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DANIELLE METZ: This was
the last day I was with them

Official YIFY movies site:
YTS.BZ

in the free world.

ANNOUNCER:
With each incarceration,

a family serves a sentence.

CARL BERNARD:
Before the separation,

she was my best friend.

When she came home,
as happy as I was,

my soul was just exhausted.

GLENEISHA HAYTER:
It's bittersweet.

Looking at my kids
kind of reminds me of

where my life could have been.

ANNOUNCER:
"Commuted," a special edition

of "Afropop"
and "America ReFramed,"

directed by Nailah Jefferson

and produced in collaboration
with Danielle Metz.

♪

Hey!

♪

Hey!

♪

Hey! Hey!

Hey!

METZ:
First entering prison,

I was only 26 years old

when a door closed on me.

It was like a big freezer door,
just go, "Boom!"

That really shattered my heart.

♪

But I kept telling myself that
freedom is a state of mind.

[birds cawing,
child laughing]

I think about
what my life was like

and imagine
what it could have been.

MS. PAT [on phone]: You don't
want to ever lose touch

with the outside world,
sweetheart.

[people exclaiming]

METZ:
Well, what you going to do?

CARL BERNARD: You believe stuff
so much, it really come true.

MS. PAT [on phone]:
Oh, yes, Dani.

You remember that, Dani?

METZ:
We never knew anything.

We never knew.

CARL BERNARD: Same story
over and over and over and over.

How are people
going to remember you?

METZ: You got your children
to live for.

HAYTER:
Mom, I'm not a kid anymore.

CARL BERNARD: This is
supposed to be a forever thing.

MS. PAT:
Lord have mercy, Jesus,

because we had
some good times, though.

HAYTER:
Mama...

METZ: My name is
Danielle Bernard Metz.

I was sentenced
to three life sentence

plus 20 years as a first-time
nonviolent offender.

My kids were three and seven
at the time.

Year after year,
we prayed the same prayer,

"Mama going to come home,"
and it's going to be like

it used to be when I come home.

♪

This was 1993,
right before I got arrested.

Me with my son and my daughter,

the last day I was with them
in the free world.

And I told them, I said,

"Well, I'm not coming
with you guys."

And you can see,

she was pouting
and he was pouting.

And when I told them,
"Get in the car,"

both of them were screaming.

"I want my mama!
I want Mama!"

They were yelling so loud

that I couldn't even look back.

Because if I would've
looked back,

I would've said,
"No, just let them stay."

♪

The marshals, they came.

When they were driving me
to Dublin,

it was just a dirt road,
it was just

nothing, it was just a desert.

All I saw was emptiness.

I was only 26 years old.

It just didn't seem real.

I was really frightened.

I didn't know
if it was strong enough,

that if our love
was going to keep us together,

as a family.

MICHAEL LEWIS:
Hello, my name is Michael Lewis.

I'm sitting
here with Adrian Bernard,

the sister of Danielle Metz,

her daughter
Gleneisha Metz-Hayter,

and her son Carl Bernard.

Danielle Metz was
sentenced to three lifes,

plus 20 years.

She's a first-time
nonviolent offender.

The kind of time she was given
is the time

that is reserved for
serial killers and terrorists.

CARL BERNARD:
If I wake up in the morning,

that's one of the first things

that hit my mind since then.

I'm 26 years old, and I've...

It's been, it's been
basically the same.

It's been rough.

You know, but, you know,
I prayed a lot.

You know, I keep faith,
things that basically

my mother told me to do.

[voice trembling]:
It was hard.

It was, it was hard growing up.

As a young woman,

not having your mother around...

Not having anyone
to talk to you about

your day-to-day problems.

You know, you have to
wait for the phone call.

[sniffles]: Which is usually
only 15 minutes, so,

you know, you have to squeeze
everything in, and then,

it's only by the grace of God

that I'm here today
to tell this story, and,

and I just hope that someone
out there is listening,

that someone out there
will help.

She's still not home,

but I know and I pray to my God

that I know justice
will be served on her behalf.

REPORTER: The growth of
the women's prison population

has nearly tripled since 1990,

and accounts for nearly...

REPORTER:
...chief law enforcement officer

said today it is time
to scale back

tough prison terms
for low-level drug crimes...

BARACK OBAMA:
I've commuted the sentences

of dozens of people
sentenced under

old drug laws that we now
recognize were unfair,

and yesterday
I announced that...

REPORTER:
President Obama has reduced

the prison sentences of 46...

REPORTER: 111...
REPORTER: 231 people,

the most ever in one day.

♪

[shrieking, laughing]

Oh, my God!

[both laughing]

[car horn honks,
traffic humming]

METZ:
I made it to you, Mom.

You made it to me.

I know you're happy, girl.

If you never make it around
no more, you're here now.

♪

METZ: Some days,

I would just
call my mom out of the blue

and just tell her,
"You know, I'm coming home."

And even if
she didn't believe it,

she'd say, "Oh, I know, Boo.

I know you're coming."

[birds chirping]

It just felt like a dream

that I didn't
want to wake up from.

♪

When I first came through
the door,

it felt different.

My mom, she wasn't
cooking anymore.

[sniffs]

The doctor told me that they
had saw something on her cervix,

and she saw that I was getting
ready to cry, and she said,

"Mm-mm-- God's will
got to be done, Boo."

I said, "But I ain't going to
be able to make it without you."

She said, "Oh, don't say that.

"Oh, you're going to make it.

"Just keep getting up,
going to work.

You're going to be all right."

I always thought she was
going to always be there,

no matter what.

My mom passed May the 21st.

As I was lying there,

I just was thinking about
the ceiling fan now.

I remember, the whole time
I was gone,

I've never seen
a working ceiling fan.

I've saw one in a book.

So, whenever...

Since I've been home,

and whenever I wake up
here in this house,

I always...

You know, that's
the first thing I see

when I open my eyes,
and that lets me know

that, you know, I'm really here,
because for a minute,

I used to think that,
"Am I still there?"

But I know I didn't see
a ceiling fan,

so I always, if I...

You know, if I stay by
my mom house

and I wake up here,

I always make sure
that fan is on

when I get up in the morning.

That lets me know
that, that I'm actually here.

It really just makes me
think about time,

how time just, you know,
don't stop for no one.

It just keeps on going
and going and going.

[door closes]

[birds chirping]

♪

[car engine humming,
switch clicks]

MAN [on recording]: We're having
a conversation in the newsroom,

and I don't know
if you're aware,

President Obama granted clemency
to Danielle Metz

after she served 23 years
in prison.

[birds tweeting]

METZ: Well, I had a good
upbringing in New Orleans.

I was the youngest of nine.

[child laughing]

My mom, she worked
at Leidenheimer Baking

for 40 years.

My dad, he was
a cement finisher.

I was raised Uptown,
on General Taylor.

A good neighborhood.

Watching my mama work hard,
as a young girl,

I guess I just start
fantasizing.

You know, wanting something,

I guess, more than what I had.

MAN [on recording]:
Now, let's rewind a bit here.

In the early '90s, Danielle
Metz married Glenn Metz,

who was dubbed by some
as a drug kingpin.

REPORTER: The government
contends Glenn Metz

and his wife, Danielle Metz,

were the leaders
of the so-called Metz Gang.

