closet in New York right you know
what I mean like that that small yeah
you know it's uh two beds stacked on top
of each other the toilet's right by your
head you know there's a TV in there if
you can afford one and there's like a
little stool you know sticking out out
of the wall and and that's where
everything is like where you're at so
lockdown is one of the most inhumane
things to like be on especially when
you're there for for like more than 24
hours so when you're on lockdown they
what they're trying to do is they're
trying to find out if this is like a
like a grand scale Riot or if this is
just like an isolated incident so that
way they can determine when when they
let down let people off of lockdown so
if you have the phone that night phones
are assigned to people on different
nights and stuff like that they'll bring
you the phone um they bring you your
food to your sale like they throw you
change of clothes there because you
don't take a shower during certain
periods in since during during this uh
lock down and it was my phone night my
cmate older white dude you know I've
been in there for about five months and
me and this guy didn't really have a
conversation past two sentences right um
I had just begin really start in my time
I was younger he was older been there
for like 19 years he was already set in
his ways and it's like a different these
are we're different people right you
know so things that may irritate him and
stuff like that um I just tried to stay
out his way so I was on a phone with my
mother and my mother my aunts on a
three-way call um and I was explaining
to them uh like the appell court was
like denying another one of my appeals
and they just kept asking like I don't
understand if you know there are
witnesses that are coming forward now
and your lawyer didn't call any of these
people who basically provided your Alibi
like I don't understand how they're
ignoring this like and and I really came
to understand that as well like it's not
about the truth it's about what you can
prove in court they don't care the the
criminal justice system doesn't care
about the truth man unless you're rich
you know and you don't go to jail when
you're rich unless you piss off other
rich people you know so it's just you
know it's just really nuts right so I I
um was in his Cale and he told me to
come down off the bunk after I got off
the phone with my with my mother and my
aunts and he was just like um yeah I
heard what you was up there saying and
I'm like sure you did man you like
within arms reaching in the damn buk
like of course you did so he's like no
but you know I listened and and what's
confusing me is um you go work out you
play test you play basketball I've never
once seen you look looking at your case
working on your case like and so that's
just like confusing to me man like you
know you're saying you're Innocent but
you're like you you act like you're
enrolled on the college campus here
right um so he began to have a
conversation with me and and and point
out certain things to me and he was like
look the same dudes that you're talking
to um they'll be paroled out in the
winter time I want you to listen real
well for their voice at the end of the
next summer sure enough he was right
about a lot of that stuff he was right
about um that they came back they came
right back and you want to talk about
scary it was never a violent incident
that I saw in prison that could scare me
like looking at people leave out in
December and come back in July like
routinely like routinely and I would ask
them questions and I I'll get to that
too how how I was able to start picking
people's brain to find out what what
what I wanted to do in my life but so he
my cmate old white guy by the name of
Pops so he asked me for my transcripts
my paperwork police reports he was like
let me let me just see it um and and I
I'll go through and I'll give you my
advice so we got off of lockdown he was
still like going through uh you know my
paperwork and stuff like that and he was
going to let me know his opinion so you
know we get off lockdown and you would
think I would go right to the library
right now I had like 23 points that day
on the recck yard I was balling out
there okay um but it was it was and the
thing about it is this like I wasn't
doing it because it was just like man
forget this crap like I mean like I did
not know how to de with this I was lost
it was painful to get pictures looking
at my nephew uh just born when I'm
locked up and he's like growing up like
look I had a a niece who who came to the
family that I didn't even know like just
looking at pictures so it was just one
of these things where it was like look I
didn't want to deal with that like that
was my the that's how I dealt with it
therapeutically to just ignore and I
deal with it I came back off of uh you
know the wreck yard and my salate was
sitting in in in the sale and he was
just like I want you to sit down for a
second he was just like look I do a lot
of legal work helping people out and
stuff like that around here he was like
I've never in my life seen such bull
crap and this racial bull crap and he's
like there's no evidence here man he's
like you got 28 years you know the guy
you was out there playing ball with he
shot two people he has 18 years so it's
just like he was just just explaining to
me waking me up so to speak to say look
if you keep on it's only a matter of
time before you're walking around here
with tattoo tit drops under your eye and
and and and basically becoming immersed
in what the prison culture is right um
and and it woke me up it gave me um a
different perspective on why I was there
and and and who was counting on me you
know on the outside like very much so my
