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When it comes to inmates, we have boiled them down to just the few things we know about them - their crime, their current life situation, their identification number. But the reality is they were something before they were their crime.

I know someone from growing up who is in jail right now for the rest of his life, but he was one of the sweetest people I ever knew.

My mother lived in Holland, and during World War II was incarcerated in a Japanese camp for three years.

A lot of the friends I had went on to become criminals.

My grandparents, they came through Ellis Island in 1923, and you know, I'd heard all the stories.

Just look at the great Nelson Mandela. He came out of prison and saved his entire country. Some of the best people in the world have spent time in prison.

I had a very comfortable life, but there were people who spent their life in prison, whose families were destroyed.

I spent five years of my youth in prison - some very bad prisons.

In refugee camps around the world, I met people who were gone. They were still walking around but had lost so much that they were unable to claim any sort of identity. Others I met found who they truly were, and they generally found it through service to others. They became teachers when there was no school, books or pencils.

I served my time and came out of prison when I was just 26 and have worked with the government for 37 years. But people only remember me for what I did before that.