And ive kept it off. Golo is real, our customers are real, and our Success Stories are real. Why not give it a try . [medical machines beeping] wow. A busy body. Aww, look at that. [machines beeping] its a boy. Oh, my god, i knew it. All wow yeah, its a boy. [laughter] oh, wow. Congratulations. Oh, my god. Yeah. What names did you have picked out . Tyson. Tyson. Oh, thats cute. You did a great job, mom. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Yeah, i tried. Now its dads time to shine. This is his■this is his■ this is his time. Yeah. We owe this to him. This is■ you know, i think that blessings come■ i cant wait till he meet winston. Yeah, me too. And tyson. Yeah. Blessings always come on time. And i want us to have, like, this huge coming home party for him. He needs that, you know . He needs to feel that love. Like, we never let his hand go even though all the distance. Im sure thatll make him happy. Hopefully we dont have to wait too much longer to find out. Just pray. Nothing like prayer. [soft dramatic music] as the state of michigan takes on recreational sales of marijuana, one man is currently sitting in the Muskegon County correctional facility. Michael thompson sold three pounds of marijuana in the 90s. Thompson is considered the longest incarcerated nonviolent offender in michigans history. He was sentenced to 40 to 60 years in prison for selling weed to an undercover informant. The state says he was also in possession of a firearm. The gun wasnt in his possession during the crime. It was at his home while he sold the drugs at another location. Michael thompson was convicted in may 1996, a jury finding him guilty on five felony charges. The judge ordered thompson to serve decades in prison despite there being a plea deal at the time that wouldve resulted in probation. Because he was considered a habitual offender, thompson received a 40 to 60year prison sentence. The parole board has an opportunity to send his case to Governor Whitmer for clemency. The request for Clemency Will HitGovernor Whitmers desk tomorrow. [soft dramatic music] hello. Good morning. Morning. I wanna do lottery. Ima get a couple of these. Light breakfast. The thing i like about my lottery is being able to wait for it to come out and hope its your number. My dads Parole Hearing is like the best thing coming up right now for me. He was such a good man. Even when he went to prison for selling drugs and came home, General Motors offered him a job back again. And he got his job back. I guess he had this dream of how he wanted his life to be, and how he wanted to raise his children, and what he wanted for his children. So he probably wanted so much for us that he didnt have that much to offer. So he went to selling drugs. [line ringing] hey, kim. How are you . Hey, good. Do you have a minute . Sure. Mmhmm. I wanted to touch base with you. I asked you last week to follow up with the parole board for Michael Thompson. Yeah. Whats going on with that . Well, i havent gotten any response■ at least nothing that indicates something solid. I sent them another email indicating that it had been three weeks since they had responded. [scoffs] in Parole Boards in other states, people answer the phone. You can talk to members of the board. You can talk to their secretaries. Its just bizarre to me that no ones responsive to us. Yeah. Im gonna try and schedule a call with michael. I was just hoping we had something to give him, but sounds like■ i know. I wish. I wish. Well, give him my best. Im really■ well keep pushing. Okay. Thanks, katerina. Sure. Take care. Talk to you soon. Bye. Byebye. [call ends] [vacuum whooshing] the facts are someone came to michaels house, discussed purchasing marijuana. He went to another house, got that marijuana, and then delivered it to the confidential informant. And they used the Marijuana Sale to search his house for the guns. At no point was a gun referenced, utilized, brandished, spoken about. Without the guns, it still wouldve been an offensivelyhigh sentence for marijuana, but he wouldve been maxed at 15 years instead of a life sentence. Police and prosecutors packaged the weed and the guns together like they were one big crime. Three pounds of marijuana with no weapon. You see how it doesnt make sense when we go to talk about the guns . The guns have nothing to do with the drugs. His record is not very substantial in the first place. And to see this kind of sentence, i cant imagine what was going through the judges mind. I dont even think people would get sent to prison at all for those types of crimes today. Were really trying to keep our community safe, and nothing from these facts tell me that my community was unsafe based upon his actions. When you look at the whole of michael as a person, his convictions are an outlier for the things hes contributed. Prior to these convictions, michael was given the key to the city. He won awards through the naacp. He led a gang walk. Hes not a drug dealer whos turned himself around. Hes a Community Organizer who fell into some drug trafficking. [machine whirring] line 16. Its very hard to get clemency in michigan. You know, we have currently 33,500 people in prison. The