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While a senior at Tennessee State University (TSU) in 2002, Keeda Haynes agreed to receive multiple packages for her then-boyfriend. He told her that the deliveries were for a cell phone and pager business. As it turned out, the packages actually contained marijuana.
Unbeknownst to Haynes, her boyfriend was being watched by the police. By association, she was too—and because Haynes had signed for his packages, she was arrested.
During her subsequent trial, Haynes pleaded not guilty and consistently stated she was unaware of the drug shipments. She was acquitted of conspiracy to distribute marijuana but she was convicted of aiding and abetting a conspiracy. Due to Tennessee’s mandatory minimums for drug possession, she was sentenced to seven years in prison.
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After an appeal, her sentence was reduced; she spent four years in federal prison before her release in 2006.
While in prison, Haynes studied for the LSAT—she had already graduated from TSU with a degree in criminal justice and psychology by the time she was incarcerated—and, after her release, went to law school. Her tumultuous journey through the criminal justice system had inspired a career change as well as a larger personal reckoning; Haynes later became a public defender. In the summer of 2020, she ran for Congress (though she did not win the Democratic primary). Haynes’ new book, Bending the Arc: My Journey from Prison to Politics, details this journey—as well as the steps ahead.
Speaking with TIME, Haynes discusses her experiences, the racial and criminal justice awakenings that happened in 2020 and where the movement for court reform goes from here.
TIME: Throughout Bending the Arc, you talk about how your experiences give you unusual insight into the criminal justice system. Why do you think that perspective is so important?
Haynes: There are not a lot of lawyers who have actual lived experience of personally dealing with the criminal legal system. I’ve…
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Source : time
