TEDWomen 2017
Teresa Njoroge: What I learned serving time for a crime I didn't commit
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In 2011, Teresa Njoroge was convicted of a financial crime she didn't commit -- the result of a long string of false accusations, increasing bribe attempts and the corrupt justice system in her home in Kenya. Once incarcerated, she discovered that most of the women and girls locked up with her were also victims of the same broken system, caught in a revolving door of life in and out of prison due to poor education and lack of economic opportunity. Now free and cleared by the courts of appeal, Njoroge shares how she's giving women in prison the skills, tools and support they need to break the cycle of poverty and crime and build a better life.
Teresa Njoroge - Criminal and social justice reform advocate
At Clean Start Kenya, Teresa Njoroge builds bridges connecting the formerly imprisoned to the outside world and vice versa. Full bio
At Clean Start Kenya, Teresa Njoroge builds bridges connecting the formerly imprisoned to the outside world and vice versa. Full bio
Double-click the English transcript below to play the video.
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When I heard those bars
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slam hard,
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I knew it was for real.
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I feel confused.
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I feel betrayed.
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I feel overwhelmed.
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I feel silenced.
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What just happened?
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How could they send me here?
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I don't belong here.
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How could they make such a huge mistake
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without any repercussions
whatsoever to their actions?
whatsoever to their actions?
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I see large groups of women
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in tattered uniforms
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surrounded by huge walls and gates,
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enclosed by iron barbed wires,
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and I get hit by an awful stench,
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and I ask myself,
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how did I move
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from working in the respected
financial banking sector,
financial banking sector,
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having worked so hard in school,
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to now being locked up
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in the largest correctional facility
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for women in Kenya?
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My first night
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at Langata Women Maximum Security Prison
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was the toughest.
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In January of 2009,
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I was informed that I had handled
a fraudulent transaction unknowingly
a fraudulent transaction unknowingly
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at the bank where I worked.
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I was shocked, scared and terrified.
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I would lose a career
that I loved passionately.
that I loved passionately.
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But that was not the worst.
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It got even worse
than I could have ever imagined.
than I could have ever imagined.
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I got arrested,
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maliciously charged
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and prosecuted.
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The absurdity of it all
was the arresting officer
was the arresting officer
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asking me to pay him 10,000 US dollars
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and the case would disappear.
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I refused.
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Two and a half years on,
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in and out of courts,
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fighting to prove my innocence.
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It was all over the media,
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in the newspapers, TV, radio.
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They came to me again.
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This time around, said to me,
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"If you give us 50,000 US dollars,
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the judgement will be in your favor,"
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irrespective of the fact
that there was no evidence whatsoever
that there was no evidence whatsoever
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that I had any wrongdoing
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on the charges that I was up against.
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I remember the events
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of my conviction
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six years ago
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as if it were yesterday.
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The cold, hard face of the judge
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as she pronounced my sentence
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on a cold Thursday morning
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for a crime that I hadn't committed.
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I remember holding
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my three-month-old beautiful daughter
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whom I had just named Oma,
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which in my dialect
means "truth and justice,"
means "truth and justice,"
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as that was what I had longed so much for
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all this time.
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I dressed her in her
favorite purple dress,
favorite purple dress,
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and here she was, about to accompany me
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to serve this one-year sentence
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behind bars.
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The guards did not seem
sensitive to the trauma
sensitive to the trauma
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that this experience was causing me.
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My dignity and humanity disappeared
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with the admission process.
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It involved me being
searched for contrabands,
searched for contrabands,
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changed from my ordinary clothes
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to the prison uniform,
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forced to squat on the ground,
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a posture that I soon came to learn
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would form the routine
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of the thousands of searches,
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number counts,
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that lay ahead of me.
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The women told me,
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"You'll adjust to this place.
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You'll fit right in."
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I was no longer referred to
as Teresa Njoroge.
as Teresa Njoroge.
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The number 415/11 was my new identity,
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and I soon learned that was
the case with the other women
the case with the other women
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who we were sharing this space with.
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And adjust I did to life on the inside:
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the prison food,
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the prison language,
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the prison life.
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Prison is certainly no fairytale world.
