Among users you would least expect. The brothers, their brew and a buzz. The little micro brewery launched with a lot of faith and prayer. The first bruisery in our order outside of europe. Good evening. Thanks for being with us. I am joie chen. It is said a society can be judged knot by how it treats the best but its most unfortunate of the. Consider the report, the Los Angeles County jail system. Critics say it is one of the worst, a place where discipline has been enforced and excessively enforced, some say, with an iron hand. In the first of a 4part in depth series on crime and punishment, america tonights michael oku goes inside the largest jail in america and speaks with one man who has been through the system. This features jailhouse video some may find disturbing. When i am lying face down with my face on the ground, my hands behind my back and i have about four or five officers come around me and then i hear this. Thats what figaroa says happened when he went to individuals one of the most note toryous jails in america. In july 2010, figaroa got a phone call from his younger brother, juan, who had been arrested and was being held at the jail. Juan, a veteran of desert storm, had trouble adjusting to civilian life since leaving the army. Over the years, he had had a few minor scrapes with the law, but they never amounted to much. So what figaroa heard left his stunned. Your brother calls you . Yes, sir. From jail . Yes, sir. And tells you that his teeth are busted . Yes, sir. What else . And his ribs are broken, sir. His ribs are broken . Yes, sir. Did he give you any indication in that phone call how he sustained those injuries . Los angeles sheriffs. That the los angeles sheriffs had, in fact, hurt him . Yes. Did you believe that . Yes. Figaroa went to the jail hoping to see his brother. After getting what he calls the rungaround, he approached a deputy in the visiting area. So began his own or deal with the hands of the Los Angeles CountySheriffs Department. I started hearing stop resisting. I yelled out, i am in handcuffs. This is an xray of figaroas arm, taken shortly after the incident. So how is your arm now . I can only lift my arm this fall. The strength in it is very weak. Is there still pain . Yes. All the time. The jail system run by the Los Angeles CountySheriffs Department is the largest in the country. Critics say its also one of the worst, a place where beatings and broken bones have been the preferred method of disciplining inmates and visitors alike. Culture, they say, was condoned by the departments brass, including the sheriff, himself, ree baka. He stemmed down last week. His resignation was hastened after federal authorities recently announced charges against 18 officers who worked at the jail. Figaroas story is just one of several recounted in the indictments. After leo figaroa was injured, he was questioned by a supervisor in charge of the visitors area, Sergeant Eric gonzalez. He repeatedly pressed digaroa suggesting he was responsible for the attack. Not told to leave. If i was told to leave, i would have left. I was backing away from the officer. Why would you back away . I was backing away from the officer because he is going over here, there is nothing i can do for you. Who is your watch commander . I am not telling you. Did you have that tone of voice with the deposit at this . No. Thats what they are telling me. At one point, gonzales even handled figaroas broken arm. Medical attention. All right . It appears to be aagh. Left arm, red, swelling. According to one of the federal indictments, gonzales didnt like it when visitors disrespected deputies, so he encouraged those under his command to conduct unreasonable searchs and seizures, engage in Excessive Force and to make unlawfully arrests. Figaroa was held for five days although he was never charged with a crime. I didnt do anything to the deputy sheriffs or anyone else that i was involved with. And they know that. The bottom line is they know that. Reporter it wasnt just jailhouse visitors like figaroa who were mistreated by deputies. The indictments make clear inmates were harshly treated as well. A young gentleman who was a pretrial detainee at Los Angeles County jail and was brutally beateng by three deputies. Sonya macato is a civil rights attorney who has represented. He heard joking about the manuals injuries. He was fine. He is talking right now. If you are difficult in jail, you will be disciplined. Everybody assumes that. Thats right. Why should we care that these inmates are being disciplined . I think that if you are difficult in jail, you should be disciplined, but the punishment does not to be that i just get to beat you. Its not by breaking the probablying on his ankles because you took a flashlight that was 40 ounces and you beat his ankle until it broke in 4 or five different places. Is not punishment. Thats brutality. After suing the Sheriffs Department and the officers involved, a jury unanimously awarded the imagine 125,000 in damages. Sheriff baka, a former jail house captain and the deputies involved also agreed to pay 165,000 in punitive penalties. The Sheriffs Department wouldnt comment on that case or