In sentencing them
to life behind bars,

Judge McNamara said,

"Narcotics crime is destroying
our city and nation."

METZ:
These are some of the things

that was important to me
while I was in there, like...

In this paper right here,

I don't know if you guys know,

but they had vacated
one of my sentences,

and the judge said that

it didn't really matter,
because I still had...

I still would have two life
sentences plus the 20 years.

So I was kind of puzzled.

Like, how could it weigh so much
when you're getting sentenced,

and then when you deduct it,
it don't account for nothing?

But I guess when
you don't know the law,

that's what happen.

This one, this is my favorite,

because I always connect with us
being together no matter what.

With or without a husband,
a dad,

it was always going to be
us three.

That's how I always
vision us, envision us together

all the time,
with us as a family.

This is him.

I named my son after his dad.

His name is Carl.

I think his first Easter.

And, um...

And then, this was a picture--

it was my son's birthday,

and I asked my mom
to give him a party,

and I bought him
a little motorcycle bike,

and he loved it,

but he was still happy then.

You would kind of
see over a period of time

how his facial expression
changed from

happiness, happiness, happiness

to, like, not too happy,
not too happy,

because I guess the reality
of the situation...

You know,
he was having birthdays,

more and more birthdays
without me.

♪

CARL BERNARD:
I had so many memories

from the perfect childhood,

spending a lot of time
with my mom.

I was never away from my mom,

like, from the time I wake up
to the time I go to sleep,

before the separation.

She was my best friend.

♪

METZ:
I, I drew this a long time ago.

Here's my son, that's
my daughter, me, and my mom.

You see in freedom, one happy
family, and it's going home,

and it say, "With God,
all things are possible."

My son,
he wasn't at the airport.

ADRIAN BERNARD: Everybody say,
"Welcome home, Dani!"

METZ: And when I didn't see him,
I was heartbroken.

[people clapping in video]

CHILD: Wait,
is this your birthday?

- No, this is just my homecome,
homecoming celebration.

Y'all know I've been
in prison for 23 years.

- Y'all didn't know that?
- I didn't even know that.

METZ: He had told me

he was teaching his self
not to feel,

because I was never coming home.

[videocall ringing]

Hi! Hey, Victory!

HAYTER [on phone]: Come
here, come here, come here.

Granny's on the phone.

[Victory cooing]
METZ: Hey!

Oh, look at the baby, hi!

Hi there, pumpkin.

Hi there, pumpkin.

[Hayter laughs on phone]

HAYTER [on phone]: Come here,
come here, come here.

Hi.

HAYTER [voiceover]:
I don't really remember

too much of my mom being
in the picture

before prison.

[water rushing]

When my mom went away,

I moved with my aunt
and my four cousins.

We went to L.A.,

and then we moved to Sacramento.

And then from Sacramento,
we moved to Stockton,

and that's where I've spent
most of my adult life till now.

Right now, I'm 29,
and I'll be 30 soon.

I was about three years old
when my mom went to prison.

[toy clacks]

I never really imagined
what life would be like

with both of my parents home.

[babbles]

HAYTER: I never
really remembered

anything of them being home.

In the Bible, it has,
there's a scripture that said,

"I will never leave you
nor forsake you."

That, that's a really prominent
scripture in my life.

So when friends or family
or anybody

will leave,
I know He will be there.

[cooing]

HAYTER: My daughter, Victory,

I felt like that was
a fitting name for her.

God gave us victory
over every situation.

Now that my mom's home,
we do get to FaceTime

and talk often,

and we are trying to get
a better relationship.

I wish she would come
and stay up this way,

because you can't really
get to know somebody

when they're far away.

You can talk, but
we've been talking for years.

'Cause we don't really
know each other

as well as we think we do.

METZ: The dream I had of us
being together,

the thing that I envisioned,
it wasn't my reality

once I came back to New Orleans.

I'm just trying to figure
this whole freedom thing out.

What's my purpose?

I would always just
tell my mother about my plans.

"I'm going to be a mentor
and I'm going to help

"all these girls
that I leave behind

that still here."

And she would just say,
"Mm-hmm, Boo."

♪

Good morning.
WOMAN: Good morning.

[security wand beeps]

[wand beeping]

METZ:
Good morning, good morning.

How y'all doing?
GIRLS: Good morning.

METZ: So, what y'all did
for the week?

Tell me what happened
for the week.

GIRL:
They picked up my charges.

[door buzzes]

So...

[door opening]

Are you?

- So how do you feel
about that?

What I tell you?

[mumbling]

Huh? I'm sorry.

- No, I'm talking
about as far as,

start planning now
for when you get out,

because you're going to get out.

You're not going to be
sitting in there

like I was sitting in there,

and not knowing what happen,
what's going on.

And how are you?

What are your plans
for the future?

GIRL 2:

- You still
with your boyfriend?

How old is he?

And how old are you?

15, I thought so.

I know at the age of 15, 16,

I wasn't in a life of crime,

but when I met somebody,
and that became my lifestyle.

If you change your thinking,
you'll change your behavior.

Eliminate him out your life.

Oh, he going to rehab, too?

- Well, we ain't worried
about him.

Like, we kind of
concentrating...

- Okay, so you gotta worry
about yourself.

Yeah, I know.

[girls talking indistinctly]

METZ: When I met my husband,
I was 18 and he was 32.

My mom was, like,

"He's going to take your youth
away from you."

I didn't understand
what she meant.

♪

[people laughing, talking
in background]

[drums pounding]

♪

♪

♪

[people talking, calling
in background]

- What's up, champ?
How you doing?

All right, Sam!
You made it, Sam!

Stop! You gonna stop!

Yeah, he nice.

[brass band playing]

[crowd cheering, whistling]

[music continues]

WOMAN: I like that!

You're free!

WOMAN 2: Come on, Boo!

Come on, Boo, sing!

Come on, Boo-Boo!

She's free!

She's free! She's free!

[music continues]

[laughing]

METZ:
I had a love-hate relationship

with New Orleans
because of what happened to me.

You know, I was really mad
for a long time.

My son's father, he died when
my son was six months old.

He was murdered
by the New Orleans police.

I was really, like, devastated.

Now I have a baby,
I was 18, and it's, like

how am I going to take care
of this child?

[crowd whistling, cheering]

METZ: I met my husband
through a friend.

She was, like, "Girl, I saw
this dude at the second line.

They was all there, had on these
mink coats and Rolex watches."

And I was, like, "Who was that?"

She said, "Girl,

they said it was Glenn."

He was almost, like, invisible.

You heard about him,
but you never got to see him.

You could never say,
"That's him over there."

♪

He asked me where I had been
all his life.

I was so immature then.

I was 18 years old, he was 32.

I started feeling
kind of special,

like I was the one
that he choose to talk to.

And he was, like, "This, this is
how your life going to be."

And I said, "What you mean?"

He said, "Plentiful.

You're not going
to ever want for nothing."

That's all I ever wanted,

was to be able
to take care of my son.

♪

REPORTER: Tonight,
ringleader Glenn Metz

and 13 other key players
in the organization

have been indicted
by the federal grand jury

on 54 separate counts.

♪

TANYA: I met Danielle

in beauty school Uptown in 1985.

And it's so funny how Uptown is.