mother was in prison just minus the bars
you know and I was looking at it take a
toll and effect on her and my aunts and
so he threw me a notepad and he said
look I want you to look at this case
it's called strickling versus Washington
and you know um I went to the library
and I I started looking at this case and
I'm like all right okay I get I get what
it's saying so Strickland versus
Washington is a case where it's like a
lawyer who failed to do his job and his
failures were constitutionally like like
like just just not allowed by standards
you know uh in in a court of law so they
overturned this guy's conviction and
stuff like that and so when I came back
to the room I asked him I said look I
read the case is this is is this what
you're trying to get me to to understand
he threw the no back back to me he said
no look you go tell me what I'm trying
to get you to understand so it was it
was a course of a couple weeks of going
back and forth to the library coming
back on the same case the same case
that's how that's where my academic
level was when you just graduate high
school from a south south side of
Chicago type of high school you know and
depending on what school district in
right you know you don't get the the the
the best of the best education and so
you know I'm I'm not knowing anything
and I'm I'm I'm I'm going through and
I'm reading words I have absolutely no
idea what they mean and each time I
would come back and ask with a word me
he would send me back in the library to
go tell me what the word meant right um
and so I did this over a course of time
and uh like I got an understanding of
what was going on like sounds like a
movie right well I'm hoping you
know you know I'm recently married and
my my wife wants kids so look I'm hoping
you know um but more than anything I'm
hoping that it has a a couple different
impacts on people in society in general
first of all if you believe that the the
criminal justice system is about
corrections you you need to go find the
biggest pair of scissors you can and cut
that [ __ ] out cuz it's not true like
it's absolutely not it's not true at all
man like that wakeup call was like
important to me cuz he included a lot of
other colorful language in there just to
just to say like look dude I ain't never
going home like I'm never going home
right and you here for some racial bull
crap and it's like he's like look it's
five different version of events like
which one is the state saying happened
and then he was like more importantly
there's a witness that is saying that he
is with you guys from from like the
beginning to the end and it was a
student there so it was stuff that I
wasn't all I knew was this I was accused
of a rape that's all I knew right I
didn't really know what we were accused
of or anything like that until I got got
to the trial and heard what it was and
just heard the Ridiculousness of like
wait a minute dude are you serious it
was like all students all around they
can we're the only three black guys on
campus man like I mean look people saw
us right they knew where we were like at
all during during the the party right so
um I just I looked at this and I and I
looked at this and I started to read
what was going on and I started to draft
like what I thought would a petition
would look like to get me home but
simultaneously while drafting this I was
writing letters to as many people as I
can as I can get in touch with like
seriously when I when I tell you I was
sending out 50 letters a week like I'm
not lying I'm not making this up I got a
I got a hold to a a typewriter and I
typed out a letter explaining to people
look I'm innocent this is my issue these
are my claims and the letter would have
a blank as to who it was going to and a
blank as to the date and I would run off
copies and I would send these things out
every week and you would only get 20
stamps like allowed off canteen and
that's even crazier like you can get
like 50,000 bags of chips you can only
get like 20 stamps like come on man like
I'm not I'm not getting that so I
started helping other people with with
uh legal work and in return they would
give me stamps so that's how I was able
to mail out 50 a week like I wrote
everyone trying to get help and I told
myself I said look okay now now people
they they weren't responding at first
but I was like all right even if you
respond to tell me to stop writing you
you're going to respond right cuz I was
sending these things out and so I was
getting feedback from from certain
organizations who are on the way up as
to to opening up the the the door to
showing the different injustices of the
criminal justice system and helping
Society to understand that not every
time someone walks across your stream in
the per walk what we call the per walk
with handcuffs and they're accused of
something not every time that happens
they are guilty of what they're accused
of um and you know it was just one of
these things where it was just like I
told told
myself that I would be going home each
day the next day in order to keep myself
from going crazy in there you know it's
just one of these things where I was
able to to to to grow both writing these
letters watching what was going on on
the outside as much as possible because
I would go to the law library I would I
would get the newspaper um and when I
couldn't find case law in the library I
would write different attorneys out of
the newspaper because they they always
show your name or your address and one
of the guys name was Robert hennick
Robert hennick was a criminal attorney
who did postconviction work out of
Milwaukee and he responded to my letter
and he started to help me edit the the
the uh habius petition um where the body
