Rapper Meek Mill on His Incarceration and Crisis in the Parole System | Oz True Crime - video Dailymotion

Dr. Oz

Rapper, criminal justice reform advocate, and co-chair of REFORM Alliance, Meek Mill has sparked a national debate. Dr. Oz shares his story and the grim cycle of arrest, incarceration, and probation he’s battled. Listen to what Meek Mill has to say.

Transcript

00:00 From an artist to an activist, hip-hop star Meek Mill has been on probation nearly his entire adult life.

00:07 Arrested at 19 on drug and gun charges that he claims were false,

00:12 Mill has been subjected to over 10 years of probation that continues to be extended.

00:17 After being sent back to prison in 2017, the hashtag #FreeMeekMill gained national attention.

00:24 Now nearly a year has passed since his release and he's here today.

00:29 His story has sparked an important national debate bringing many criminal justice issues front and center.

00:34 And today I challenge you, all of us, to open yourselves up to an unsettling reality that has driven a wedge into our country.

00:42 Take a look at Meek Mill's story.

00:44 Meek Mill, the American rapper, songwriter, and activist, is as known for his legal issues as he is for his musical success.

00:54 Born Robert Reneek Williams in Philadelphia, Mill is no stranger to hardship or injustice.

01:01 His father was shot and killed in a botched robbery when Mill was just five years old.

01:06 And his single mother worked multiple jobs, struggling to provide for her two children.

01:12 As a teenager, his musical interests and talents grew.

01:16 So did his run-ins with the law.

01:19 By 2008, at age 21, Mill was convicted of drug and weapons charges stemming from a 2007 arrest.

01:27 He was sentenced to 11 to 23 months in prison and five years probation by Judge Janice Brinkley,

01:34 trapping Mill in a relentless cycle of arrest, incarceration, and probation

01:39 due to a variety of charges and technical probation violations that went on for a decade.

01:45 But despite legal setbacks, Mill ascended to the top of the charts.

01:49 Building a critically acclaimed, lucrative recording career.

01:52 Then, in 2017, Judge Brinkley again sentenced Mill.

01:58 This time, for up to four years in state prison over a minor traffic violation.

02:04 Against the recommendations of prosecutors and parole officers.

02:08 Sparking an outcry of protest.

02:11 Judge Janice Brinkley has been the target of media criticism for the handling of Mill's case.

02:17 In addition to having spent an estimated $30 million on his own legal defense,

02:22 Mill has become an activist, hoping to help others who feel bathed in and trapped and harassed

02:27 by the criminal justice system and bring about prison and parole reform.

02:31 Join me now as hip-hop star and criminal justice reform advocate Meek Mill.

02:38 Thanks for having me, man.

02:40 There's a lot to talk about. You've been very brave to help lead this charge.

02:46 So, let's go back to that mugshot I just saw.

02:49 Your legal troubles stem from an arrest that happened when you were 19 years old.

02:53 Yeah.

02:54 That story's not that uncommon in itself, but this appearance in your mugshot really caught me off guard.

02:59 What happened that day?

03:00 I think the world pretty much knows how that goes.

03:04 I'm a young black kid and I grew up in a neighborhood where it's not a good neighborhood.

03:09 I got handcuffed. I got put on the ground.

03:12 I got knocked out a few times, as you can see.

03:14 I got stitches in my face, both sides of my face, hair ripped out.

03:19 I was waking up kind of at the hospital at that point.

03:22 What was your life like before this all started?

03:25 My father got killed when I was five years old.

03:27 My mother working eight hours a day.

03:29 So, basically, people selling drugs on your doorstep.

03:32 You come outside, you coming straight out as a kid into a ruthless environment.

03:37 And coming from this side, it's almost like hard to show sympathy towards someone who comes from an area

03:43 like that because sometimes people look at everything in that area as bad.

03:47 But, you know, it's just, unfortunately, some kids grow up in that area without a fair shot.

03:53 And that's why I use my voice to speak out nowadays.

03:56 If I asked a teenage Meek Mill, how long he thought he would live, what would he say?

04:04 The average, probably like 24, you know, 400 people dying in Philadelphia by murder a year.

04:11 And 99% of them are black, look just like me.

04:15 Let's talk about probation.

04:16 Yeah.

04:16 You spent almost your entire adult life on probation.

04:20 Yeah.

04:21 How has this altered your view of the criminal justice system?

04:25 Me, I'm a strong individual and I got a drive and determination to make all bad situations turn out to be good.

04:33 But I don't believe I was given a fair shot on probation where, like, you could get a traffic ticket.

04:38 I could get a traffic ticket and go to jail.

04:40 I get a police contact is a technical violation.

04:43 A technical violation is the smallest violation you get on probation.

04:47 But actual police contact, like getting pulled over, getting stopped by the police is a police contact.

04:52 And if you get police contact, a judge actually has the right to sentence you to jail time.

04:57 Just to be clear, you've spent, if I did the math right, about two years in jail primarily for these technical violations.

05:05 Yeah, I probably spent almost three years in prison in the last 11 years for not even committing crime.

05:13 Thank you for watching.

05:14 Don't forget to subscribe and turn on notifications so you never miss out on new videos to live the good life.

Rapper Meek Mill on His Incarceration and Crisis in the Parole System | Oz True Crime

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