mr. Figaroas. The Sheriffs Office declined a request for an interview. The surplus is spent quickly on just maintaining the building. However, we were given a tour of the mens central jail by the man who was sent here to clean things up. The jails across the country is escalators. Captain daniel dire overseas daytoday operations at the jail. He has been on the job seven months. What was your first reaction when you heard that there were guards who were physically abusing not only some of the inmates here but the visitors of some of those inmates . You know, disbelief. He blames a lot of the problems on poor morale, saying officers regarded working at the jail as a temporary stop on the way to more glamorous jobs within the department. Guys, how are you. How critical is it for your sheriffs deputy deputies and guards to develop relationships with these inmates . Its very critical. You give them the respect, you get the respect back. Most of my staff have come to realize that. And the rapport with the deputy and the inmates is remarkable really. I dont need to tell you, you look around. There are guards everywhere. This is a jail. And so, with all of that negative energy, every single da day. So this is the 3000 floor. As you know, this is one of the floors where people ald allege some of the wrongdoings were most seriously inflicted. Is there abuse at this jail or has abuse happened at this jail in the past . We had problems with it as rampant as some of the media portrays it . No. I have some outstanding men and women who work with some of the toughest l. A. Street criminals. I am sure you have dedicated people but it sounds a little bit like spin when you say that it might have been over blown by the media. We are talking about 18 separate individuals. No doubt. Current and past. Thats right . Thats a lot of folks. There are a lot of folks and there are some serious allegations, and we take every single one of those extremely serious. We have dong a lot of things since then. I have almost doubled my supervision. We have changed some protocols and basically gone back to the drawing board on a few things. There are those in los angeles who say the Sheriffs Department cant be trusted to clean up its own act. Los angeles county supervisor Mark Ridley Thomas is one of them. In 2012, a Commission Formed by the county board of supervisors found a persistent pattern of Unreasonable Force in the Los Angeles County jails that dates back many years. It added notwithstanding recent reforms, the commission does not believe that the problem of excessive use of force has been fixed. Baka is resigning. Problem solved . No, because this is not reducible to a single individual or personality. The problems are structural. They are systemic. I think you have to have better over sight, and that means you have to have a set of eyes and ears, an Inspector General and an Oversight Panel so that this department is not left to police itself. As for leo sfaiings figaroa judge awarded him 320,000 for his or deal. Award is currently being appealed. Its estimated figaroa faces another 100,000 in medical cos costs. He says his studies have also suffered since the incident. He has been working towards a masters degree. In the end, know, figaroa says whats most important is that the truth about what happened to him is finally, coming out so that a stay or even just a visit to the lacounty jail is no longer a lifethreatening experience. Michael oku, al jazeera, los angeles. Tuesday on america tonight, we continue our indepth crime and punishment series with a look at death drugs. As u. S. Prisons run out of the drug commonly used in lethal injections, an unusual execution illustrates the length that some states are going through to put the condemns to death. We didnt expect to see what we saw. We expected it to look like he just went to sleep. Thats what we expected. After three to four minutes, dennis mcgierp began gasping for breath. His stomach and chest were compressing deeply. He was making a snorting sound, almost a choking sound. A botched execution with untested drugs and another death row inmates desperate fight to escape the same fight. Crime and punishment, death drugs, the story tuesday on ameri america tonight. You can explore more about the ways america polices, prosecutes and punishes its on where we probe more of what is and isnt working in the u. S. Justice system. When we return, a stars sudden death points to bigger worries about the spread of heroin and the risk more middle class users are taking with it. We are devastated. We are devastated. I couldnt i couldnt imagine. Yes even know what heroin looked like. Why smack is back and booming in suburban america after the break. Hard hitting. Ground breaking. Truth seeking. Al jazeera americas breakthrough investigative documentary series. This is where colombias war continues. Decades of violence. Familes driven from their land. We have to get out of here. Now the people are fighting back. They dont wanna show whats really going on fault lines columbia the fight for land only on Al Jazeera America every sunday night Al Jazeera America brings you controversial. Both parties are owned by the