One evening, after watching the nightly news with my then five-year-old son,
有天晚上，在和我5岁的儿子看完晚间新闻后，
he asked me a question I thought I would have a ton of time to answer.
他问了我一个我想我有很多时间来回答的问题。
I thought the complicated questions typically came at eight or nine years old,
这样复杂的问题通常是8、9岁孩子会问的，
but my son looked me in the eyes while I was tucking him in,
当我给他盖被子时，他看着我的眼睛，
and with a very straight face he asked me, "Daddy, why did you go to jail?"
并且板着脸问我，“爸爸，你之前为什么会进监狱？”
My wife and I often thought about this moment.
我妻子和我时常会想到这一刻。
We knew this question was coming, and we wanted to handle it well.
我们知道他有朝一日会问这个问题，并且我们都想能好好回答。
But that night, I had a question to answer.
但那晚，我就需要回答那个问题。
So I decided to tell my son how I ended up going to prison when I was just a 15-year-old kid.
于是我决定告诉我儿子，当我还只是15岁时为什么会进监狱。
This picture was taken when I was 14 years old.
这照片是我在14岁时候拍的。
That's my mom, my sister, and that cute little baby, that's my niece.
这是我妈，这是我姐姐，还有那个可爱的小婴儿，是我的侄女。
She's 23 now, and it drives me crazy every time I think about how old I'm getting.
她现在23岁了，这让我每次想起我已经多老了就变得很抓狂。
This was the last photo that I took just a few weeks before I made the worst decision of my life.
这是我在做出人生最糟糕的决定的几周前拍摄的最后一张照片。
A friend of mine and I, we approached a man sleeping in his car,
事发当时，我和一个朋友走近一个在车里睡觉的男人，
pulled out a gun, demanded the keys to his car and sped off.
拿出了枪，要求他把车钥匙给我们，然后我们开着车飞速逃离。
That decision landed me in front of a judge, with my mom and my sister standing just a few feet behind me,
那个决定把我带到了法官面前，我妈和我姐姐就站在我身后仅仅几英尺的地方，
as they listened to me get sentenced to eight years in adult maximum security prison.
她们听到我被判在成人最高安全监狱中服刑八年。
This is the next family photo that I took with my mom.
这是我和妈妈拍的下一张家庭照片。
But this time, it was taken in the prison visiting room.
但这次，是在探监室拍的。
Now don't let the waterfalls and the trees and all that stuff in the background fool you.
不要让这个瀑布和树木还有各种背景里的东西糊弄你。
This was one of the hardest times of my life.
这是我人生中最艰难的时刻之一。
In fact, for the first two years, I battled depression by living in denial about my prison sentence.
事实上，入狱的前两年，我一直抗拒自己被判入狱的事实，以此来对抗抑郁。
I would commonly say things to my mom like,
我通常会和妈妈说类似的话：
"I mean, Ma, I know you don't think that this judge is really going to keep us here through Christmas."
“我说，妈妈，我知道你不会认为这位法官真的会让我们在这里度过圣诞节。”
And then, "... Valentine's Day." And then, "... the last day of school."
之后，“...情人节。”之后，“...学期的最后一天。”
And then, "... the first day of school." And on and on.
再之后，“..开学第一天。”一直这么下去。
I promised my mom that one day, someone would see that I was drowning in those cells,
我向我妈妈保证，有人会看到我在牢里奄奄一息，
that someone would tell us that we could breathe again because they just wanted to teach me a hard lesson.
有人会告诉我们可以再次呼吸了，因为他们只是想要给我一个非常狠的教训罢了。
But one day, as I'm walking around the prison rec yard with my friend Danny B,
但是有一天，我和朋友丹尼在放风的院子里闲走时，
I asked him, "How long have you been here?"
我问他：“你在这儿多久了？”
He told me that he had already served 31 years.
他告诉我，他已经服刑31年了。
My palms immediately got sweaty, heart dropped down to my toes, and it hit me like a ton of bricks.
我手心立马开始出汗，心情如坠深渊，压抑感排山倒海般袭来。
Because that's the moment when I realized that I would have to serve all eight of my years.
因为在那个瞬间，我终于意识到我要在狱中服刑整整8年。
Now, the story of going to prison as a teenager is not an uncommon one.
一个青少年进监狱的故事并不少见。
But for my family, this was the most tragic thing that had happened in our lives.