of work got me home with the argument
that was inside I would write it mail it
to him with one of the 50 L letters I
was sending out he would send it back
edit it I would do whatever edits I
needed send it back to him and we did
this for for for uh you know for short
amount of time until it was respect
respectable like honestly I'm sitting up
here doing this with a pin insert like
you know what I mean like I pin insert
in the typewriter like it was going to
be as best as it could right so um I
started to send out with my letters like
a draft of this thing and that's when
things started to change like I started
to see people's response because now it
was like official you could tell there
was some meat to this this is what it is
like for real like this is what it is
this is the case and I started to talk
the language of a lawyer so I was like
okay so that's what it is how old are
you at this point so at this point I was
I was turning 22 wow so I was turning 22
and that's the thing about prison like
time doesn't go slow you think it does
but one Christmas will return into like
seven of them wow before you know it
right um that's really surprising and
and it's the real like it's the truth
you find a way to pass the time in
prison that old saying uh do the time
don't let the time do you and stuff like
that but there's some truth to that
psychologically where you have to you
read books and stuff like that to take
you outside of the Prison Walls mentally
so even they even though they hold you
physically you do not ever surrender uh
your your your mental freedom to to The
Establishment you know um and and so
doing that uh I started to to like take
notes like just like a diary so to speak
like the people I met uh the people I
would help um
my mother was keeping letters that I was
writing to her you know even in the
letters that I was writing you can you
can see the evolution so when I first
started writing them it just like yo
look Mom I ain't do it you know me I
love you boom that's it then it started
you started seeing hey look I just saw
another case overturn this happened that
happened this can help in my case so
that was a maturation process and and in
many ways I received my certificate my
diploma from lyola Law School but I
attended law school back in Green Bay
Correctional
Facility yeah I mean that's that's so
powerful because there's no substitute
for the trenches there's no substitute
for this has to work right and I think
that's why that's the gift that being an
entrepreneur has given me right so not
nearly as terrifying or profound as
going to prison but it's when you're
building a company and your house is on
the line and everything's in it there
there is no retreat failure has real
consequence it's not I'm going to go get
another job it's everything I have is
taken away from me and I am at Ground
Zero and I love that and when I was
reading your story I thought okay no one
would wish this on somebody certainly
not somebody that they care about and I
don't even think I would be able to man
up and wish it on myself knowing that
there are benefits but there are
benefits yeah and it's so interesting to
hear you talk about the maturation
process to talk about how you could see
your life transforming before your very
eyes and that to me is is why your story
seems so exceptional right so so many
people have gone through what you've
gone through sadly but you're the only
one here yeah for that reason is that
how do you think about the blessings
that came out of this I mean I'm I'm
each and every day I'm looking at at at
the blessings that that that I've come
now look there's no way in hell I would
have signed up for this right like I
there's like not at all like it wasn't
it wasn't it wasn't definitely no I
wouldn't have gave up you know like all
of my 20s essentially you know for for
this um not at all but you know you you
look at it and and and I'll give you an
example like this so I am um I'm out um
and I felt like like I had missed so
much like just so much uh February 20 7
I'm home I was arrested 1998 you know um
turning 27 on my mother's couch with no
credit no
insurance nothing but then I started to
catch up with old friends um and I
started to to to run into old classmates
and I started to see something right and
it was just like well damn I have been
gone spotted you all a 10 year Head
Start and like man look look look this
is you know but it wasn't them or it
wasn't how remarkable I am if I am at
all it was life itself life is hard life
is hard and people who are born into
different situations have a have a hard
time appreciating how hard it is for
others right and life is difficult um
had a high school buddy um you know uh
he only operates with one side of his
body now he was shot up you know in a
drug deal so um I looked at that I have
another friend you know he went to to
the the the army there was an accident
that happened and he's not the same
person anymore you know you know what I
mean so it's like you know he escaped
the neighborhood to go to the Army in in
search of a better opportunities you
know for him and his family um I go
unsigned unsigned up to go to prison um
in in in the hellish of conditions uh
and I make it out and I'm not going to
say unscathed because that's definitely
not the case but I make it out um in
physical you know relatively physical
great health and he he goes to the Army
to serve our country and he's just like
not the same person anymore so it was
like yeah the the blessings were right
there in front of me and and and and to
to to tell you you know even more how I
used what I saw in there to drive me
every time I got tired the best story I
could tell you was in the visiting room