Everyone knew everybody.

Like, all our parents
kind of knew each other.

I think most
of my fondest memories

was with you, kind of, like,
growing up from that small.

Like, we always got into it
with somebody.

[laughing]

SHELITA RISIN:
Danielle was very boy-crazy.

A boy could look at her,
and she'd,

look, Tanya, "How I look?
'Cause he like me."

[laughing]

"Is he looking?"

[laughing]

- "That boy likes me."
- That's right.

[laughs]

RISIN: When Carl was born,

she said, "He ugly?
How he look?"

- [laughing]: I said...
- Oh, yeah,

- you know why she said that?
- You remember that?

'Cause she said,

"My baby wasn't

- the most attractive baby."
- She wasn't.

- I'll never forget that,
either.

- She wasn't.
[laughing]

And so then, after that, you
decided to go to beauty school?

- Was it after you had Carl?
- After I had Carl,

'cause now I got
to do something, I got...

I knew I had my son--
I have to do something.

Like, okay, if I go to school,

then I won't have to worry
about all that.

Now, I don't know
if y'all remember,

- but six months later...
- Six months later,

Carl's father was murdered
by the policeman.

It was hard-- we all were young.

And I think--
my personal opinion--

through that,
her vulnerability led her

more towards her husband,
Glenn Metz,

and then there goes
the story of Danielle

and her journey that led her
to that sentence.

I just knew that was going to
be a road to where it ended up.

I, um...

I, I never disapproved
of their relationship.

He, you know, like,
he would fight her,

you know, but, I mean...

I didn't know it was serious
until it was too late.

Like, when she was going to
court, it was a joke.

I thought that

we was all walk out
the courthouse together.

I never, in a million years,
would have dreamed

that she would've got
a life sentence.

Three life sentences
and 20 years.

Sometimes I feel bad,

because I, I didn't think
she was ever coming home.

We all did-- you know,
you used to write letters.

They were so consistent.

You know, "I'm coming home.

[audio fading]
"When I come home, do this.

I'mma come home."

♪

[laughter and conversation
continue softly]

METZ: My friends, they really
don't understand

what my life is like.

I had never saw my mom cry
before.

And my mom was, like,
"I don't think you know

"what just happened to you.

[echoing]:
"Do you know you have life?

[woman laughing,
film reel clicking]

Do you know what that means?"

WOMAN [on recording]: This call
is from a federal prison.

METZ:
So many nights,

so many people
screaming and yelling.

Something has happened at home.

[echoing]:
He had to restrain her.

He hog-tied her,
shackled, body slammed.

I would see women
contemplating suicide.

Although my body was there,
my mind didn't have to be there.

My spirit was not going
to be there.

I wasn't going
to lose my sanity.

♪

After being in prison
for 18 years,

I decided to work
at UNICOR call center.

That's where
the 411 calls came in.

The federal system
uses inmates for outsourcing.

We would sit at cubicles--
it was like a nine-to-five.

[call beeps]
City and state police.

[voiceover]: We had to stay on
less than a minute.

- City and state police,
may I have your listing?

[voiceover]: And I didn't want
to work there before,

because it was almost
like slave labor.

They was paying us, like,
maybe 69 cents an hour.

May I have your listing?

[people speaking over phone]

[voiceover]: But after
I got over there,

it gave me, like, an escape.

[people exclaiming, talking
on phone line]

That was my connection
to the outside world.

[children playing]

♪

[children playing]

♪

Once I log off,
take my headset off,

now you have
officers escorting us.

We have to get in line and,
you know, get our bags searched,

move through
the metal detectors.

Now you're going back
into the prison part of it.

People would ask me,

"Well, how did you,
how can you do this every day?"

The women who I built
the sisterhood with,

they helped me do my time.

We become as close as mothers,
daughters, sisters.

I've been in there 23 years,

so I've been with them
just as long as

I've been with my real family.

We would fantasize about
being home all the time.

♪

And everybody would be by
my mother house on a Sunday.

She would have, like, smothered
chicken, shrimp and okra.

Ms. Pat, who was my roommate,

she was, like, "Ooh, girl,
I could just taste that now."

MS. PAT [on phone]:
Right, oh, yes, Dani.

You remember that, Dani?

I wish I had been able to come

and see your mother
before she passed.

Because I knew she could cook,

and you know
how I love to eat, too.

- Right.
- Just like you.

- Right.
- We both greedy.

- We both greedy.
- [laughs]

- Yep.
- That's how I did my time.

My body was there,

but my mind
was very seldom there,

and I prayed myself

- up out of there, too.
- [chuckles]

- You got in your word,
didn't you?

Yes, I did.

- Prayed your way up
out of there, too,

because prayer works.

So, Dani,
tell me about the kids.

- I just want to hear.
- Well, you know, Ms. Pat,

I still feel guilty
about, you know,

not being here all those years,

and sometime,
when I can't get to

where they are right away,
it makes me sad.

- Now, one thing
about the children I know,

you can't allow them
to hold you hostage

to what has happened.

And I know things have gone
different ways with your son.

My son did the same thing.

They missed us, sweetheart.

Even though they are adults now,

they're still suffering.

All you can do is pick up
since you've been home.

You can only start now.

MAN: Please join me
in welcoming Danielle Metz

and Carmen James Randolph.

[audience applauding]

RANDOLPH: So, Danielle,
let's go back to the 1990s.

Janet Jackson was singing
"That's the Way Love Goes."

You were a young mother.

Introduce us to who Danielle was
at that time.

METZ: It's ironic
that you would say

Janet Jackson,
because that's

who I wanted to be.
[all laugh]

That's who I really thought
I was back in the day.

She is my favorite, of all.

After Beyoncé, now.

[audience laughs]

My mom would come,

and even when I get ready to cry

or I get-- you know,
we get at the table

and we have our little talks,

she would always tell me,
she said,

"Boo, ain't no sense in crying.

You did what you wanted to do."

She said, "So,
we just going to sit here

"and eat these chicken wings,

"and we not going to even
worry about that,

because if you get to crying,
I'm going to leave."

She said, "All you got to do
is have a little faith."

My mom was a realist,

and I had two kids

that I had to be responsible
for,

my son and my daughter.

Both of them have never
given me a problem

the whole time
I've been in prison.

That says a lot,
because the statistics says that

they'll probably end up
in prison themselves.

Me and my son was writing,
right?

And he was telling me
he wouldn't hang on the corner.

And I told him, I said,
"Why?"

I said, "They're just
hanging out."

He said, "That's just not me,"
and I said, "Oh, okay."

Right after
we was talking about it,

somebody ended up getting
killed on the corner.

So he said, "See, Ma,

"that's why you wouldn't
catch me around there

like that, you know?"

I said,
"I would've been scared."

And he said, "What you mean?"

I said, "Because,

"I ain't never had a gun before.

"I never shot a gun.

I never possessed a gun."

He said, "What?"

He said, "Mom, come on now."

I said, "No."

So, he needed to know that,

because whatever he was hearing

or whatever people told him,

he's thinking I'm one way,
and I'm another way.

So that's why I need

to tell my own story rather than

let somebody else tell it
for me.

[audience applauds]

And it kind of broke my heart.

I'm, like,
"Well, who do you think I am?"