corporations. Entertaining its fun to play with ideas. Thought provoking get your damn education. Surprising oh, absolutely . Exclusive oneonone interviews with the most interesting people of our time. Youre listening because you want to see whats going to happen. I want to know what works what do you know works . Conversations you wont find anywhere else. Talk to al jazeera. Only on Al Jazeera America. Oh my the stunning reports of actor seymour hoffmans death were not only because of the father of three but the apparent cause, a heroin dose. Hoffman sought rehab last year when he said his dependency on prescription painkillers led him to heroin abuse. It under scores a concern for drug abuse counselors who worry that the street level junkies, heroin has taken place in many places you wouldnt expect. Carmon caposes son is a new face from heroin, a kid with ambitions toss join the navy. Instead, he oded in a motel 90 days after he had gotten clean. We were devastated. We were devastated. I couldnt imagine i didnt know what heroine looked like. Suburban parents are seeing heroine destroy their communities. Warning of an epidemic. In one county more Overdose Deaths than traffic accidents combined. A wave of death, 22 in six days. Saturday, when i had four and sunday, when i had three, i knew that i was hitting some major part of an overdose crisis. They were poisoned by fentynl. It is as much as 100 times stronger than morphine. If people were dying from something, you would think common sense would tell you, stay away from that. But because of the nature of addiction, people with addiction, they believe thats the good stuff. Thats the strong stuff. Its not just in western pennsylvania. A yet to be published study from Washington University in st. Louis found the number of rehab patients being treated for harry win addiction has ballooned from 10 to more than 20 in just the last two years. Experts say heroin has become more attractive to users as drug makers clamp down on prescription opiates like like oxycontin and its appeal even in suburbia is growing. In just the last few weez, as pittsburgh Law Enforcement tracked the fentanyl laced heroin, they found heroin being sold by dealers in fast food outlets stuffed into happy meals. This is supposed to be a fast food restaurant. Its fast food and dope. What a gift. It is stunning, epidemic proportions, the former Baltimore County drug czar and host of straight talk. Help us understand about this. After all, we are talking about an incredibly successful actor. Every sign that he had everything to live for, said he had beaten his addiction years and years ago. How could somebody like this be drawn into heroin use . Heroin has become so mainstream in the last couple of years that it doesnt discriminate anymore. It user to be an inner city drug. Now, we are looking in suburban america everywhere, every community in this country is seeing young people, young adults who are getting involved, first usually with prescription pills, and then they switch over to heroine because its actually becoming more available and actually cheaper and stronger. Explain that to me. Very said ductive. I have heard this repeatedly things like making oxycodone difficult to access is actually increasing the use of heroin even among these suburban communities like that young man that we saw in the report. Yeah. Yeah. Well, the last five years, we have always watched an epidemic of Prescription Drug abuse. When you look at the actual numbers, more people in america die from an overdose of prescription painkillers than heroin and cocaine combined. So the problem of Prescription Drug abuse has grown dramatically over the last five years. As the government has cracked down on doctors prescribing Prescription Drugs, people are addicted. So they are left with their addiction and what they end up doing is going to the streets, looking for heroin. And because heroin is more available than ever before, in suburbia, then its cheaper. And so now, weve got this doubleedged sword of those addicted to Prescription Drugs now hooked on heroin and on top of it, we see the recent epidemic of the fentanyllaced heroin and thats a killer drug. I mean that is a killer drug. You add it all together, and weve got ourselves a deadly epidemic of young people, whether they are famous or not famous who are using heroin and now they are getting not just addicted, but they are dying. Right. We are not giving away a secret here you have youve just as bad of a thing i can imagine, people shooting heroin. How can it become so tractive . Heroin is one of those drugs when are its almost the forbidden fruit if you are doing drugs. Whose the hard drugs. But in reality, the high you get from heroin is extremely euphoric and the user tends to want to go back to that u euphoria over and over again. When i started doing heroin, i didnt understand what addiction was but the drug made you feel very warm, very good, very mellow, and you kept going back. What we didnt realize, what i didnt realize was how addictive it actually was. And got hooked very quickly and found myself needing more and more and more, thus needing to commit crimes and getting more