Bryan Stevenson

And of course, they didn't change the rules for this 13-year-old child.

They applied the adult rules.

So to get out of solitary, he had to never make a mistake.

He had to never complain, never be loud, never do this, never do that.

And as a young kid in that environment, he was never able to do that.

So he ended up spending 18 years in solitary confinement.

Is that legal?

It is something we are constantly challenging, but there are no restrictions currently in our law that would prohibit something like that.

And so the first time I met him, I couldn't even be in the same room with him

because they didn't allow him to touch another human being.

And so his poetry comes out of a kind of isolation, a kind of anguish that is heartbreaking.

And what was really frustrating was the person who he robbed and shot was absolutely appalled that he was being treated that way.

And she was actually advocating for him to be released or to have a different sentence.

And we worked on his case for a very long time.

ultimately won his release.

I'm so proud that now he's living in New York, he's doing poetry, he's speaking to young people, he's doing things.

But yes, we've done horrific things to children in this country, and we've allowed that mindset of fear and anger to cause us to do some really destructive things.

And I do believe that

When you allow yourself to be governed by fear and anger, when you root your decisions in fear and anger, you're going to make bad decisions.

You're not going to do the things you should be doing.