CARL BERNARD:
I remember just being

by my grandmother watching
Richard Pryor's stand-up.

He was, like, "Man, I met a guy
that had triple life.

How bad were you?"

RICHARD PRYOR: I met one
brother, his name was Jay-Bo.

He was doing a sentence,
triple life.

[audience laughs]

How in the [bleep]
do you do triple life?

[audience cheering, applauding]

I mean, that mean
if he die and come back...

[audience laughs]

...he got to go to penitentiary.

[audience laughing, applauding]

CARL BERNARD: It was early
in the morning, like,

when the federal agents
kicked down the door,

put guns to me
and my grandparents.

They're tearing the whole house
up, like, literally,

like, beds, cutting mattresses,

and opening up cabinets,
really, like,

ramshacking everything, like,
breaking TVs-- where is my mom?

"Do you know how long
she's going to be gone?

Do you know exactly it is
where she at?"

♪

My first time seeing her
through the glass,

you know, it gave me
an understanding

of what really was going on
somewhat.

You know, not to the extent
as far as what length of time

or things of that nature,
but, "Okay, she's in jail."

REPORTER: The government
contends Glenn Metz and his wife

were the bosses of a
highly structured organization

that employed the other
defendants on trial as hitmen,

drug distributors,
and collectors.

ADRIAN BERNARD: Danielle asked
me to take her kids.

She didn't want them
in New Orleans.

And she knew family and friends

would be talking about
everything that happened,

and she just wanted the kids
away from that noise.

For the first two years,
Carl stayed with me,

and when he turned nine,

he asked his mom to move
back to New Orleans

with his paternal grandmother.

I relocated to
Northern California,

which was about 45 minutes
from where Danielle was housed,

for her to have an opportunity

to have a relationship
with her daughter.

HAYTER: On visiting day,
we got there about 7:45-ish.

We would just sit
in that visiting shed

and try to compact
everything that happened

in that week of main events,

things that were missed,
in that one sitting.

We would cry, laugh, sing,

do all kinds of stuff--
tell jokes.

You know, I'd try to keep
the strong face on for my mom

so she didn't have to
worry about me being emotional.

While my brother,
for the most part,

he would cry a lot,

but I would try to comfort him
and tell him

it's going to be okay.

CARL BERNARD:
On family day, they allow you

to actually, like,
go into the facilities,

and it had basketball.

[children playing]

I always would get mad
that she'll beat me,

because I thought that
I could beat her at everything.

She would not let me win.

She'll let me
get super, super close,

and then she'd just come with
this, like,

this special move, and...

You're having so much fun,
you're with your mom,

things really, like,
seem somewhat normal,

because you're
back with your mom, so...

But, like, every other hour, you
would just look at the clock,

and as the time go,

it's just getting more sad
and more sad as the time pass.

So by the time, like,
it gets to, like, 2:45,

you go sit on your mom lap,

you go to hug her
and stuff like that,

and that would really, like,
hit me every single time.

I would just blank out,
and just really, like,

"Dang, this is really you."

Like, "This, this is really
your life."

That last day,
we would have to almost

pry him away from his mother.

CARL BERNARD: Imagine being six,
seven years old,

really thinking that you may not
see your mom, like, ever again

as a free person.

[birds calling]

It made me, like, not really,
like, have feelings.

To this day, I try to work
on that, to feel.

Like, to feel things.

My question, since a kid,
was, was always, was, like,

"What would be the best for me?"

You know,
"How could I really, like,

"be in my best state of mind,

"be the best person
that I possibly would be,

"with the circumstances
really, like, being

"what the circumstances being,
as it's pertaining to

you know, my mom or whatnot?"
So, yeah.

Yeah, peace is everything to me.

Driving is soothing.

You know, anything for me to,
um,

to soothe my mind, I do it.

So no radio, no nothing.

No company, just riding.

I always was a loner.

That's one of the things that

I think I needed to just stay,
just, focused.

♪

It was just too heavy on me,

just me trying
to process everything.

♪

When she came home,
like, you know,

as happy as I was,
my soul was just exhausted.

You know, you're trying

for her,
and for yourself, as well,

to be something
that you haven't been

for the last 33 years
of your life.

♪

[birds chirping]

METZ: I miss her.

I miss her, and sometimes, like,
I just feel like...

[sniffles]: ...I'm out here
by myself, like...

You know, my son,
him was in a book called

"Alone in the World," and
every time I think about it,

I'll be, like,
"Well, that's what I am.

"Alone in the world,
just me, myself, and I,

riding down the street
by myself."

I'm fine.

I'm fine.

You know, other people
think that,

you know, like, when you're in
prison, or, just saying that

all that I've overcome,

like, you still don't have
life, everyday issues.

They say, "Well, you ought
to be glad you're home.

Just worry about you
being home."

But it's a lot come with that.

It's not just you being home.

You still have to deal with
your emotions,

your struggles, your progress.

It's still a process.

And I know I'm far from perfect,

you know, but I'm trying.

And I'm making all the effort...

[sniffles]: ...to be the best
example I can be

to my kids, to the community,

to my mom,

to my nephews,

to all of the young girls
in the past that

probably knew Danielle

when I was out there
in the world,

to just be a good example.

HAYTER: This is our house.

This is where we stay,
right here.

METZ: I'm just glad that,
you know,

you had somewhere to stay

while I was in, in prison
and stuff.

Your auntie did a

wonderful job raising you guys,

and just bringing y'all
into a good environment

and having somewhere
that you can,

you know, a place
that you can call home.

This house right here

was where one of
my boyfriends used to stay.

- [laughs]
- One of your boyfriends?

You ain't had no boyfriend.

Yes, I did.

- Oh, you did?
- [laughing]: Mm-hmm.

I forgot to write you
about that.

- Oh, okay, okay.
- [laughs]

- [fussing]
HAYTER: Hey.

- Oh, the pumpkin.
- Does she have her toy

or anything in there?

[objects in bag shifting]

There, my little pumpkin.

Thank you.

I had Chinese food.

Victory was just, like,

"String beans!"

[laughs]

I did give her
a little iced tea, though.

- Iced-- Mama!

I cannot trust her with you.

- No, you can.
- That's caffeine.

Babies is not supposed to

- drink tea like that.
- No.

Oh, my God.

Babies can't have tea, Neisha?

Mama...

- A little tea,
unsweetened iced tea?

And, uh, what else
did I give her?

HAYTER [voiceover]:
Now that my mom's home,

it's, like, "Mom, I'm not
a kid anymore," you know?

She wants to tell me,

"Oh, you don't need to do this,"

or she wants to tell me

how to raise my child,
and I'm, like,

"No, Mama."

"Mama."

But sometimes I am fearful,

as a mother, because I don't
really know how to be a mother,

and I've never seen
a mother figure.

I had my aunt,
but I didn't have a mom.

So a lot of times,
I'm praying and winging it.

METZ: Ooh, lookit,
she's running for Granny.

Look, look, look, look.

HAYTER: When
I walk in and I see my mom

here with Victory,

sometimes I have to
pinch myself.

- I still can't believe it.
- All right!

HAYTER: I wish she would come
and stay up this way,

but she's pretty busy
and going back to school

and trying to get her life
back on track.

METZ: Ooh,
you running laps, girl.

Run.