money to get the drugs that i needed. Once you stop, its still a powerful addiction. Right. The other thing you see, both in Phillip Seymour hoffmans case and the young man profiled earlier, both of these people had gotten clean at some point and somehow fallen back. How does that happen . By the time you get cleaned up, you realize i dont want to ever do that again . Two things are happening. A lot of people do not understand addiction. Its an illness. Its a disease, something you have to live with and deal with every single day for the rest of your life. A lot of people dont believe that. A lot of people feel like, well, i can do a little bit of this or a little bit of that and i wont go back to being a heroin addict. They are wrong because they will. Thats one. The other part is, is that the seduction of heroin is so strong not only on your body but on your brain that the memory of that feeling comes back over and over. I mean we have this killer drug now with fentanyl and heroin and heroin addicts who havent used for years are actually going back and using again. Basis they know its had a super powerful drug. It induce them back. What i had read about president pittsburgh cases, one of the people who almost killed himself, almost overdosed to that point had said, my dealer told me that it was too strong to use, not to use it all. Thats the weird part of addiction. You think people would say stay away. Instead, they go toward the drug because its a better high. I overdosed several times. I relapsed many times. Thats the nature of the disease of addiction. The problem here is, weve got this killer drug out there, and younger people than ever using heroin in the suburban communities throughout this country and parents, professionals, health experts, people who need to wake up and realize this is not just an inner city problem. This is something very, very deadly and we need help. We need treatment centers. We need more available resources for people. This is not enough help for people to begin with. Remarkable. We are going continue to follow this. Al former Baltimore County drug czar. Thank you for being with us. Thank you. When we return, why the giant farm belt aimed at supporting millions of americans families could also lead to less food on the table. More fun than the camp because it teaches us and makes us now a snapshot of stories making headlines on america tonight. The winter storm has paralyzed parts of the mid atlantic, the northeast, snow, frigid temperatures calling School Closures and flight delays across the region. This storm will be shortlived but another is expected to hit as early as wednesday. The abortion rate has dropped to the lowest level since it was legalized in 1973, a study from the good macher reason said they found no evidence looking the decline to antiabortion laws. One of new jersey governors ai aides resigned. Christina rena, former director of departmental relations is the second person in christies inner circle to leave since news of the scandal broke last month. The governor continues to deny any involvement in it. When Congress Approved the nearly half a trillion dollar farm bill, it meant a step forward, a big one for crop subsidies but it could deal a devastating blow to 850,000 American Families who depend upon food stamps. This legislation which the senate and president are expected to prove would bring a savings of almost 17,000,000,000 over the next decade but it includes almost a 9 billion to snap. It means a households benefits would be sliced by 90 a month. Might not seem like a lot to some folks but for a family of four it is a weeks worth of inexpensive groceries. This comes at a time when 80 of households that receive these benefits have a gross income below the poverty line. In the 2012, food stamps alone helped 4 Million People out of poverty. This way 65 million americans receive snap benefits for at least a month. Thats more than 1 5 of the population. Joining us now is joshua smith, a senior policy analyst with the Economic Policy institute, and he is here in the studio with us. Explain to us, joshua, how this has come about. I mean this is really going to be a significant blow to these people in this group . Absolutely. Absolutely. You have to remember that these benefits just arent that lavish. The u. S. Government thinks that the average food stamp goes for a meal that they provide is a dollar 40. Thats it. Thats all that the food stands by 1. 