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What I didn't see come my way
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was the women and children
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whom we served time and shared space with,
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women who had been imprisoned
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for crimes of the system,
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the corruption that requires a fall guy,
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a scapegoat,
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so that the person who is responsible
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could go free,
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a broken system that routinely
vilifies the vulnerable,
vilifies the vulnerable,
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the poorest amongst us,
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people who cannot afford to pay bail
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or bribes.
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And so we moved on.
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As I listened to story after story
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of these close to 700 women
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during that one year in prison,
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I soon realized that crime
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was not what had brought
these women to prison,
these women to prison,
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most of them,
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far from it.
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It had started with the education system,
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whose supply and quality
is not equal for all;
is not equal for all;
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lack of economic opportunities
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that pushes these women
to petty survival crimes;
to petty survival crimes;
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the health system,
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social justice system,
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the criminal justice system.
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If any of these women,
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who were mostly from poor backgrounds,
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fall through the cracks
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in the already broken system,
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the bottom of that chasm is a prison,
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period.
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By the time I completed
my one-year sentence
my one-year sentence
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at Langata Women Maximum Prison,
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I had a burning conviction
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to be part of the transformation
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to resolve the injustices
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that I had witnessed
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of women and girls
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who were caught up in a revolving door
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of a life in and out of prison
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due to poverty.
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After my release,
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I set up Clean Start.
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Clean Start is a social enterprise
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that seeks to give these women and girls
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a second chance.
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What we do is we build bridges for them.
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We go into the prisons, train them,
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give them skills, tools and support
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to enable them to be able
to change their mindsets,
to change their mindsets,
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their behaviors and their attitudes.
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We also build bridges into the prisons
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from the corporate sector --
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individuals, organizations
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that will partner with Clean Start
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to enable us to provide employment,
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places to call home,
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jobs, vocational training,
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for these women, girls,
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boys and men,
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upon transition back into society.
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I never thought
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that one day
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I would be giving stories
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of the injustices that are so common
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within the criminal justice system,
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but here I am.
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Every time I go back to prison,
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I feel a little at home,
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but it is the daunting work
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to achieve the vision
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that keeps me awake at night,
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connecting the miles to Louisiana,
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which is deemed as the incarceration
capital of the world,
capital of the world,
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carrying with me stories
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of hundreds of women
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whom I have met within the prisons,
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some of whom are now
embracing their second chances,
embracing their second chances,
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and others who are still
on that bridge of life's journey.
on that bridge of life's journey.
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I embody a line
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from the great Maya Angelou.
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"I come as one,
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but I stand as 10,000."
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(Applause)
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For my story is singular,
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but imagine with me
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the millions of people
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in prisons today,
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yearning for freedom.
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Three years post my conviction
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and two years post my release,
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I got cleared by the courts of appeal
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of any wrongdoing.
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(Applause)
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Around the same time,
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I got blessed with my son,
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whom I named Uhuru,
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which in my dialect means "freedom."
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(Applause)
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Because I had finally gotten the freedom
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that I so longed for.
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I come as one,
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but I stand as 10,000,
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encouraged by the hard-edged hope
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that thousands of us have come together
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to reform and transform
the criminal justice system,
the criminal justice system,
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encouraged that we are doing our jobs
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as we are meant to do them.
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And let us keep doing them
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with no apology.
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Thank you.
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(Applause)
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ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Teresa Njoroge - Criminal and social justice reform advocateAt Clean Start Kenya, Teresa Njoroge builds bridges connecting the formerly imprisoned to the outside world and vice versa.
Why you should listen
Teresa Njoroge is the cofounder and CEO of Clean Start Kenya. She was pursuing her childhood dream, a career in banking, when she was falsely accused of a fraudulent transaction. Sentenced to imprisonment in the High Security Langata Women’s Maximum Prison, Njoroge was forced to bring her three-month-old baby with her.
What began as a loss of career and social standing led to her purpose in life, advocating for Kenyan women, youth and men trapped in a cycle of poverty, survival, petty crimes and life behind bars and equipping them with entrepreneurial skills, jobs and formal education. Later cleared of any wrongdoing, Njoroge is now a beacon of hope and second chances to thousands, with her mission to build up the bottom-of-the-pyramid economy and an inclusive Africa. As she writes: "I am an optimistic, self-driven social entrepreneur with over a decade of progressive experience in economic and social justice work, in my journey from 'I can do it' to 'I did it'!"
Teresa Njoroge | Speaker | TED.com