MAN: Team, today, we'll be doing
our collective canvass

in the Central City target area.

Danielle Metz
will be taking the lead.

METZ: Let's go on by
the project food store first.

You know, by the Magnolia,
the Melpomene.

That's our target area.

Anything going on today?

You staying out of trouble, huh?

- Yeah.
- All right.

What I told you?

- Stay good, stay working,
stay out of trouble.

♪

WOMAN: She has served
as an advocate and mentor.

Danielle Metz.
[audience applauding]

METZ: So when
the judge gave me life,

he told me I had
forfeited my right

to live in a humane society.

He was going to make me out
an example

for anybody that wished
to follow in my footsteps.

We all have a past, and a lot of
us are not proud of things that

we have done in the past,
but it is not gonna do us

any good to stay focused on it.

Our names are gonna go farther
than our faces ever will.

So use this as a launching pad.

And thank you
and have a great day.

[applauding]

Me becoming a mentor
and working every day

and going to school,
it's therapeutic for me.

It is a loneliness inside me.

I have to keep moving.

I have to keep going
to not think about it.

Hi, are you making an
appointment for the FIT Clinic?

When was your release date?

Yeah, we treat for everything.

Hey, Mr. Dave, how you doing?

You know, coming out of prison,

people don't realize how
important healthcare is

on the inside, but I know
when I was in there,

you rarely ever got treated
for anything.

Is that how it was
where you was at?

Last year, I was just employed
at Cure Violence,

formerly CeaseFire.

Now I'm the Formerly
Incarcerated Transition

community health worker
under Tulane University.

[audience applauding]
I'm still attending school.

I'm just using my story
as a vehicle to change things.

Come here, girl.

That's my little niece.

[giggling]

You chilling?

[talking in background]

- I got to pass
by my auntie house.

You know, that's my auntie
who told on me.

- I know-- I know that.
- The one with the blonde hair.

REPORTER: Angela Bernard
wove a spellbinding tale

of the Metz organization
and its profits.

She recounted how her nephew,

Glenn Metz,
recruited her in 1987

to count money
for the alleged gang.

METZ: I know how much
my mom love her sister.

That was her baby sister,
my aunt,

the one person that I trusted.

I'd never think that it would
come to that, but it did.

REPORTER: Bernard testified
she and Danielle Metz

often traveled to Houston

with thousands
of dollars concealed

in a specially built
station wagon

for Colombian drug dealers
to pack with cocaine.

METZ: She and I,
we would go out of town

from New Orleans to Houston.

In my mind, I put it like

I wasn't going
to do anything illegal,

which, I knew it was illegal.

We had a lot of tension
in the house.

Sometime he would hit me.

Like, I didn't want
no problems with him.

I didn't want to argue
with him or nothing.

So I kind of initiated it.

Not kind of, I initiated.

He didn't ask me to do anything
for him-- I volunteered.

I said, "Well, you know,
you know,

"if you need somebody
to do something

for you, then I'll do it."

You know, like, I figure
I'm his wife.

You know, like, I'm here.

You know,
that was my thinking then.

"Okay, I'll do it, or
whatever you need me to do."

Now, I didn't think
he would take me up on it.

But that's what happened.

When you're in
that kind of relationship,

that's something
you really hide,

that you don't want
nobody to know.

It cost me my life.

♪

They were so small,
and every visit,

they were getting taller
and bigger and bigger.

Christmas was
the hardest time for me.

But at the end of the visit,
we would always,

"Everybody bow their heads.

Next Christmas, your mom
is gonna be home."

["We Wish You a Merry
Christmas" playing]

Sometimes, I try to just push it
out of my mind,

like, it's not really
the holiday season.

Carl says,
"Oh, man, I'm so happy that

I'm not on my way
to visit you in prison."

And I was, like, "Huh?"

And he was, like, "You know,

"we'd be on our way up there
right now

"if you weren't home.

"And Granny would be telling us
how to behave,

'Make sure my daughter's
not upset.'"

I said, "I don't even want
to think about it."

I didn't know
if I was happy or sad.

Just like now, I still don't
know if I'm happy or I'm sad.

You know, holidays,

you know, you look to spending
with your family and...

I wish I can go back and start

from when they were
seven years old

and just have plans and say,

"This is what we gonna do."

But Carl, he kind of
introverted person.

He don't-- you know,
he do his own thing.

My daughter, she's going
somewhere else for Christmas

with her other side
of the family,

somewhere in another city,
another state.

["God Rest Ye Merry, Gentlemen"
playing]

I always think and ask myself,
"Am I supposed to be here?

[music playing, bell ringing]

"Is this what I'm supposed
to be doing?

Is this where God
want me at now?"

[laughs]

What's up, baby?

- Dani, girl.
- [laughing]: Hey.

Who would have ever thought,
huh?

Wow.

Oh, my God,
you look like a model.

- [laughs]
- Oh, go ahead.

- You look good.
- I'm all right.

- I love your hair
and everything.

When I was in prison,
when people would say,

"How long have you been
in prison?"

a lot of the time,
I would just be, like,

"This long,"
but it was down to here.

- [laughing]:
Yeah, right, right, right.

- Have you ever been
to Arkansas?

- The only thing
I know about Arkansas

- is President Clinton and you.
- [laughs]

Well, here is
what I call the war room.

Oh, my gosh.

- That's just
a small percentage,

because I just wanted
to help women.

For a long time, you know,
that's all I did.

I just did you women,

knowing that we were
mostly just in there

because of what
a husband or boyfriend did.

So it started off real small,

and then I finally just said,

"Oh, screw it,
I'll just, you know,

let's just help everybody."

But it has me spread so thin,

because I don't, I don't
really have the infrastructure.

But do you-- here's all of,

here's all of us
that were together.

- Yeah, yeah.
- So you and [unintelligible]

and Angie.

And sometimes we'd all be

- in the law library together.
- Yeah.

- This is
unbelievable that-- the odds,

the David and Goliath
element to this story--

that we're sitting here trying
to understand the law

to defend ourselves,
up against, you know, Goliath.

- I always thought
you was going home anyway.

You know, you, you was
the typical candidate:

green eyes, blonde hair.

I just thought that
you would always go home.

That's just how,
you know, the scales are.

It's kind of sad, in a way,

- isn't it, though?
- Yeah.

- But that's the way it is.
- It's sad. It is sad.

My own sentence was commuted
by President Clinton in 2000.

I felt like
what was so important

with my own case is exposure.

What do we need to do
to bring women out of prison

so that they have
a presence out here

in the collective consciousness
of society?

I married
a successful businessman,

and he believed in the
medicinal properties of MDMA.

He was embarking on
a business venture, basically,

to have it manufactured.

I had periphial exposure

that sucked me into
the conspiracy statute,

which means if you do one thing,

you're guilty for everything
that everybody else has done.

So, I was sentenced in '92
to 24 years to FCI Dublin.

I'm witnessing all these

other women who are in
the same situation I was,

who just had
periphial involvement

due to their relationship
to a husband or boyfriend.

The whole prison experience
for me was,

as much as
I hate to admit it, um,

it's where I found my purpose.

And I feel like
we were given an education.

You learn everything
about going to trial.

And then, when you're done,
you're, like,

"Well, I won't get
an opportunity

- to do that again."
- Right.