one day um you know an hour before visit
with my mother and my aunts I was out in
basketball court again uh but I wasn't
playing I was like actually like reading
over my my case material stuff now and
uh I was looking down met some guys it
was it was it was was a game going on
and uh I thought the guys were like
referring to each other as like
nicknames like like nicknames pops old
man you know Grandpa and all that type
uh it wasn't until I got on a visit and
I realized like n that was like a
grandfather a father and a son all in
one prison and they were there on
unrelated offenses all drugs
nonviolent and at the end of the visit
they have you stand up meaning the
visitors and the the the the inmates to
go back into general population and the
visitors to go back past the security so
it wasn't there until a really hit home
where I looked at the women who got up
at the end of the visit and each one of
them with a toddler and toe in their
hand walking to to be released and I
said to myself you know how many of them
of them young black boys
girls will grow to reach their potential
or go to become around a replacement you
know and it was just like looking at
stuff like that it it gave me the
opportunity to say look you can get out
here and play victim with you if you
want to you know because there's a lot
of company for that right when you can
come out of here um and make sure that
that if there's ever a story written
about you or talked about or said about
you it won't end with yeah Jared was
wrongfully convicted he got out like nah
n no nah this 10 years that I gave is
going to be meaningful and more than
than just than just you know being a
story because I'm I'm telling you I I
just I uh every time I get tired I look
I I think back to certain things like
looking at that in the visiting room um
and then looking at like like my mother
just like how hopeless helpless you know
she was and if I can you know have a law
that allows me to to to I don't have to
be rich cuz rich people have problem but
I just want to be able to like go and I
have to ask how much something cost
before I order it like on the menu so
that's what I want right and to be able
to afford to send my kids through
college so I'm not doing this to to to
become you know wealthy or anything like
that like I really want to do this to to
see people um live the lives that they
deserve like like life life is really
really short and I think that we don't
value and appreciate you know our
freedoms um and our
opportunities in our life
uh there are going to always be
obstacles you're going to have to either
go around them go over them or go right
through them but you can't stop going
you know what I mean like you just can't
and people ask me how are you able to do
this like what other choice did I have
like I was coming home to a a ever
changing environment in the city of
Chicago where it's like you you it's
just a different it's different like
right now it's different right now in
these neighborhoods um and I didn't have
any skills but I had something that a
lot of people who come home from from
from from cases such as mine they don't
have and that was my youth a lot of
people come home at the age of
retirement with nothing to retire on and
they've been exonerated of crimes and
when you're exonerated of a crime you
don't get the same help that people who
who parole out of prison get they'll get
like halfway homes you know parole
officers you know job Readiness programs
yeah they're inadequate services but
they get Services when you are
wrongfully convicted you don't get
anything that's crazy you don't that's
crazy and I and I think that it's not
that people don't care they just in
society things that makees sense you
don't really question it because you're
like like no no no no there's no way you
could let person out after doing all
that time if something they didn't do
and you don't get anything that doesn't
make sense but nah it's it's happening
it's real I had one of the best moments
ever um a few weeks back uh I was in the
state of Wisconsin again in court again
but this time I was an attorney
co-counsel with Keith Finley the
director of the Innocence Project who
got me out in Wisconsin so me and him
are work in a case together um and and
we are representing a guy that we feel
wholeheartedly is innocent because the
DNA evidence excludes him from ever
being there so it's was like what does
that mean right he didn't do it but
these courts don't look at it like that
they believe in finality more than they
believe in justice so and and and and
being able to sit there um it was one of
these moments where it was just like
look monetarily they can never repay me
for what they have done to me uh but
when they have to address me as
counselor in the same
court it's like a different feeling man
it really is do you like superhero
movies I I I kind of do like certain on
on like X-Men I'm a big fan of all of
those right I like the idea of there
being someone um when something goes
wrong and they just scream for help a
silhouette will appear and you and no I
like that idea I do because going back
to what you said a minute ago what other
choice did you have when people ask you
how do you keep going um I love that for
you there was no other option but the
obvious option is to quit the obvious
option and it's the option almost
everyone takes
is easy it's to do nothing it's to
retreat it's to play the victim and it
is very rare that somebody constructs
their mentality the way that you have to
build themselves up to look at a system
that they believe is fundamentally
broken and say I'm actually going to go
back inside that system I'm going to win
your highest Awards I'm going to demand
