Gbenga Akinnagbe Quotes

I went through quite a few establishments that maybe weren't great for myself - security units, youth-offender places. I guess that was going to the lions' den. Social services said, 'You've got to go to some sort of school.'

Shortly after I turned 13, Child Welfare took me into care. I was sent to a residential centre where girls with behavioural problems were 'evaluated'. My time there comes back to me now only in flashes of smells, images and sounds.

More than 90 percent of all the prisoners in our American prisons have been abused as children.

I have spent a lot of time listening to people who are serving life sentences and getting to know them and the circumstances of their lives. I have never met anyone serving a long prison sentence who had anything close to what I could call a childhood; instead, the upbringings always - always - involve extreme situations of poverty and abuse.

My mother was crazy.

Most incarcerated women have stories that are similar to mine. They suffered great trauma as children.

My family's messed up, for real.

People who end up in our prisons tend to come from the most difficult backgrounds. They did not have the parental support as they grew up, as many of us enjoyed, and they struggle when they leave prison.

Adolescents are in just as much trouble in Native America as they are in the white community.

The criminal justice system is not the right place - or it shouldn't be the place of first resort to provide addiction or mental health services. It should happen elsewhere with no police and no judges and no juries and no jails.

My dad was diagnosed with cancer of the oesophagus in February 2012, and finding that out really messed me up.

The lowest point for me was ending up in prison after a violent event. I realised I was way out of my depth.

Mental illness is real, and I got them. I don't know if it's the multiple concussions or the lifestyle choices.

I've got an addictive personality.

I have been through a lot in my life, my parents divorced when I was 16, and it was a very difficult time.

I don't know the statistics, but I wouldn't be surprised to find out that a disproportionate number of comics come from broken homes.

Many times, I left the prison thinking, 'I'm smart. I can make it. I won't get caught up again.' But you get off downtown Skid Row, and you're a target for all of the environmental harms in that area. The pain and trauma in that area is so thick, you can almost reach your hand out and touch it.

I lived all my life thinking the reason I was in care was because I was naughty. Because I was breaking and entering, pickpocketing, vandalism. I wasn't party to any social workers' reports.

Kids who are the victims of broken families are more likely to end up in poverty, rehab, or jail. I'm a Republican, but I respect President Obama for setting the right example and addressing this problem.

Many offenders have had immensely difficult upbringings and do not have the support of loving families and friends.

Around 10, I got chubby. I knew I'd crossed a line when the only pants that fit were from the 'Junior Plenty' line at JC Penny. My parents had split up, my mom was going through a dark time, and my brother and I were getting bullied in our new neighborhood. Life was big and unsafe.

I'd go into the pub and start crying even before I'd had my first drink.

Too many people are suffering from severe behavioral health and substance use issues on our streets, which puts a strain on our hospitals and our criminal justice system instead of treating the root cause.

But for me, a physician, chief medical correspondent for a major network, and women's health expert, the thought of exposing myself to millions of people as someone who'd been completely blindsided by the suicide of my children's father, and by the impact of that suicide on Alex and Chloe and me, was nothing short of terrifying.

The increased calls on law enforcement to respond to substance abuse and mental health issues in their communities have added pressure on law enforcement and highlight the need to also invest in our health system and social services.