Robert King - Former jailed Black Panther HARDtalk


Robert King - Former jailed Black Panther

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have an overall majority. Now on BBC News it is time for HARDtalk.

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The man you're about to see has the face and the will of a survivor.

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Robert King has spent much of his life in prison, 29-years in

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solitary confinement, in one of the toughest jails in the United States.

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He'd been a petty criminal, who was then, he says, framed for a series

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of much bigger crimes partly because he joined the black

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nationalist movement, the Black Panthers. Now he's out of jail,

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he's campaigning for the release of two other elderly black prisoners,

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both of whom have spent more that 30 years in solitary. And the US,

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says Robert King, dares to call itself, The Land of the Free.

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Robert Shing, welcome to HARDtalk. He has said you were born in do --

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in the USA, you're black and poor, it is little wonder you ended up in

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prison. Thank you, good to be sure. That statement came from the known

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fact that I was born in America. I was born black. I was born poor, I

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was a post war world two baby. Racism, discrimination, whatever

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you wants to refer to come up all of this existed. If you look past

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the age of 17-20, you ended up in prison of the graveyard. This is

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the way it was. You are saying there was no escape from crime?

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There was no escape from poverty, which I believe is linked to crime.

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People who come into a society, the first sign against them is the

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colour of their skin, this is a pathway of poverty, a pathway of

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racism and discrimination. I think this leads to a life of crime.

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teenager you had become a petty criminal, but things went severely

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downhill for you in 1971 at the age of 19. You were convicted of an

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armed robbery and sentenced to 35 years. You say, you were framed.

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Correct. I was. Having had a previous record, I had robbery some

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five years earlier. 6-7 years earlier. I was automatically a

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suspect. If you had any kind of previous record in our community,

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if a crime was committed, you were a prime suspect. There were many

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people who were suspects. Once a crime is committed, and unsolved

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crime, they would look at the record of anyone who has been

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convicted. This was not the least, it was the testimony of another

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black man that led to the sentence of 35 years. This individual was

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arrested on a crime. He said the person who was with him, a dark-

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skinned male and so forth, the victim stated this, when the police

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showed him my mug, he knew... We did not know each other. He stated

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in open court that he was beaten. They told him that I was with him.

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You were sent to this prison that was called and dollar, in Louisiana.

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-- Angola. It had a reputation for being the toughest prison in the

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state in a time when prison conditions were quite bad. It was

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pretty tough. At the time we are speaking of, there were periods it

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was tougher, it was still tough in 1970. You had it been made guards

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who were the backbone of the prison. They had shotguns. If an individual

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try to escape, they would catch that individual. People worked for

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two sense an hour. Sugar-cane was the main crop at that time. Some

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people worked for 17 hours a day. Some of the guards are dissipated

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in raping young get inmates with the permission of the authorities.

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-- the -- participated. Racism was in the present, but brutality was a

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threat. -- prison. People were brutalised big time. You say the

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administration was racist, but a lot of this violence was black men

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against black men, wasn't it? may have been black men against a

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black man but it was perpetrated by a white administration. The inmate

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guards consisted of white and black. The majority of the inmates were

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black. You also had white inmates. The entire administration was white.

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You had no African-American who was part of the administration at that

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time. You escaped and recaptured come much you were involved in

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riots, this added to an already huge sentence. It is when you came

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back to the prison in 1971, you had a new mood of defiance about you,

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this is because he had experienced the Black Panthers, is that

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correct? Yes. I was being held in a detention centre even though I had

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been given a 35-year sentence. I was waiting for my direct appeal to

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become exhausted. After that I received eight more years and I was

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sent to an -- Angola. That is when you joined the Black Panthers.

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had become politicised, I began to see that I had no rights, I was a

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slave. I was being treated like a slave. The only choice I had was to

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rebel. The Black Panthers were not about the assertiveness that Martin

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Luther King talked about, non violence, they were about violence

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if it was deemed necessary. Black Panthers started out for

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self-defence. The media is the one who turned the movement into one

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about anger and black men. One of the leaders of the Black Panthers

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was convicted for the murder of a Californian police, one of the

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leaders at a Black Panther meeting, he is the only true leader, how

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many white folks have you kill today? None of the members that I

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knew were there. Newton was convicted, but he was acquitted and

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released from prison. There was a question about whether he had

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killed or not. Even Newton at the time he was shocked. The record

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shows they tried to kill him while he was in the hospital. The Black

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Panthers were seen at the time as a threat. The perception was, they

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were prepared to fight against racist police and Cooper Clarke's

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plan. They were seen as a threat. This was a time in Vietnam, people

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were protesting against the Vietnam War. Yes, the perception was that

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they were violent. This was systemic. They demonised. They

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demonised the Black Panthers. joined the Black Panthers. When you

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were back in prison you met up with two other people who were involved

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in the Black Panthers, afraid and Hamann -- Alfred and Herman who

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were convicted of the murder of a prison guard. How far do you

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believe that you and they were targeted because your members?