但对我的家庭来说，这是我们生活中最悲剧的事情。
I missed my family terribly. And just like every other teenager,
我很想念我的家人。和其他每一个青少年一样，
I just wanted to open up gifts on Christmas morning and graduate from high school with my friends.
我只想在圣诞节的早上打开属于自己的礼物，和我的朋友们一起从高中毕业。
And because of the intense security in prisons, internet access is limited.
由于监狱的高度警戒，网络访问受限。
There's no easy emailing, no texting and definitely no social media.
这里没办法发邮件，没有短信，必然，也没有社交媒体。
This means that the meaningful moments like prom night or college graduation
这意味着那些具有纪念意义的时刻，例如毕业舞会，或毕业典礼，
or the tons of free content that you and I digest every day
甚至你我每日免费阅览的信息内容，
very seldom gets shared with the cousin, sibling or best friend in prison.
都很少能够和你的兄弟姐妹，或是监狱里最好的朋友分享。
I became very dark. My childhood and the dreams of it, they disappeared.
我的内心变得非常阴暗。我的童年和梦想，都消失了。
And those slamming steel doors clanking shut every night in the prison housing unit, they forced me to grow up fast.
监狱房间里的铁门每晚都在砰砰作响的关上，这迫使我不得不快速成长。
I can tell you firsthand that there is something about the violent cards of prison that completely cripple hope.
我可以用亲身体会告诉你，存在于监狱里的“暴力牌”完全摧毁了希望。
I even tried to push my mom away,
我甚至试图把我妈推开，
because I didn't want her to be subject to the collect calls or the eight-hour drives for the one-hour visits,
因为我不想她接付费电话或为一小时的会面而开八小时车，
those horrible body cavity searches that she would experience coming into the prison visiting room.
或接受那些为了进入探监室而要经历的可怕的腹腔搜查。
But as many of you parents here know tonight, you can't stop a mother's love.
但就像今晚在座的很多父母知道的那样，你无法阻止一个母亲的爱。
So what did my mom do? She made a promise while sitting in a prison visiting room.
所以我妈做了什么？她在探监室里对我做了一个承诺。
She promised she would write me a letter or send me a picture every day from that day forward until I came home.
她承诺从那天起，她会每天给我写信，或是寄照片给我，直到我出狱那天。
I had six years left to do on a sentence, our lives were completely crumbling around us,
那时我还剩6年的服刑期，生活完全击倒了我们，
and here comes this happy-go-lucky lady prancing into a prison visiting room like I'm in summer camp,
然而这个乐天无忧的女士昂首阔步地走进探监室，仿佛我在夏令营一样，
with a new plan to send me a bunch of pictures.
带着她要给我寄很多照片的新计划。
Such an interesting time. Little did I know, it would be my mom's letters that saved my life.
那段时光如此惬意。我却并不知道，正是我妈的那些来信，拯救了我的生活。
My mom would take pictures of a cheeseburger or a mattress at a department store...
我妈会给芝士汉堡拍照，或是给商场的床垫拍照，
and she would send them to me along with a letter with a promise
然后她会把这些照片附在信中寄给我，并且许诺说，
that one day I would enjoy a fat, juicy burger or sleep on a comfortable bed.
有一天我会吃到一个油腻而多汁的汉堡，或在这个舒适的床上睡觉。
My mom assured me that there was life after prison.
我妈向我保证，出狱后的我还拥有正常的生活。
In fact, my best friends began living vicariously through my mom's letters and photos...
实际上，我最好的朋友开始间接感受到来自我妈信件和照片的影响，
giving an entire prison unit a glimpse into what was happening in the world.
它们让整个监狱单位得以一窥世界上正在发生的事情。
After eight years of nightmares of prison never ending, being dehumanized, strip-searched,
8年监狱时间的噩梦从未停止，经历了无数诸如光身搜查，
watching people get wheeled down the prison walkway in body bags, I was finally released.
看着人们被装在尸袋里，从监狱的走道上被推下来等非人的折磨之后，我终于被释放了。
And I bet you can't guess who was there to pick me up that cold morning in February.
我打赌你猜不到是谁在二月寒冷的早上来监狱门口接我。
OK, you guessed it... my sister and my mom.
好吧，你们猜到了...我妈和我姐。

The years that we prayed for were finally in front of us, and the pain of living behind bars was behind us.
我们祈祷的日子终于出现在我们面前，在监狱里的痛苦终于过去了。
Or so we thought. Like me, most people in prison are coming home one day.