40. Thats what its based on . So the cuts that have occurred are Something Like 16 meals per week. Thats not even counting the cuts that are about to occur that you were just discussing. Talk to us a little bit about whats in this bill and how this is going to change things. I mean its a complete show of what happens . Proponents consider this closing a loop hole. Right now, states and the District Of Columbia can provide heating assistance for just a dollar and that increases snap benefits, like you were saying by 8 and a ha 8 and a half bills to these 850,000 people every year. So they think that they are closing a loophole. In isolation, this might be perceived as a good cut, as closing a loophole that affects, you know, not terrible many people who receive the benefits. But thats only in isolation. If we want to cut 8 and a ha 8 billion dollars from the budget, there are myriad places to do it, not from people who are in poverty, not from, you know, folks who have had kids and work two jobs like a lot of food stamp recipients do. We want to bring in now q sewell who is on the program and who recently saw his own benefits cut. Sewell, appreciate you being with us. What do you think the misconception is people have of folks who are on food stamps . Well, i mean, i guess some people think that a lot of people on food stamps have been there their whole life or it was something they, you know, tried to get whereas i think amount of people like myself wound up there due to being laid off and then not being able to find anything comparable and winding up going back to work for much less than i was making, and the food stamps are about the only thing that, you know, are keeping us going. Right. Now, you have, i understand, a family of three . Yes. I have myself, my wife and my daughter. Uhhuh. And fifteen. Your monthly stamps are 526 a month . Well, thats what it was. I think it had just got dropped about 40 on so. This is significance, even at the 526 level, what does that really mean for you and your family in a month . How does that chanyour buying habits . What do you eat for that kind of money . Well, you know, when you go shopping at the beginning of the month, you make sure you buy, you know, a big bag of rice and plenty of, you know, preferred kind of dried beans, something that will last you and a lot of pasta and sauce and then, you know, you buy some chicken and maybe get yourself some hamburger and eat good for a little while but toward the end of the month, you know, you are finding leftovers to mix up with some beans and rice. You know, a lot of the discussion that we are having about this with mr. Smith here is this notion that came up from walmart actually last week, which in talking about its Profit Center said, look. One of the elements that we are looking at here is the impact of people having less in food stamp benefits, buying less at walmart. It is a trickledown effect that maybe the policy makers dont see . In this case, its sort of trickleup economics, people like mr. Sewell cant afford to buy as much as walmart. You know, the rising tide lifts all boats. If the tide isnt rising, you cant lift the boat of the walton family. A dollar in food stamps gives about a dollar seventy. They spend them. Say they spend them at safeway. Safe way needs to hire more people. The peer they hire, in turn, have the money to buy goods and the stores that sell those goods have to hire more people. Its a virtual cycle. So cutting these kind of benefits is cruel to folks who are getting cut and its also stupid for the entire economy. Mr. Sewell, do you see that in your tone experience . I mean did it change, for example, where you and your family would buy your food or what kinds of things top shelf stuff, brandname stuff, all of that, i presume, goes away when you are dealing with these kind of numbers . Well, yeah. You dont you know, you dont buy steak. Very rarely if there is something cheap. Would you be shopping at walmart anyway . No. I dont shop. We did shop a couple of times at walmart but we found that their produce was not very appetizing. It seemed to be old. So we shop at our local shop. You shop at a shop rite so you are looking for bargain items, what we would conventionally thing of, walmart holds itself out as having great prices. Thats not necessarily the most efficient use of the food stamp money you get . Well, especially if the food is going to go, like you buy strawberries and three days later they are moldy in your refrigerator. Its not at good place to shop for produce anyway. A last word here, mr. Smith, you know, can you just help us understand its a simple thing to say, if we cut out this benefit, its going to be a good thing for the economy. But it isnt necessarily. Thats exactly right. The idea is that we are trying to induce people to get jobs. The fact is the jobs arent there. They are almost three job seekers to every job thats opened and cutting benefits for the people who need them most, for families who, you know, through no fault of their own are in situations like mr. Sewell. Its not smart. Its cruel, and its stupid. Mr. Sewell, mr. Smith, appreciate both of your being with us and helping us to understand a little bit more about the Food Stamp Program and what it means to real families. Thank you very much. Coming up next, her bones are brittle but her spirit is unbreakable. How one brave teenager is fighting to do what her body cannot live strong. The struggling midddle class we just cant get ahead. Working longer hours, for less pay. People are struggling everywhere. School loans. Morgages. Inflation. Taking its toll. We live paycheck to paycheck. Now in a continuing series, join ali velshi as we follow families, just like yours, as they try to get by. Were all struggling financially. Americas middle class rebuilding the dream on Al Jazeera America in todays healthcare land scam a lot of cash is poured