The first time Teeanna Brisco saw her father after he was released from prison was just before her law school graduation, when she picked him up from the airport.
Bernard Brisco had been imprisoned for 20 years for non-violent drug crimes, sentenced in 2001 for selling cocaine. His daughter was just four years old.
Mr Brisco, now 53, was given the lengthy sentence because of the so-called "three-strikes" sentencing law. Under the policy, which was implemented in the US in 1994, judges had to mandate life sentences for certain repeat crimes.
This was only changed at the federal level in 2018, but many states still have it in place.
And with that, her father "immediately went to a super maximum facility in Indiana," recalls Ms Brisco, now 24.
It was her father's harsh sentence that partly inspired her to go to law school. Celebrating her recent graduation with him finally created "a sense of normalcy," she says.
Ms Brisco was so young when her father went to jail she doesn't "remember him ever having been free," but she does remember her family being open about where he had been sent.
Her mother made it a priority to ensure the two kept in touch.
But when she was younger she didn't always tell people about where her father was.
"I remember always saying that he was a construction worker. Like that was my go-to lie that I would tell people - so there obviously was shame and feeling like people might see this as a reflection of who I am".
But her attitude changed by the time she was in high school, and she began to see what she thought was the "injustice" of his incarceration, and became "eager" to share his story.
To read more of Chloe Kim's article, please click here.
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