this week on "our world" with black enterprise we're on location. i'm marc lamont hill. coming up next, my one-on-one interview with author, former olympian and point guard for the wnba, marion jones. plus, we take an inside look at the criminal justice system, our "own the record discussion". that's what's going on in our world, starting now.

marion jones is on the right track. after serving six months in prison for lying to federal prosecutors about using performance enhancing drugs, she's come clean about her past and is now shooting for success. i recently caught up with marion to talk about her new book and her new career. i just finished reading your new book, actually very amazing. talk to me about the journey, you know, that you describe in this book? >> this one really is from the heart. it's just, you know, about finding forgiveness, all of us go through tough times in our lives, we all make mistakes. it's how do you pick yourself up and dust yourself off and look to the next chapter in your life. no pun intended. but, it's very personal. i wrote a series of letters to

my husband while i was incarcerated, ranging from why i made certain choices in my life and how to correct those. >> talk to me about some of these choices. when you first were asked the question in front of federal prosecutors about the substances and whether or not you knew what they were and recognized them, you said no. what was going through your head at that time? what made you make that decision? >> all of my success was going through my head. everything that i had worked so hard for was going through my head. and knowing that if i didn't say that particular answer, it could all be wiped away. and what i didn't realize is that it would all be wiped away and even more. so i did what my gut told me to do and that was to lie at that moment and it literally was less than ten seconds that i made the decision and it's one of the things that i base my message that i share with a lot of young

people today and before you make critical decisions in your life, it's really important that you take a break, you take a step back, really look at the situation, consult people who have life experience and then you make a wise choice. i wish at that moment i had taken a break, whether it was two minutes in the hallway with my attorneys or, you know, ten minutes discussing what the possible consequences were, even though i knew them. >> right. >> you really think that, you know, we all get to a point where we let our ego take control of our emotions and decisions and you think you're untouchab untouchable. you get caught up in people patting you on the back and telling you you're great and you don't deal with certain issues that you have and that's what i did. i surrounded myself with people who didn't look out for my best interests. >> it's interesting, so of the people who -- you were surrounded with, you're the one that ended up incarcerated.

they did not. you know. that has to be a heck of a thing to think about and wrestle with. >> i don't spend too much time thinking about it. i let the journalists do that. what it comes down to is me, i broke the law. i did my time. i'm not here to judge anybody else, you know. there will be another day for them to be judged at some time else. that's not my job. i did what i had to do and it actually wound up being a blessing for me. i've been here to do something special, i've been blessed with this amazing gift to connect with people, to communicate on a certain level, that people think they know me and that's not something i learned, it's something that's been given to me and i have to share it. >> being in a cell sometimes 24 out of 24 hours a day, you learn a lot about yourself. and it was a blessing. >> i served my sentence at one of the hardest federal prisons in the country, female prisons.

and was attacked while i was in prison. had it to defend myself. 46 plus days in solitary confinement, not solitary confinement where you're out for 12 hours of the day, solitary confinement where you're in a box by yourself, sometimes 24 hours of the day. you have nothing but time to figure out who the heck you are, you have nothing but time to figure out why you made certain choices and most importantly, what you want to do when you get out. do you want to -- did i want to disappear from the public eye or i did want to make that negative situation a positive. >> right. >> and although it has been difficult to have to talk about my mistakes over and over again or to relive certain tough times in my life, it's been more than worth it because i see people are being blessed by hearing my story. and so i'm glad i made the decision not to just disappear.

i'm even more so glad that i decided to play basketball because it has given me a much bigger stage to share my story. sure i love the challenge of playing again at 35 years old. >> let's talk about, you are a -- you are a 34-year-old rookie. rookie. >> okay. >> i was impressed. you know. i can barely get up at 32. you are a 34-year-old rookie and holding your own. what was it like to be a rookie again, to be the new fish? >> it was very humbling. it showed me that i could play with these ladies, but i have a lot of work to do. >> they treat you like a rookie? >> they did. i was hazed. >> were you carrying bags? >> i was. i did all that. all these ladies have been through it. they have achieved certain successes in the sport of basketball that i haven't yet. but i think i gained a lot of respect, one by going through with the hazing, and two, nobody's going to outwork me. >> that's for sure. >> that's hands down. once the ladies realized i