into curing a lot of diseases but for people with rare conditions, research and Research Money is often minimal, leaving hope for a cure out of reach. Ameri america tonight looks at how one family struggles. There is one young woman whose spirit remains quite unbreakable. Wait for mommy. On a cold, rainy day in baltimore, Hanna Brammer and her mother, valerie make a trip they have made hundreds of times. Another visit to the doctor for another broken bone. A first met hanna back in 2006. Good to see you, too. How are you . I featured her in a report about the rare disease, osteogenesis, brittle bones. First time we met, you were like six. Now, hanna is growing up. She is 13 years old with the same vibrant spirit and an unforgettable laugh. But sadly, hannas condition has not gotten better. She has suffered more than 126 bone fractures from things as simple as bumping into a wall or just rolling over in bed. Make it quick. On this day, she is getting a checkup on her broken arm. Osteogenesis imperfecta, called oi, is extremely rare. Affecting between 25 to 50,000 americans with various degrees of severity. Hannas condition is among the most serious. Do you think your body has just gotten used to the pain . No. No . Sometimes they really do hurt . Uhhuh. Can you describe what the pain is like when its bad . On a scale of 1 to 10 . Yeah. Like off of the scale. Like 40. Hanna banana, how are you . Dr. Hersenberg is one the the top pediatric orthopedic specialists. He showed us how the disease has ravaged hanna i had boy. Body. The most obvious example is the knee is over here. This is the middle of her tibia and the fractures are occurred primarily in here and healed in this position since birth. The bones that are most susceptible to fracture appear to be the longer bones. I made my whole career trying to straighten out crooked bones. Its frustrating that hanna, we have not been successful in getting her straight. Its the underlying bone disease thats defeating us. Its a challenge. Its also frustrating. What is it about hanna that you find special . Hanna has a bright and engaging spirit. If any one of us were in her situation, we may be bitter or disillusioned or negative and she is just bright and cheery and accepts her fate and moves on and does the best that she can. Are you okay, hanna . The outside world can be a scary place for hanna, a simple crack in the sidewalk or an innocent bump in a crowd can lead to another painful break. Comfortable right now but i cant see the slide. I only see my answers. Anna find safety at home in her bright pink bedroom. She takes classes online. She tried Traditional School al few years ago, but she was bullied, and it was too dangerous. But when i was opening my locker door, i didnt see it, but my mom saw it, and it was some girl hitting about to hit me on the back of my head. It was a catastrophfee waiting to happen, and i was not going to sit by and have my daughter be hospitalized for something that could have been avoided and to hear the School System say, im sorry. You are a fighter . I am. You fight for this girl. I have to. I have to. Look at her. Yeah. She deserves every chance at happiness. Valuer rebrammer has raised hanna all by herself since day one. When you think back to delivering her . Yeah. And holding her for the first time, what was that like . You know, no one has ever asked me that. They didnt allow me to hold her. They didnt think she was going to make it. Valerie and hanna spend most of their free time inside their condominium. I am heating up your food. Ready to eat . Yes. Its out fitted with small ramps so hanna can use the bathroom. I come up here and brush my teeth right here. Do you always go back first up these ramps. Or climb into a motorized lift bed. Its tiring. And look out the window. You have a great view out there. Sometimes i will wake up but dont raise the bed until two hours later. Hey. Hey. Hannas best friend is katy, another teenager from tennessee who also has brittle bones. Do you have eye liner on or mascara . Both. Oh. I could definitely see it. The two chat online almost every day, and their discussions are pretty typical for teenage girls. When i turn 13, i like boys now. And you like boys now . Yes. And i am into makeup and just like really girlie things and shopping. So what are your dreams . To be a model and a Fashion Designer or a dancer. I like to exercise. Hannas not just a fan of beyonces. She is also a friend. The singer became aware of hanna through a fan site, met her, and found her story inspiring. She featured hanna in a music video. In fact, beyonce calls hanna her little sys. So fun to see you in that video. Beyonce has brought some attention to osteo genesi osteo genesis imperfecta, the disease remains mainly ignored in the scientific community. Tracy heart rungs the oi foundation, which has a small 2 million annual operating budget. What are the big challenges ahead for you guys . I think the challenges relate to research. Every year, hundreds of families with oi request help, but resources are stretched thing. How often do you have to say no because you simply dont have enough funding . Unfortunately, we have to say no a