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was targeted because I was a member, I have reason to believe they were

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targeted. What is the evidence? was placed under investigation for

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it. I was 150 miles away from the prison and I was charged... I had

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never met the man in my life. There was no evidence apart from the paid

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testimony of a snitch and informant. So you and these other two who

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became known as the three, you were seen as troublemakers, you were

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placed in solitary confinement in closed cell restricted. After all

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the violence you have talked about, the threat, the fear, the rake, the

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slave labour you have called it in the rest of the prison, you might

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think that solitary confinement was a respite, but the way you have

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talked about it, it sounds as if it was an even worse punishment?

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it really was not a respite. Solitary confinement became an

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issue later on. We were all imprisoned unjustly. We were

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fighting for freedom from the prison. Give me a sense of how

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tough it is to be locked up for 23 hours a day for decades at a time?

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At the time, like at pointed out, it is no easy task to be in prison.

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Prison is horrible. To be locked up 23 hours a day, is nothing someone

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would dream about. I thought it was horrible. It felt horrible. I was

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able to weather the storm because I had a different mindset. I had

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become bleakly aware an eyesore America as one big prison. --

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politically aware and I saw America. I had a different mindset. With

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this different mindset I was able to weather the storm. I did not see

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myself as a prisoner, as a perpetrator, but a victim. You say

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you're a victim, even on solitary confinement, he were convicted for

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the murder of another inmate, again, you say your friend? -- you were

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framed. Yes, the court agreed with In the end you had to agree to the

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plea bargain of conspiracy to commit murder. And anyone could

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have plead guilty to wait if they wanted to charge anyone. They could

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have charged 11 other people with conspiracy. But there are only

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charged me. Be charged the man who committed to the crime... It was an

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inmate who later decided that he went home as a result online on me.

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He decides tell the truth. He told the trees. -- trip. Were you guilty

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of conspiracy? Nem mac. I was there and I knew another inmate was

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killed. I knew he was killed in self-defence. When I did not write

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on him. That was conspiracy. left prison into the other end one

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after a 29 years in solitary. With the stain still on your reputation

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DVD was a price worth paying? -- the big... We had become known as

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the Angola 3. Most of our supporters felt that they could

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have charged anybody with conspiracy. They chose to charge me

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which validated that I was targeted. Since you release you have been

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campaigning for the release of the other two members of the Angola 3,

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Herman Wallace and Albert Woodfox. They spend more than 30 years in

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solitary confinement. It is close to 40. They are back in solitary

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confinement in Louisiana. The warden of Angola Prison, N 2008,

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said of Albert Woodfox he still has a sense of violence. He is still

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practising the movement of black panther. I do not want him to walk

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around a prison because he would organise the young inmates. Do you

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recognise that that man is still much of a third? I recognise that

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he stuck to his trend. They are being kept in solitary confinement

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because of their political beliefs. Not because there are any proof.

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Another man said Albert Woodfox said he was a mild man in another -

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- from another source. What has changed for you in the past 50

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years? Most of which you spend in prison. Prison numbers in the EU --

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in the US seems to be going up. One in ten black men between the ages

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of 25 and 29 end up in prison. How are you trying to change that? What

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are you trying to do in order to reverse that trend? I want people

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to revisit the concept of a prison. That figure rises because

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systemically, the US is still a racer society. There is

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discrimination. -- racist society. We have to take the system -- look

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at the system of legality. We have to see prison as a new form of

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slavery. People equate legality and morality as equals. It is not so.

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There is social responsibility of course but it is -- there is

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individual responsibility as well. People do not have to be sucked

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into a life of crime. They do not have to. Herman and Abba did not

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sucked into a life of crime. The fact they were sucked into it is

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not the reason they were in prison. They were in prison because they

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became members of the Black Panther Party. They would not conform to a

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prison as it was at that time. problem with politics in many

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countries including the US is that it is a vote loser to start saying

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we need to lock up your people. -- less people. A previous politician

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said I came here to make a better America, there are more people in

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prison cells and when I took offers. -- I took office. They think it

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will be a better society. Most people do not believe about either.

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We have to look at the system itself. If politics motivate

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actions and for people to do it immoral things, we have to look at

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the politics. The prison inmates to be changed. That is my focus. That

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is what I hope to achieve. We can look at prison by much different

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manner that can reflect... If they have to be a prison, it has to be

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sprinkled with morality. Politics has placed a bigger -- played a

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bigger party. It has been ten years since she came out of prison. --

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that you came out. What has been the biggest prat -- surprise for

:21:54.:22:04.
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you? What has been the thing that grips you most? What to grips me

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most is the great leap in technology. I have noticed how far

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we have come. I am in all of that. Having caught up to it? I think I

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have. But unfortunately, I do not think I have called up to the

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system. That is an external thing. Often people who come out of prison

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after long periods in jail, especially if they had been victims

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of miscarriages of justice, they say it is incredibly difficult to

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lead a normal life and to fill normal and connected to other

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people. How do you cope? I do not feel that way. I am sorry if I go

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against the normal. We have something to do with how we feel. I

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was in prison. But I did not allow prison to get in me. With this

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mindset, I was able to weather the storm. You do not feel bitter now?

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I do not feel bitter to the extent... I would use the term of

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