didn't want anything handed to me, i was willing to work, i worked to get in the league and i'm willing to work to be a success in the league and once they saw that, i gained their respect. >> please welcome marion jones. [ applause ] >> one of the ways you give back now is through the take a break foundation. talk about what that is. >> the message of take a break, is something that's very close to my heart. while i was incarcerated and made the choice while i was in there that i wasn't going to disappear, that i was going to be back in the public eye and that i was going to be giving back and i wondered how can i share my story and my experience with young people, older people alike, on how to make better decisions. and i went through all the different scenarios. then it came back to that moment that i wish i had slowed down. i wish i had taken a break. taken a moment to really think about the consequences of what

you say or of your actions and that's how it came about. and the positive response that i've gotten, received from the young people and the parents alike, is enough for me to keep it going. >> i was so mad at you and my daughter, she had her pictures all over the world and the day i had to tell her, it just broke my heart. and she pulled the picture off the wall and i didn't know what to say. i figure people make mistakes but i was so mad at you and i'm so happy to see you today. it's just really fills my heart. the fact that you get up here and you put yourself out there, and you're real and we can feel your pain, i'm sitting here crying. >> 50 years from now when you finally retire from the wnba, the kids are out of the house, everything is done, how do you want people to remember marion jones? >> oh, i look forward to that day when i can sit on my porch

in my white rocking chair with my freshly squeezed lemonade. >> you are never going to be sitting in the rocking chair. you will be in the 80 and under league or something. >> i want people to remember i was an individual who's been blessed with amazing gifts from physical, like i said, the ability to communicate, connect with people, but a person who made bad choices but at some point figured it out and figured i'm here for a reason and that's to give back. i don't want people to remember me for marion jones, the great athlete who made bad choices. no. that doesn't stand up over the test of time really. people remember folks who made positive contributions to our world and that's how i hope i'm remembered. >> up next -- we're back in studio for a look at racial disparities in the american prison system. >> three communities in new york city where 70% of the prisoners throughout the state of new york come from.

>> three communities and 70% of the state's population come from these three communities. >> oh, my gosh. >> these three counties in new york city.

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. according to all reports, the united states has the highest incarceration rate on the planet. at the current moment, more than 7.3 million people are either paroled, an probation or

incarcerated. although african-american comprise only 12% of the u.s. population they make up 41% of the nation's prison population. joining me to discuss the incarceration crisis are barry scheck, attorney for the innocence project, monifa, program manager for the national coalition on black civic participation and michael rd, trial lawyer and activist. thank you for joining us. i think the most stunning number i've ever seen is the fact that in 1970, there were only somewhere between 250 and 300,000 people incarcerated in the whole country. 40 years later, 2.5 million people are incarcerated. how do we get from 250,000 in 1970 to 2.5 million in 2011? how does that happen? >> very simple. two things happened within our sentencing system. the first was, mand other minimum sentences. in state and federal courts. just completely took discretion

away from judges and few -- if you committed certain crimes you were going to prison for long periods that's it. those were most often associated with drug laws. and the drug laws alone during that period are what accounts for the huge increase in incarceration. >> monifa, the war on drugs began in 1984 and over that time as barry points out we've seen a skyrocket in incarceration rates particularly among african-american people, really among poor people. why is the war on drugs so central to this? >> if you looked in communities across class lines and race, you'll find drugs, drug users and sellers. what's happened the way our policing systems are designed and cities, there is a racial profiling of communities with high numbers of african-american and latino people. so you see more drug convictions coming out of particular communities which will give you the illusion that also's more drug use.

>> so why is race so important in the criminal justice system? why does race play such a big factor? >> in terms of race people say you play the race card and why do you talk about race when it comes to the criminal justice system. my answer is simple, the first question i pose when they say race doesn't matter, tomorrow you have to go to court as a defendant and you were in alaska, alabama, arkansas, pennsylvania, to go as a black man defendant or white man defendant, which would you choose? nobody is blacker than me but i would take white. >> that's an interesting observation. >> the numbers are crazy but crazier when race comes into the mix. >> i said if i went to priston on a friday night i could arrest people for public drunkenness, possession of marijuana, at the rate i could at any black neighborhood. we're not looking at princeton or any other university. why the overemphasis on black neighborhoods? >> i mean, the reason is obvious. i mean, you know, if you're, you

know, they've done all these studies of racial profiling. on the new jersey turnpike and all kinds of different thoroughfares, you know, the numbers show that there are more white people carrying drugs on the new jersey turnpike than black people but no matter how many times we try to reform the system, more black people are being pulled over for it. >> this isn't just happenen stance. there's a pipeline into the prison into the country that links back to communities that have high levels of police officers in there. it's overmill tarization of people. communities are profiled, racial profiling is happening and that pipeline if you look at a city like let's say, for example, new york city, there are three communities in new york city where 70% of the prisoners throughout the state of new york come from. it's no surprise that those are also communities where you have -- >> you said three -- three communities in 70% of the state's prison population come from these three communities. >> three areas.