your respect not ask for it I'm going to
demand your respect by winning the game
as you have rigged it exactly and when
you can win a game that you know is
rigged but that you can still outplay
and
outperform that's a superhero the fact
that you went back in played their game
one got everything anyone would ever
think that you would want but then said
that's actually just the beginning now
I'm going to go become a counselor now
I'm going to go back into the same
system that betrayed me and I'm going to
help other people that are in a similar
situation it really is somebody calls
help and the silhouette shows up and
you're the silhouette I mean it's it's
inspiring well I think you and and I
hope that it's inspiring and the reason
I hope that it it's inspiring is because
I need help like and what I mean by help
is I don't necessarily need financial
help or you know food but you can feed
me if you like but can somebody bring a
lot of
something but if if we don't if we don't
get the people who are both affected by
it and not affected by it to care about
it it will never change so what I'm
advocating for is the the change of our
criminal justice system and you may not
think it benefits you well let me try to
reach you know viewers another way so
maybe you don't have anyone in jail
maybe you'll never go to jail um however
what about a sickness right how do you
know we're not locking away and throwing
away the key on someone who has
groundbreaking research to some type of
pharmaceutical drug that can help save
your life you don't know that right
because you never would have thought
that I would have been able to come and
do all this but let me tell you this
they didn't serve me a smart pill in
prison like I didn't magically go there
and like oh sh I'm ready for the LSAT
and all that like no that's not how it
happened right like no like so it's like
I had these talents before going to
prison but my candle was almost blew out
before it was even lit so you know when
I got there and and and being able to
have these other conversations with with
other you know inmates and stuff like
that I still say to this day I've worked
with some of the the the the brightest
minds and judges and lawyers and stuff
like that still some some of the person
some of the people I've met with with
with with so so much smart so much
talent were right in prison like right
in prison so we've always decided that
the best way to get out of stuff is to
punish our way out of it and where's it
gotten us like it hasn't gotten us
anywhere so what's the solution the
solution is simple look this needs to be
a curriculum like race in America needs
to be a curriculum um and it needs to be
a curriculum because it'll trickle down
into the effects that that that mess us
up in society today right but most
Americans don't really
realize the the privilege that comes
with who they are not because of who
they are but how they look and so if
we're teaching this as a curriculum
right what it is to be black in America
what it is to be African-American
America what it is to be white in americ
you start to change the system from
within cuz right now like we got a bunch
of Archie bunkers making decisions for
us in society man and like like for real
it's just it's very clear um now what's
going on so so at this point if stuff
isn't changed it's not changed because
the people who have the power to change
it don't want it change it's not changed
because we don't have the antidotal
evidence to understand that like yo the
criminal justice system is messed up
that's not it it's not changed because
the people who have the power to change
it are benefiting from it and they have
no need to change it cuz again you
cannot tell me that the person who runs
for office and says that yo look vote
for me because I'm going to protect you
make you safe you know I'm locking
everybody up lock them up draw away the
key but then we lock those people up we
house them for decades in violent
situations no job training no nothing
92% of people who go to prison are
coming home one day and we released them
right back into that same community of
people that we swore to protect and
that's okay that makes sense
doesn't and I'm not that smart I'm I'm
I'm just like even when I went to law
school like I I could look and tell and
like size up competition and I'm like
yeah look go girl with them glasses like
she beat beat me to a punch like in any
argument like for real so what I would
do was she probably sleep I wasn't
sleeping so you could be smarter than me
but you were never going to outwork me
ever like for real like I would go hide
from the janitor in the library you know
just just so I can use uh cuz I couldn't
afford printing paper so I would like
Bounce from floor to flor floor if he
was cleaning this floor I was on the
second floor he was cleaning second
floor I was back on the first just to
spend enough time in there because I I I
couldn't blow this opportunity like I
couldn't right it me more to to to the
hope and impact that I hope hope to have
on you know young boys who look like
myself to understand like look I need
y'all like I need y'all to stop giving
up so easily and and and and saying all
forget it and just you know joining into
the the the the the cycle of
hopelessness like I need you to do what
I did like seriously it made it may
sound crazy but like nah I need that to
happen I need that to happen because
like I want to have kids one day I want
to have kids to and not have to worry
about them being taken advantage of or
being born in circumstances you know
where it's like you know they they they
are looking and facing what I'm facing
and the only way I can do that is to do
three things man and and that's love God