至少我们是这么认为。像我一样，大多数蹲监狱的人某天都会出狱回家。
And unlike me, many don't have the consistent support during and after incarceration that I had.
但与我不同的是，很多人在监狱期间无法像我一样获得持续的支持。
The struggle is real, and even I struggled to find a job when I came home.
这种困难是真实的，甚至在我回家后，都很难找到工作。
Each application that I filled out -- from grocery stores to mortgage companies to fashion retail
我填写的每一个申请--从杂货店到贷款公司，再到时尚零售，
they all included the same question, glowing, pulsating, waiting for me to add my check:
他们的表格上都有同一个问题，在那发光、闪动，等着我去填写：
"Have you ever been convicted of a felony?"
“你曾因重罪而被判刑过吗？”
Now, to be honest, I knew that this moment was coming. I knew I would have to face this issue.
老实说，我知道那个时刻来临了，我知道我将不得不面对这个问题。
So I leveraged the mental toughness that I built while going through prison.
所以我利用了自己在监狱中建立的坚强意志。
But after being declined for over 40 jobs, even I began to feel deflated.
但在40多份工作申请被拒后，甚至我也开始泄气。
I thought that I would get my life back and that all those things were behind me and things would start looking up.
我曾以为我能要回自己的生活，我曾以为那些事情已经过去，未来会慢慢变好。
But that decision that I made when I was a 15-year-old kid continued to haunt me even up until that moment.
但我在15岁那年做的决定仍在继续缠着我，即便在那个时候。
But while on a job hunt, one day, I ran across an application that asked the question,
但是在找工作的时候，有天，我看到了个申请表，它也问了这个问题，
but this time it was worded a little differently.
但是问题的语言组织稍许不同。
This time, the question asked: "Have you been convicted of a felony within the last seven years?"
这次，问题是：“在过去的7年中，你曾因重罪而被判刑过吗？”
Now, after doing an eight-year prison sentence...
在监狱中服刑8年后...
I could honestly say that my conviction was over seven years ago.
我可以诚实地说我的定罪是在7年之前。
I was able to answer that question with an honest "no," and finally, I landed my first job.
我于是能够用一个诚实的“无”来回答那个问题，终于，我找到了第一份工作。
I was the guy who mixed paint at the paint store.
我负责在油漆店混合油漆。
And eventually, customers would come into the store, and they would ask me,
后来，来到店里的顾客会问我，
"Hey Marcus, how much do you charge to paint my kitchen?"
“嘿，马库斯，你给我厨房刷漆的话会怎么收费？”
"Well, Ms. Johnson, we don't paint kitchens, we sell you the paint so you can paint your own kitchen."
“额，约翰逊先生，我们不给厨房上漆，我们卖油漆，之后你要自己给厨房上漆。”
A light bulb went off, and I launched a painting company
灵光闪现，于是我自己开了家刷漆公司，
that became the conduit between the customers in the paint store and the painters who needed consistent work.
成为了油漆店和顾客，以及那些需要稳定工作的油漆工的中间商。
After a year or so, I left that paint store, we grew our contracting company,
大概一年后，我离开了那家油漆店，我们的承包公司得以迅速发展，
and since then, I have hired tons of other returning citizens.
在那之后，我雇用了很多其他重返社会的市民。
I stand today with a felony, and just like millions of others around the country
今天我站在这里，背负重罪，和这国家其他数百万人一样，
who also have that "F" on their chest that represents felony,
左胸前也印刻着一串数字，代表重罪的那些人。
just as my mom promised me many years ago, I wanted to show them that there was still life after prison.
就像我妈多年前承诺我的那样，我想让他们看到服刑后依旧拥有生活。
I started living my best life, and I couldn't believe that I was living on a cloud.
我开始努力过着最好的生活，我都不敢相信自己生活在云端。
But my friends, the same ones I grew up with in those cells,
但我的朋友们，那些在我成长的牢房中的朋友，
they would call me and constantly ask for pictures of this new life I was living.
他们会给我打电话，一直想要看我现在新生活的照片。
If I traveled, they wanted pictures. When I got married, they wanted pictures.
如果我旅行，他们想要照片。当我结婚时，他们想要照片。
But I didn't have the time or the bandwidth to sit and write a letter or print pictures from my phone.