- But now I know everything
I would've done different.

Well, now you're an expert.

- Right.
- You're an expert on

so many things in policy, and
with regard to prison reform,

and then also
sentencing reform and clemency.

METZ: A lot of times,

I wonder
if I'm spinning my wheels,

if I'm making a difference.

Is it gonna matter
what happened with me?

Is it gonna give somebody else
a second chance?

I think it was, like, 1993.

Me and Glenn moved to Vegas,
we got into a argument.

It got physical,
and I waited till, um, he left.

But this time, I wrote a letter
and say I was leaving.

I wasn't coming back.

But it was too late.

When the indictment came out,

I realized that, hey,
I am wanted by the FBI.

I went to Mississippi.

I think it was, like,
five months.

I would psych myself out,

like, you know, this was
gonna be my new life.

But I knew I couldn't be
on the run forever by myself.

I knew at some point,

I was gonna be separated
from my kids for a long time.

So, I just started imagining
my life, what it would've been

had it not come to this.

Why didn't I tell somebody
what I was going through?

Maybe somebody
could have helped me.

Why didn't I get out sooner?

It was breaking my heart--
I was, like,

"I just hope it hurry up
and come to a end.

If they come and find me,
just come on, find me."

REPORTER:
Fugitive Danielle Metz,

wife of drug kingpin Glenn Metz,
was arrested Saturday

at an apartment building
in Jackson, Mississippi.

I'm sure he thought that
I would testify against him.

I'm sure he thought
that the way we left off,

that, "Oh, she's gonna, you
know, since this happened,

she's gonna do that to me."

But I just couldn't bring myself
to do it to him.

The prosecutor turned it around.

The story that
they were painting

that I was
his second-in-command.

I was a shot caller, as well.

That wasn't true.

I got found guilty on possession
to distribute cocaine,

money laundering.

I was sentenced
under a Kingpin Statute.

That made all the difference.

Over the years,
I would just reach out

to different advocacy groups.

They couldn't do anything
for me.

They told me that my case
was too high-profile,

and that it was too complicated.

I was just spinning my wheels.

That I probably
would never get out.

REPORTER: President Clinton has
used his clemency powers rarely

when compared
to his predecessors.

ATTORNEY: There was a,
just a common thread

of non-controversial
commutations.

When I met Danielle
in August 2000,

I really believed
that, at some point,

that she was going to be freed.

You need to get
political support

because it's
a political decision.

And Danielle's prosecutor
wasn't convinced

that Danielle Metz
was a battered wife.

She was going to oppose
Danielle getting clemency.

There was the public story that
Danielle had punched Glenn Metz

in the courtroom
after the guilty verdict.

♪

MARILYN MITCHELL:
She seemed, for some reason,

amazed by the verdict.

REPORTER: Until
she started beating on him?

MITCHELL: That's correct, she
seemed to see,

to beat on her husband

and start attacking him
with her shackles.

Of course I was mad--
I just, you know, I...

I was shocked.

You know, I didn't know
how I was gonna react.

And I'm sure he didn't know how
I was gonna react, neither.

He didn't move or he didn't say,
"Well, why are you hitting me?"

Or...
I guess he was surprised, too.

You know, but...

People don't know.

You can't get mad with people
for not knowing.

Sometime, we don't know how
to get out of those situations.

You know? Because us, as women,
we want to be loved.

It might be in the wrong way,
but we want to be loved.

You know? So...

They don't know.

They really don't know.

They have no clue.

ATTORNEY: I told her that,
"Look, I'm not going

"to forget about you,

"but commuting these drug cases
wasn't going to be

"the direction
the new incoming administration

would have towards clemency."

- I, George Walker Bush,
do solemnly swear...

METZ:
I was still there after so long.

Decades after decades...

[modem calling out]

...calendar after calendar,
year after year.

REPORTER:
New counts going on.

SOLDIER: Yo.
[guns firing]

REPORTER: The scene is
nothing short of apocalyptic.

[audience applauding]

METZ:
Missing every highlight

or every event or everything
of your kids' life.

How am I gonna get out
this place?

I've commuted the sentences
of dozens of people sentenced

under old drug laws that
we now recognize were unfair.

And yesterday, I announced
that I'm commuting dozens more.

[audience applauding
and cheering]

ATTORNEY: We sent a letter
to Kenneth Polite,

who is appointed
by President Obama

the U.S. attorney in the
Eastern District of Louisiana.

This is the potential key

that's gonna open
that prison door.

He agreed to write
a long letter on her behalf.

POLITE:
"Ms. Metz has now spent

"almost half her life in prison,

"and we do not believe
that she merits

"spending the rest of her life
in prison.

"Nor do we believe that
she poses any meaningful risk

"to public safety.

"Accordingly, my office
supports President Obama

"granting Ms. Metz's application
for a commutation of sentence.

"Respectfully submitted,
Kenneth Polite, Jr.,

United States Attorney for the
Eastern District of Louisiana."

Everyone agreed that this was,

if not the most worthy,

then certainly
a worthy candidate

for a commutation consideration.

Danielle was charged,
essentially,

under a Kingpin Statute,

uh, in, at the time of
her indictment and trial.

All of the evidence in the case,

uh, suggests that
she certainly was not that,

that the charge itself
was not an appropriate one.

She does not need to spend
another day in prison.

METZ: It had started
to play on my mind,

like, so many people
was leaving,

and I was still there
after so long.

Nobody told me anything,
but in my spirit,

I just started packing
all my things.

A friend of mine came
to my room, and she's, like,

"What you doing?"
I said, "I'm leaving here."

"Leaving? Where you going?"

I was, like, "I'm going home."

And I went to
the gospel show that night,

and I was sitting
in the back of the church.

And they were talking
about a breakthrough.

And that was the sermon,
like, the beginning of the end.

And this is when
you're going to have a new life.

I was so drained and weary
and just tired of,

tired of being there.

I just cried and cried and
cried and cried all that night.

I cried like never before,
and I prayed, and I cried,

and I prayed,
and I cried.

And when I woke up that morning,

and I got up to start my day,

it felt like a weight
had been lifted off of me,

like I was just free.

I think it was, like, a day
or two days later,

I heard my lawyer voice
on the phone.

He was, like, "Danielle,
you're gonna be going home."

Oh, my God,
and when he said that,

I just screamed
like I never screamed before.

I guess all the pain
that I've ever...

All the stuff that I was
bottling up all them years,

that I couldn't cry
when my mom came...

- Oh, man.
[laughing]

METZ: I just dropped the phone.

[laughing]

Mama!

BARBARA BERNARD:
Hey.

- Who said-- hey!
- Hey!

[unintelligible] back!

- All right, let me see you.
- [crying]

What are you crying for?

You're home now.

All the crying is over.

All the good times
gonna start for me and you.

[crying]

Why are you crying?

Aren't you happy to see me?

[sobbing]

[phone calling out]

METZ: Hello?

IESHA TYLER [over phone]:
Hey, Ms. Danielle.

Hey, how you doing?

I'm doing good. How are you?

I'm fine.

Um, I know your mama had
told you a little bit about me,

and I had been talking
to your brother, um,

just, you know, telling him, um,

basically
that I want to try to assist

with, uh, getting
your mother home.

Absolutely.