lot. I would love to be able to make millions of dollars every year to put right back into the community and into programs. But somebody said, i cant get out of my house because i dont have a ramp to get out of my house. To be able to to just do everything. Despite optimism, people like hanna may some day be cured. Every day challenges are the current reality both physically and emotionally. Some people stair at me or some people say, like baby, like the real kids say i am a baby and mama has to tell them, no, i am a teenager. So, its weird. Cant they see i am not one . Hey. You forgot something . Yeah. I know you are hungry. Come on now. You know better. Shortly after this exchange, the normally cheerful hanna asked us to stop the interview. You are tearing up a little bit. Why . I want to be over with. You dont want to talk any more . shakes head. all right. I love you, darling. You know that . Rig right . Her mother said its one of the first time she has seen her daughter cry about her oi. Now you are being miss teenager. What did you make of that . Well, i think she is a teenager now. She is understanding more, and it may be she realizes shes different. But perhaps now, she realizes more of her limitations. How is this disease going to affect hannas life span . We dont know what the true Life Expectancy is going to be. We hope it will be as long as possible. But she has such a ceph over form. I mean literally, her skeleton isnt Strong Enough to hold up her body. What are your dreams for hanna future . My prior every day and every night, i want the manifestation of her heal to go take place. I would trade everything in the world for that. That would be my heaven here on earth. To see her run into my arms. Run . Run. And give hanna the big strong hug so cruelly denied by this disease. I think just about anyone who has ever met hanna really would love to see her run some day. She has such an amazing spirit. I am proud to report she is doing extremely well in her studies. She makes these hilarious youtube videos. Doctors say there are some pretty serious concerns about her longterm health. Thats because of this disease. She has a very short trunk, and that does put her at danger for some lung issues in the future, joie. Adam, she has an amazing personality. I can imagine why beyonce would be inspired by her. But i have to think that this would be awfully defendant financially for hanna and her mom and others in this situation. Its incredible how financially draining it can be on this family. Hanna can simply not be left at home alone even at the age of 13. Her mom has had to quit her job, all of the equipment that they need in order for hanna to try and live a successful life, that all costs a lot of money. The family has almost been evicted on a couple of occasions. Oh, adam, adam may for ameri america tonight. We know you will follow up and tell us more about how she is doing. Thanks, adam. Yeah. Still to come here, spiritual spirits here what . Monks . We will take you inside the abby turned brewery next. Al jazeera america. Finally, from us this hour, we take you to Saint Josephs abbey in massachusetts. It is one of the spiritual homes of a group of monks called trapists, they are a Roman Catholic order and live secluded lives sentencerred around meditation and separation from the outside world. But they do need to survive. And the only money they can take in is from selling products made by their own hands. So last month, the monks tried something different. They opened the First American trapist beer brewery. Its a big departure. We go behind the scenes at Saint Josephsap abbey in spencer, massachusetts. We are honored to be the first News Organization to do so in 30 years. Its about hope. Its about the future. And to kind of give ourselves a new beginning. Its about survival of the community here. Solitude is one of the most precious things we have, and for me personally because it helps me Pay Attention, to Pay Attention to the mystery and the goodness that i am seeking. To me, the learning curve was about 100 . My background is really pottery. A brother had the inspired idea for the brewery invited me in at the beginning because i could bring kind of aircraft background to it. Traff trappist monk belongs worldwide religious order that follows Saint Benedict which goes back to the 6th century but tries to follow a more prim i have been mon after thecism. Thats why we were founded in 1098. We gathered together as a community several times a day to pray. Also private prayer in solitude and dwelling with the word of god, meditation. Thats a big part. No draft beer. This is all bottled beer. The first batch was released and filled out the next day in a retail store. Thats good but its also challenging because we need to get more beer out to the public. In our monastery, we presentlied have 63 members. The oldest 97, 98. The youngest is 27. Its a slice of life that in the United States there are a total of 17 monasteries of trappists and trappistines, both monks and nuns, probably 160, 65 hon starries in the world. And monasteries in the world and several thousand including the male and the female branch of the order. Putting