I'm loving my wife recently married um
and loving this life by living it um in
a way in which I want to leave it for
the kids that I have
like that's it um and I know uh the the
analogy of superhero was used I
appreciate that I really do and if I
didn't have his makeup on I'll probably
be blushing but uh n i I really like I I
really don't like I'm I'm at the point
where it's like I've been on a break
neck Pace like just a Breakneck Pace I
want to do as much work as I can uh
start the movement of you know rooting
this thing out from the inside out and
the only way you do like look there are
no quick quick answers to big problems
like there just aren't any so if you
think we're going to pass a bill and
everything is going to be a okay okay
it's not going to happen so we need to
take the long route and the most stable
route and that's to bring these
curriculums into our school you know I
don't have all the answers at this point
you know to be here and I thank you
again it's like a coming out party
because I'm able to share my my story
which I call my testimony to others and
I don't do it to glorify myself cuz um
it would be great would be great you
know to to to to stick my chest out like
a 10ft peacock and be like yo look at me
but more than anything I would rather um
be somewhere sticking my toes in the
sand looking at what other people are
doing as a result of me starting a real
conversation well let's get some more
people that can help you where can these
guys find you online so you can look up
my website Jared adams.com um and
spelled that for him because it's not
okay it's Jared j a r r TT Adams
adams.com so you can look up Jared
adams.com um I'm the co-founder of a
nonprofit called life after Justice and
basically what it does is it advocates
for the the change of of of the criminal
justice system like the change of it
it's itself you know and what better way
to change the criminal justice system by
having someone who who who has been
there but it is so hard to get a
platform to get a voice when you've been
there rightfully or wrongfully because I
want people to understand you know you
know a couple things like I'm not a
magic trick I'm I'm absolutely real 100%
% and I didn't take a shortcut here it
took me 10 years to like get here I've
been home since 2007 so it was no
shortcut like I didn't get a degree
while I was in in prison so I went the
Long Way um and to also to to to get
them to understand like if you think
this is is amazing there are other
amazing things that could be done and
you don't have to look at this as a
entire heel when you look at things in
its entirety it becomes such a daunting
task that you don't even want to deal
with but if you look at what is in your
area you know go look up in in it's
public record for you to ask what the
decision makers that you voted in are
doing in terms of
re-entry um the prison itself go check
their record and find out what they're
doing and go hold them to um the
standard that you voted them in on
because again um the criminal justice
system is creating more problems than
it's than it's stopping if you use what
the prison is
producing and you use that with a car
company and you had the same numbers uh
it wouldn't keep continuing if more than
50% of the people or more than 50% of
the cars that come off of production
line were back on that production line
for some reason within two three years
the Congress would have a national
debate on how do we stop this particular
car company right but like over 50% of
the people who get out of prison come
back in two to three years and somehow
we're like got to get tougher on crime
that's that's what it is yeah they'll
stop it eventually I think I know the
answer to this question but I'm going to
ask what's the impact that you want to
have on the world well I have an answer
but I also have something even better to
go with that answer I have a gift for
you my friend wow a yeah I want to turn
of events yeah
so this is a
T-shirt and it's a logo um of my
organization that I have and I want to
take the time to like explain to you
what this depiction means because it's
very important for for uh even people
who who don't know how to help and they
want to help to just like get one of
these shirts wear this shirt because
what this means is this this this is a
picture of someone leaving out of prison
um and the bars are behind them right um
and the person that is leaving has a
briefcase and has a suit on so what this
means is that it's not a business person
or a lawyer leaving out of prison
necessarily what that means is the
person is putting the worst behind them
with the representation of the bars and
they're walking out with the hopes and
the dreams and the aspirations of being
productive in society to be able to live
and just have a life but you can't get
to that if we still have the depiction
of the people who leave from prison as
someone who looks like a character off
ODS right so that's the whole meaning of
having this logo represent the mission
statement so it's more than just a just
a logo cuz it you know it was like
difficult going back and forth I would
have Lov to just have like a Nike
Swoosh but I couldn't you know I so I
was like look let me put some thought in
this so this is yours my friend wow
thank you thank you very much and so
that's my impact my impact that I hope
to have is to break down the barriers
and the stigmas that Society um has
allowed to be placed to on people who go
to the prison system it's incredible
Jared thank you so much brother that was
incredible thank you for having me my
pleasure trust me thank you all thank
you all for making this happen guys I
don't know if you just got uh rocked as
hard as I did but that was absolut