- Your mom was
a very integral part

of my life in prison,
and I just recently

got another job
in this organization centered

around ending incarceration
of women and girls.

That is the mission.

And so the first person I
thought about was your mother.

- Welcome!
- Hey!

- Hi, Ms. Danielle, hey.
- Oh, my God.

Team Pam, I'm loving it.

I, I love this.
Thank you, Ms. Danielle.

Now, I hope it fits, 'cause...

TYLER: To know
that God did it for you,

I'm definitely believing
that He's going to do it

for my mother, as well,
and that, like,

that makes me feel
so excited and happy,

because we are making steps
towards her being liberated.

It's a lot of work to be done.

And, you know, I don't,
I can't give you any false hope,

but long as you know I'm doing
something, and I'm keeping

- Miss Pam's name alive...
- Yeah.

- ...that means that, hey,
we're bringing awareness to her.

And just seeing you here, it's
kind of taking me somewhere,

because I'm thinking
about my daughter.

Yeah.

- So, if you don't mind me
just asking you,

uh, how, how do it feel,
because I, I don't...

I've asked Gleneisha sometimes,

but sometimes
I can't bring myself to...

I'd rather pretend like,

"I'm here now, that's all
you need to worry about."

- Mm-hmm.
- But I know it's something

that, it's not that easy
for her,

- because I've been absent...
- Yeah.

...for all that time.

I'm gonna be honest with you.

Like, if my mom came home, I
want to have that conversation,

because you have to take my
feelings in consideration

as far as, like, how I feel,

and why I've been
emotionally scarred

by, you know,
my mother's absence.

And some conversations,
sad as it may be,

some conversations can't be had
between you and your daughter,

because of the sake of the,
you know, relationship,

you know, and to be honest,

because from
a daughter's perspective,

if I really, really told you
how I felt, you know, with,

how I feel about my, my mother
being absent,

it probably would
hurt her real, real bad.

And, you know, it's, like,
that's not my goal, you know?

- Right.
- And by me expressing that

to you, what justice
is it really going to do?

But I also want to be
transparent and tell you,

"Hey, I felt this affecting me,"

but, you know, I don't
want to have to, you know,

go in too deep
into the conversation,

because, like I said, some
things is better left unsaid.

[people talking in background]

METZ:
Today, I'm gonna be speaking,

standing in solidarity

with my friends
who's campaigning,

advocating for people
that we left behind.

So we are here

trying to get
the new administration

to change their policies,

to recognize
that we are human beings,

and at the end of the day,
how much time is enough time?

Like, when is enough?

You know, prison is
about rehabilitation.

WOMAN:
♪ Well, there ain't no harm

♪ With your mind
Come on!

♪ Staying on freedom

♪ You know,
there ain't no harm ♪

♪ Oh, no, staying on freedom

♪ I said there ain't no

[chanting]: Enough is enough!
[song continues]

- Free her!
- Enough is enough!

[chant and song continue]

♪ Hallelu
SINGERS: ♪ Hallelu

ALL: ♪ Hallelujah

ANDREA JAMES: Good afternoon!

Good afternoon!

JAMES: We're in
Washington, D.C., people!

National Council
for Incarcerated

and Formerly Incarcerated
Women and Girls

is committed
to abolishing incarceration

for women and girls.

When we started this battle
for clemency

under President Obama's
administration,

we fought like hell.

We were able
to assist in bringing

50 of our sisters out of
the depths of incarceration.

[audience cheers and applauds]

Many of those sisters were
serving life with no parole.

I invite,
to say a few words to you,

our own dear Danielle Metz.

WOMAN: That's right!
JAMES: Danielle was

the last sister
that we were able to push out

before
that administration ended.

Danielle Metz.

[cheering and applauding]

METZ: Free her!
CROWD: Free her!

METZ:
Free her!

CROWD: Free her!

METZ: Free her!
CROWD: Free her!

METZ:
We have a lot of work to do.

But this is a small feat
for our president.

- WOMAN: Yes!
- A very small feat,

because he don't have
to go to the Supreme Court.

WOMAN: That's right!

- He don't have to go
to Congress.

The power is in the presidency.

I know what it feels like
to be separated from a family.

I know how it feels sitting
in a fetus position,

begging and pleading with God,

"Give me one more chance."

I am home, but I am not free.

I am not free
because my sisters are not free.

ALL [chanting]: Free her.
Free her. Free her. Free her.

Free her.
Free her. Free her.

[crowd continues chant]
Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

[crowd cheering and applauding]

♪

METZ: Good morning, Andrea.
How you doing?

JAMES [on computer]:
Morning, Dani. Good to see you.

- I was calling because I
wanted to discuss Ms. Pam Tyler,

the lady that, uh, I told you
that I did time with in Dublin.

Yes.

Unfortunately, President Biden
has not acted upon our request

to release 100 women.

In Ms. Pam's case, I think that
we're really gonna have to

engage with Catherine
in our legal division

to make a determination as to
what other inroads we can take,

legally,
to try and reduce her sentence,

or to get compassionate release,
or to do something

other than, uh, just hanging
our hat on clemency.

Okay. Um, I know that, um,

Ms. Catherine was talking
about the students,

so do you think I should, uh,

the students that are gonna
be working on different cases,

uh, would that be okay with you
if I submit that

to, you know, uh, Ms. Catherine,

- and start the process?
- I think that that's...

I think that that's-- yes.

I think that's best next steps,
um, in this, in this, uh, case.

That, and I think it would be
a great case for the students.

- Our cases
are very complicated.

You know, we don't ever want to
go back and revisit that stuff.

The women on the inside,
they don't know the first thing

to do to start getting help.

And a lot of time, they feel
like they're forgotten about.

There's a heaviness

- that hangs over women's prisons.
- Right.

You can very easily feel like

you're gonna get lost
in that system,

even if you have an out date.

You know, our work, also, is to
call these things into question.

METZ: When you're in prison
and you can't educate yourself,

it's easy for you
to go back to the things

that landed you there.

But when you're educated...

JAMES: Now, what kind of country
takes a young mother

like you were, with two babies

at home,
and come up with a sentence

that isn't just a life sentence,

but three life sentences?

We have to really pause.

We have to really ask ourselves,

"What are we doing here

"as the most incarcerated
country on the planet?

What is the expected outcome?"

AYANNA PRESSLEY:
When this country

incarcerates Black women,
their entire family suffers,

resulting in
long-term destabilization

and intergenerational trauma.

And we must do everything
we can to dismantle

this carceral system.

Free her.
CROWD: Free her!

♪

You talk to your grandma today?

- Uh, two days ago.
- Oh.

- Two days ago.
- She back? She home?

- Yeah, she made it.
She's-- she, uh, she made it.

I called her, she was asleep.

She was just getting up,
probably an hour ago, yeah,

so she made it back,
the house is back in order.

- I told you I'm gonna
be off probation now.

Soon, huh? Walking down...

Remember what I was telling you
about your five-year plan?

And you was, like, "Five years?"

I'm, like, "Mom,
five years is, like, nothing."

- Ooh, I'm so happy.
- Here we go.

- Five years.
- I'm so happy, baby.

I'm gonna be getting
on a plane...

Well, you already

- been on a plane.
- ...just doing whatever

I want to do-- yeah.

