a big thank you to house party for sponsoring this episode
if you don't know house party is a really awesome app that allows up to 8
people to chat face to face so even though we're all self isolating we are
staying in touch with house party can do a lot of cool things like play games oh
he was in Twilight no other dude if you don't have it make sure to download it
there is a link in the description below and without further ado here's ask me
anything when people hear about it what kind of stereotypes do people
automatically think of that I'm a thief I thought I was being selfish that if I
loved my children I wouldn't have done what I did some topics are hard to
approach the u.s. locks more people up than any other country either the
subjects are inaccessible but people are uncomfortable discussing them so we
found those subjects in person rented a space in Los Angeles and
invited our audience and strangers to come in and ask them anything
hi my name's Michelle and I'm an ex-offender I'm here to answer questions
on the topic hey my name is Eric how you doing I'm doing great thank you alright
I'm Michelle and it's great to meet you it's great to meet you what was your
crime white collar my situation was you know
writing checks I was involved in an embezzlement case because of our system
back taxes and tax fraud and all these other titles came with it what led you
to do what you did you know when it started it actually was more of looking
out for my kids and my family give them things that I felt they needed and
looking back I see that they didn't need it and I caused more harm with a lot of
the encouragement youth I work with some of them say if I could have gotten away
with this yeah I totally would have done it again but I got caught do you feel
that something that you might have told yourself five years ago I want to say no
because I think it's the right thing to say however if I wouldn't it got caught
I probably would have continued to keep doing it but for the most part I'm glad
that I got caught and I never want to go back to it again what did you do for fun
in prison I don't know if I really did anything for fun but I sure did learn a
lot of things I learned how to thread my eyebrows with the string from new
tampons I learned how to cook some really nice dinners with trash bags and
boiling water have you seen orange is the new black no
what is that it's a show about women in prison and what you're describing
there's like some portions where they do the exact same thing yes I haven't
watched the show and I know I've been I've been watched it okay I get asked
quite a bit so I you know I will answer to the fact that there are very similar
traits the connection and relationship with you have with the women in there
you know I had some really good friends in there but there's also a lot of
Hollywood hype to it that it's not like that
how long were you in prison for nearly six years I was sentenced to ten years
and four months and I earned some time off my sentence for good behavior if you
were in the jury for your case would you have given yourself the same sentence
the lesser sentence or a longer sentence and if you can justify why you know in
some ways I want to say that it was a bit much
especially when the very same day I was sentenced somebody else was sentenced
for a sex crime on a minor and got less time than me
I remember reading that in the newspaper and just being that you just totally
take him back you know like where's the fairness in this but with that I will
also say that there's so many things that I did do that I didn't get caught
for that the things I got blamed for that I didn't do I had to just accept
what was the life like in the prison was frightful I saw things that I thought
only happened in movies you know my experience was added trauma but it also
is where a strengthened me came that I would have never gotten anywhere else
was there a specific breaking point yeah it's the combination you know first
being arrested than being in County Jail for a year and a half and in jail
you only get enclosed visits no physical contact
so for 18 months I wasn't able to touch my children or hug them or have any
connection with them whatsoever except words through a glass window
and if there was one thing you could change about prison in general what
would that be the way that women are treated in there
and the way they're looked at after a visit with your children that your being
nurturing and loving you have to go in a room and be strip-searched and you have
to bend over and you have to cough and you have to just be humiliated after you
were just hugging and nurturing your children and I'm talking minutes like
there's no time to shake off what you just were and transform into the
prisoner you know no of course it's dehumanizing yeah
how have you recovered or has it been hard for you mentally yeah actually it's
been the biggest struggle of being a previously incarcerated is coming home
and transitioning back into being a human being back to into being a mother
to a wife it's quite challenging and I've been home almost nine years and I
still battle like you know the shame and the guilt from it but I've also take
great pride and the strives that I have make to overcome some of it what is some
advice for people thinking of committing a crime
obviously I want to say don't do it and I don't mean that lightheartedly like
seriously it is just if I would have known the severity of my consequences if
I would have seen the impact that it was gonna have on other people's lives
especially my family I would really just stop it and encourage that person to
think things through and if you can't imagine what its gonna be like let me
introduce you to some friends who can is there something you would tell your kids
the one thing that I have said that I feel like I always want to keep saying
over and over is I'm sorry I'm sorry that I hurt you I'm sorry that it caused
the pain that I caused you as a child and as someone with parents who make
mistakes maybe not as large as yours I do want to say that kids have this room
for forgiveness that is so much larger only to their parents and I truly
believe that your kids will come to accept and love you even more than they
did before I believe that there is of course room for growth and room for
change and I believe that you will get to a point where you and your family can
come together thank you thank you thank you so much thanks for watching another
episode of asking anything and thank you to epic games for sponsoring this
episode the people behind house party check it out it's a free app you can
check up to eight people let's let's just do this let's Jason Lee let's get
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