the labels on. Putting the back label on and getting close to running at speed. We are about five weeks into commissioning this and trying to make it work. Our goal is to be selfsupportive. So how have we supported ourselves financially . When we came to spencer, we inharried a farm and we were farmers and sold good milk. When it was no longer viable, we made jams and gellies and pres overbids evans. We discovered we were good at it and there was a market for it. This is preparing the shipping car topics one by one. Its one of my favorite machines when its operating. Over in jelly, we put a lot of these cartons together by hand for years by the millions. To have the machine do it automatically is fantastic. As time went on in the last 10 years or so, our expenses out ran our income and we had to find a way to sustain ourselves. In a way, we are trying to reinvent our economy and our capacity to live in this monastery, which a whole generation spent their lives building. And a Huge Community of people around us who find this is their spiritual home. I think when the idea first idea came up, especially the younger monks thought it would be great, it would be more interesting than making jams and preserves. The older monks were cautious because its something new and we dont know how it will work and how this will fit in American Culture and how does it reflect our values . And all of that is important. When it came time to vote, was presented in this room, and the results were 85, 87 , an overwhelming majority to proceed with this. Another machine monks like. This is the packer. So when the carton comes down, its packed with 24 bottles in. Again, many spent years putting six jars of gellie in car topics for several hours a day. So. A great significance of our brewery is we are the First American trappist brewery, the first brewery in our order outside of europe. I would say trapist beer has a golden sensor. I drive people crazy with this. They say what does it mean . A distinctive case, it communicates wholesomeness and has a clean finish. When someone becomes a monk, they are making a lifelong commitment, which means they stay in this monastery that they enter until they die. We have two happy occasions in a monks life, the day he makes his final vows and the second is when we bring him to the cemetery and thats a happy day for us. Thats when you complete your final vows so to speak. I think anything that we do have that dimension of you give yourself totally to it. Early on, we were looking for funding. One of the First Bankers we talked to asked our abbott why are you doing this . And he really paused and then he said, survival. Most startups dont make it but people doing it to survive have the greatest percentage of success. I do think about the future, and i know that its going to be different from how it is today. If you dont change, you dont grow. To me, the brewery is a symbol of something thats hightech. You can see we have almost like medieval building but it goes together so the future will be different. The future is very important. A spirit with wholesomeness, father said in a clean finish. Thats it for us here on america tonight police remember if you would like to comment on the stories, log onto our website, aljazeera. Com americatonight and please join the conversation. We are on exiter or at our facebook page. Tonight, we will have more of america tonight tomorrow. Welcome to Al Jazeera America. I am richelle kerry. A convicted murderer is in custody. Michael David Elliott got away last night and abducted a woman and drove her car to a gauging station. She wasability escape and call 911. He was convicted in 1993 of murdering four people. The stockmarket dropped 326 points today. Its worse hit since june. Analysts blame it on a disappointing factory activity report. Manufacturing was at its slowest level in eight months. Thousands of flights had been cancelled after a major winter storm hit the east coast from boston to washington, d. C. Chris christie has declared a state of emergency. More storms are expected this week. The trial of michael dunn, accused of killing 17yearold jordan davis in a dispute over loud music. Dunn says he was acting in self defense. The case has drawn compare songs to the death of tray von martin. The government says it will require cars to talk to each other. The department of transportation says the vehicle to Vehicle Technology is being developed so it will improve safety. It will allow cars to change speed and position to avoid crashes. Those are the headlines. I am richelle carey. I will see you back. Coming up, executed before a final appeal, consider this with antonio mora is next. Check out our website at aljazeera. Com. Its the american dream, a good job, a home for your family, a Better Future for your children. Somewhere along the way, that dream gave way to a harsh reality. Paycheck to paycheck. That hard work alone is not enough . I feel like i am on a treadmill. To keep middle class families from falling behind. People are struggling today. Their struggle is the story of todays america, a country that counts on those in the middle to lead on the path to prosperity