Like 90 going west.

- All these different places
I went to.

Exactly.

- All the way from Dublin
to here

to there to there to there.

- I ain't done yet.
- Exactly.

Yep, that's dope.
I'm just really now happy

to be able to just really,
like, see you,

you know, just come into
your own, and just really,

like, seeing, like, how you is
really,

like, well, humanity as a whole,

like, you just give

and do things for other people
and be a certain way.

I think that was something
for me to really see,

you know, like,
just the action of it.

Not you saying it,
which you never said it,

but you just really doing it.

- Mm-hmm.
- Really, like, I think that

was something that, uh,

that I really needed to see.

[women talking indistinctly]

[exclaims]

[babbling]

Let me help you.

[Victory babbling]

Okay, now go.

- [murmuring]:
Oh, let her do her pictures.

[Victory babbling]

HAYTER: My kids
feel very close to my mom.

[Victory gasps]
METZ: Wait, wait, wait.

HAYTER:
Seeing them with my mom

is a little bittersweet.

- You love Granny?
Give Granny a hug.

Come here, give me a hug.

Give me a hug.

Tell them who you love.

[Victory babbling]

HAYTER: I just started
talking to a therapist

and trying to get counseling,

talking about our problems.

That's kind of, like,
a taboo topic.

[kids talking in background]

We don't talk about our issues,
we just try to push through

and survive
and maneuver around them.

♪ Happy birthday to you

♪ Happy birthday
to you ♪

♪ Happy birthday, dear Granny

♪ Happy birthday to you

HAYTER:
Sometimes, looking at my kids

kind of reminds me of
where my life could have been.

Yay!

HAYTER:
Victory just turned four.

I was just turning four
when my mom went in.

VICTORY:
I want cake, I want cake.

I'm about to start slicing.

Who want cake?
CHILD: Ooh!

HAYTER:
Oh, that's too big for them.

WOMAN:
I thought this was for them.

CHILD:
No, Victory, you got one.

[kids talking in background]

HAYTER [voiceover]:
It's bittersweet.

[kids talking in background]

♪

[phone ringing]

METZ:
Hello?

TYLER [over phone]:
Hey, Ms. Metz.

Hey, what's going on?

- Oh, my goodness,
you will not believe.

They just said that my mother
is going to be released

on the 29th, so I need
to go down there,

get a flight, so I can
pick her up from the airport.

- Oh, my God,
I am so happy for you.

Ms. Pam ain't going to believe
this one right here.

The 29th of July?

- The 29th of July,
she'd be able to come home.

Having you on this journey
to help us

and to see it finally
come to pass, like...

Ooh!

I feel like I can breathe again.

- Team Pam.
TYLER: Team Pam!

[chuckling]

High five.

[cheers softly]

Thank you, Jesus!

Oh, my goodness,
this is so surreal.

Oh, my goodness.

Mmm.

- It must be coming,
I see those flags.

Acting like America is America.

Baby, please.

Oh, I hate this place.

I ain't lying.

That truck is the truck
that watches the institution.

It rides all the way around
all the time.

- Mmm.
- It just keep riding around,

riding around.

I guess for security purposes,

- whatever that might be.
- Right.

- And, like,
who gonna jump over a fence?

- Are they Superman?
- Right.

Did she say she was coming out?

- She in the back.
- Oh.

- She said,
[unintelligible] she just saw.

She said, "Yeah!"
[car door closes]

She, she got the picture.

We was in the wrong spot.

♪

- [crying, whispering]:
Oh, thank you, Jesus.

[sniffles]

You all right.

It's over now-- like my mama
told me, it's over now.

[crying]

[breathes deeply]

[both crying, murmuring]

TYLER:
Oh, my goodness.

[crying]

I'm sorry.

METZ [crying]: Oh, Ms. Pam,
I'm so happy to see you.

God is so good.

[kisses]

We love you, Ms. Pam.
MS. PAM: I love you, too.

[all crying]

WOMAN [crying]:
I missed you!

[whimpering]:
Thank you!

METZ: You ready?

- MS. PAM: Yes.
- Come on.

♪

[Hayter grunts, Victory giggles]

HAYTER [voiceover]:
The dynamic

of a mother-and-daughter
relationship,

it can be
a little difficult at times.

Sometimes I'm not used
to certain comments

or expectations.
[Metz exclaiming]

METZ:
See, I merge one step at a time.

It's one step at a time.

How m... [unintelligible]
[baby babbles]

HAYTER:
It's on both sides

that we both have expectations

of one another
that probably aren't being met.

METZ [voiceover]: If you have
been out of somebody's life

23 years, that's how long
it probably take

to get things back to normal.

Two people getting to know
each other all over again

is just, uh...

It, it's a lot.

I know you've been
through things,

things that I don't know about,

but I'm very proud of you.

I'm proud of the mother you are.

I'm proud of
the daughter you are.

And I might not say it to you
all the time,

but anybody that know me
know how I feel about my kids.

You or Carl
have never disappointed me.

No matter what, what I thought,
or when we have our bad days,

I'm always proud of you,
and I'm just thankful to God

that whatever you go through,
if you need me, I'm here.

A mother is the foundation
of the family,

but because of the choices
I made, it was derailed.

And, and that's one thing
that I really admire,

that your daughters won't
have to go through that

because of the decisions and
the way that you live your life.

I can't go back
and change anything.

You know? All I can do is be the
best person that I can be now.

♪

I know I could have done
some things different.

And maybe the outcome
would've been different.

[exclaiming softly]

METZ: We can't get back none of
that time-- the time is gone.

You know, we could build
from here-- I'm here.

And so, you know,
I'm just thankful.

"Danielle,

"Congratulation on
your graduation from Southern.

"I'm so proud of you.

"I'm confident

"that your example will have
a positive impact on others

"who are looking
for a second chance.

"Tell your children I say hello

"and know that I'm rooting
for all of you.

Sincerely, Barack Obama."

I have a purpose in life,
and now I'm evolving.

I'm sort of like
that rose from concrete.

When you incarcerated,
there's nothing but a whole lot

of steel, metal, and bricks.

The wall is just a wall.

It can be broken down.

When I'm fighting for the women
that are still inside,

I'll tell them that.

It's just a wall.

It can be broken down.

WOMAN: Beautiful!

Simply gorgeous--
my mother would be ecstatic.

Ecstatically happy,
as I'm sure she is.

She'll be saying,
"Don't cry, Danielle."

She would be, like,

"What you crying for, Boo?"

"What you crying for, Boo?"

She didn't believe in tears.

She's, like, you just do
what you got to do.

♪

WOMAN:
Danielle Bernard Metz.

[audience cheering
and applauding]

METZ:
I can be anything I want to be.

I can do anything
I want to do.

The sky is the limit for me.

And there's where I'm going.

I'm trying to break
the ceiling now.

[laughing and cheering]

METZ:
I'm on my life mission.

♪

♪ Don't you worry

♪ And don't you fret

♪ Better, better

♪ 'Cause I know God
ain't never failed me yet ♪

♪ Better, better

♪ He knows the plans

♪ He has for you

♪ Better, better

♪ And I believe He'll do
everything He said He would do ♪

♪ Better, better

♪ Better, better, better,
better, better, better ♪

♪ Better, better