但我没有时间或精力去坐下来写一封信，或从手机上打印照片。
I would commonly tell them, "Dude, if I could just text you, my life would be so much easier."
所以我总是和他们说：“伙计，如果我能直接短信你，我的生活就简单多了。”
And after searching the app stores for a solution to this problem and not being able to find one, we launched Flikshop.
后来我上应用商店找寻这个问题的解决方案，可惜没能找到一个有用的App，于是，我们的Flikshop上架了。
I kid you not -- did you know that the prison phone business created a billion-dollar industry?
我不骗你--你知道监狱电话是价值十亿美元的生意吗？
Some of these businesses are predatory, and so we knew we had to figure out how to disrupt this space.
这里有些生意是掠夺性的，我们知道我们必须摸清如何破坏这个利润空间。
Flikshop allows our family members to take a picture, add some quick text, press send,
Flikshop允许我们的家庭成员拍照、快速添加文字，点击“发送”，
and for 99 cents, we print that picture and text on a real, tangible postcard
仅需要99美分，我们就能帮你在真实可触的明信片上打印那些照片和文字，
and mail it directly to any person, in any cell, anywhere in the country.
并且直接邮寄到美国任何地方的任何监狱牢房的任何一个人。
There are millions of families that are becoming torn apart,
有上百万的家庭正分崩离析，
simply because they don't have the time to write a letter, figure out how to print a photo from their phone,
只是因为他们没有时间写封信，搞清楚如何从手机上打印出照片，
make a store run to go buy a box of envelopes and then to the post office to go buy stamps.
跑去商店买一盒信封，然后再跑去邮局买邮票。
We started by connecting 50 families. And then 100 families. And then 500 families.
我们最初连接着50个家庭，后来100个家庭，500个家庭。
And now, today, I am proud to say that we've connected over 140,000 families around the country.
直至今日，我很自豪地说，我们已经连接了全国超过14万的家庭。
We even commonly receive mail in my office overflowing my desk from people in prison like Jason.
我们甚至经常收到狱中服刑的来信，在我的办公室满桌子都是，例如杰森。
Jason says, "I got about 15 postcards last night of so many words of motivation that I had to write to you and just say thank you."
杰森写到：“昨晚我收到了大概15张明信片，上面写满了激励的话语，我必须给你写信，仅表示感谢。”
Or George, who writes, "Today I received about six postcards with so much love ...
或乔治，写道：“今天我收到了大约6张明信片，承载着那么多的爱...
I do not know where this roof of love has come from."
我不知道这满屋子的爱从何而来。”
I cannot believe how blessed I am to sometimes be able to meet a child who sends Flikshop postcards to their incarcerated parents.
我不敢相信自己是有多幸运，有时能看到一个孩子给监禁中的父母寄Flikshop明信片。
Sometimes, I'm able to even go to the White House
有时，我甚至能去到白宫面对国家演讲，
and address the nation and talk about the need for criminal justice reform.
谈论刑事司法改革的必要性。
And this story is just incredible for me, because this wasn't always my life.
这个故事对我来说只是难以相信，因为我的生活不总是如此。
I remember very vividly living in a six-foot-by-nine-foot cell with a man that was 22 years old and there to serve life plus 43 years,
我还深刻记得，和一个22岁需要服刑到43岁的男人一起生活在一个4平方米的监狱牢房中的情形，
and thinking in my head while I'm sitting in that bunk that together, we probably would die in those cells.
坐在那个铺位，我曾经想过，我们可能会一起死在这些牢房里。
Well, I know that our era of mass incarceration and the things that we see on the news dealing
我知道我们所处的大规模监禁时代，以及我们可以在新闻上看到的，
with people going to prison is a huge societal issue that we all have to band together to help solve.
关于人们即将入狱的事情，是一个我们需要联合起来共同解决的很大的社会问题。
But I am confident that if we're very intentional about building family connections in environments where they're needed the most,
但是我有信心，如果我们在各家庭最需要的环境下有意图地去搭建家庭连接，
then this is a big step in the right direction.
那我们就向着正确的方向，迈了一大步。
I absolutely love this stage of my life, this chapter, where I'm standing right now.
我绝对热爱我生命中的这个舞台，这个分会舞台，我现在站着的地方。
But you know who's having way more fun than me at this stage?
但你们知道谁比我更享受这个舞台吗？
My mom. I love you, Ma. Thank you.
我的妈妈。我爱你，妈妈。谢谢。