these three counties in new york city. what you see also is that those are the same counties where you have heavy policing, where you have special programs like the street crimes unit responsible for the killing of [ inaudible ]. there's an intense level of policing that helps fuel people into these arraignment processes and on to the prison. >> one of the fascinating things in terms of trying to change this and break this bottleneck is andrew cuomo, elected governor of new york, said something sensible. we have to cut budgets and we have prisons upstate new york, where, you know, they're being underutilized. we have to close some of hose down. he's having so much trouble trying to close these prisons. all of a sudden people are saying, this is hurting jobs and upstate new york. there is literally a prison industrial complex that, you know, has an economic interest. >> that's an important point. that's an important point we need to think about. michael, i know you've done a

lot of work in the criminal justice system on the activist side and as an attorney. what does there mean for there to be a financial stake in prison as barry pointed out there are jobs attached. we go to some cities where towns would shut down if the prisons shut down. how do we make sense of that too? >> there's money to be made in the prison industrial complex, no doubt about that. but you would think if its was only about the money, then the white boys would go to jail just like the black guys go to jail. that doesn't happen. >> i think the key link in this there's an economic factor but then there's political power in representation. that's sharply linked to high incarceration rates. we keep focusing on the individual's loss of rights and political voice, which is a travesty nonetheless. but the entire communities, political power, is diminished when high levels of people interest that community are incarcerated. in many states around the country once you get a felony conviction your right to vote is taken away from you and you have virginia and mississippi in

particular where one to three and one to four black men in those states are disenfranchised. imagine the political voice and power of your community if 25% of the males in it can't vote. >> barry, much of your work with the innocence project, dealing with people who have been wrongfully convicted. what percentage of the people incarcerated of people right now are wrongfully convicted? >> there are some pretty staggering numbers. there have been a number of studies and people have guest mated and done better than that. maybe you want to be conservative say 3% of people are wrongfully convicted, may be higher. >> close to 100,000 people. >> that's a lot of people. >> when we come back we're going to talk more about this and i want to talk about some solutions. stay right there. we'll be right back. >> i think once you educate a person and give a person a job, 90% of the crime will stop.

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people will say don't commit the crime, people will say be responsible, don't do drugs, don't steal. all of us i think are in agreement on that. moving beyond that point, what do we do in terms of this mass incarceration thing? >> well, what's the solution? the solution is a multistep approach. first, education. and not just education, but paid education. even if it's minimum wage to pay these folks to learn reading, writing and arithmetic. for the black folks not just reading and writing and arithmetic but history courses, cultural courses to find out about african-american history and ancient african history and paid job training and then job placement. i think once you educate a person and give a person a job, 90% of the crime will stop. >> we also have to support sound policy around prison and incarceration. we have to look at the sentencing laws in every state, the federal laws and try to get our elected officials to back away from this tough on crime stance that they're taking as a means for lowering crimes in

communities. it's not true, it doesn't work, research has shown that that's not what you use to rid a community of crime. there's other sensible things like better education systems and the like. >> well, one of the really interesting political developments is that recently there's a group called right on crime, and a number of these people on the right recognize that there are too many people in prison, that these are broken down bureaucracies that we have to get people out of there. >> and they cost too much. >> but also we have to have re-entry programs, same parole systems, get rid of the mandatory minimum laws, do something sensible about treating narcotics and reduce the volume in the system. i think that is a really important coalition for us to look to. >> thank you all for a spirited panel. i hope to have you back again soon. we'll be back with more "our rld" with black enterprise in a bit.

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eteens andeens shoge vaccin agast ningococcal meningis, rare but serious disease. healthicls aret the only voices recommendit. he ours at voesmeniitis.o. that wraps it up for us at "our world" at blr. i'm lamont mark hill. be sure to visit us at black enterprien ent.com and check me out on facebook and follow me on twitter. thanks for watching. we'll see you next week. promotional considerations for "our world" are brought to you by --