chances of any one of those people getting their sentence commuted is vanishingly small. Makes me mad as hell. 915, 200. Everybody around michigan freely smoking. And that same product that they have, my fathers sitting behind bars for that item. The Cannabis Industry is projected to hit 24 billion in legal sales this year. We are not equal under the law in this country. One person gets on the cover of entrepreneur magazine. The other person gets ten years and life. There are more arrests for Marijuana Possession than Violent Crime every year in the u. S. Were seeing legalization, and yet people are still languishing behind bars for something that people are now profiting off of. [indistinct chatter] i heard jesse kind of■ manufacturing is up. Okay, i want yall to listen for a second. Daddy going to the front of the parole board at 9 00 a. M. , and i wanna thank you all for supporting me as a family. If they dont let him go this time, its over. 2038 would be the day he get out. Thats 20 years almost. Like, 19, 20 years. Its something i dont wanna see, because you think about it, you do the math. Hed be 90 years old when he get out■ if he make it. So if you go, just join your hands together with me as i try to say a prayer. Hold his hand. Hold right here. You good . Dear father, i come to you today in reference to my father, lord. Lord, im coming to you in good faith knowing that you are my number one provider. Lord, my father is on the way to a Parole Hearing, and i just need you to heal the hurts and touch the hearts of those that he would come in front of. Lord, i thank you for all that youve done for me and my children, my parents. Weve been following the growing anger surrounding Michael Thompsons lengthy sentence. That man is asking the governor for clemency■ something that was denied by the previous governor. Tweets from across the country call on Governor Whitmer to release him. Tens of thousands of people have written the governor and Parole Board Calling for his early release. The board must now vote whether to send his case to Governor Whitmer for commutation. Two new ihop lunch and dinner menu items for twice the goodness, twice the flavor, and twice the choice. Sirloin salisbury steak and allnatural salmon. Perfect for lunch or dinner. Only at ihop. Download the app and earn free food with every purchase. One prilosec otc each Morning Blocks heartburn all day and all night. 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And deliver ultracapacity 5g coverage thats years ahead of the competition. Tmobile for business has 5g thats ready right now. Well, hello. Good morning. Good morning. How are you . Great. How are you . Im fine. Nice to see you this morning. [singing] happy birthday to yo oh this is so nice. [laughs] [singing] happy birthday to yo wow. [singing] happy birthday, dear aww. Thats so nice. [singing] happy birthday to yo aww, thank you. [singing] may the good lord bless you. May the good lord bless you. [voice cracking] may the good lord. Bless you. May the good lord bless you. [sniffles] thats very nice. Thank you. Tim, do you have a number of how many people are speaking . Yeah, looks like theres 11 that have indicated at the moment that they want to. Okay, are you gonna do a time limit of some sort . Generally five minutes. I was gonna say five■ five is an awful long time. Feel free to shorten that if you want and■ oh, you think five minutes is a long time . Imagine being incarcerated 25 years. This is so irritating to me. Usually Board Members are given two, but, i mean, you can say a lot in two minutes. [scoffs] okay. Its just coming up over here as far as down, right . But when you look in here, they can see you directly in the face, okay . Okay. All right, mr. Thompson, now ill give you an opportunity to make an opening statement, if youd like to. Yeah, i waited■ i waited 25 years to get to this point. And i■you know, i hurt a lot of people. You know what im saying . Especially my family. Im not that person anymore. I dont have that criminal mentality anymore. Period. Im done with that. All i wanna do is get back to my life, get back to my life and get back■ you know what im saying . Try to build me some kind of foundation for my kids. All right. Thank you. I think the thing that attracted me to take this case is that its the most disparate sentencing ive seen in my career, which says a lot. Because i handle a lot of postconviction matters and a lot of matters that deal with these kind of injustices. Beyond that, the governor in michigan has unabashedly held the position that nobody should suffer lifelong consequences for marijuana convictions. We cant give michael back the quarter of a century he spent incarcerated, so he will inevitably face lifelong consequences for this conviction. But we can commute the harm thats being done to him and his family with this ongoing incarceration. My father has grandchildren that he has not met. He even has great grandchildren he has not met. And i just want to bring him home with me. We could build a relationship, and get our life back on track like we used to have. He would give anyone a shirt off his back. He has a very good sense of humor. Mr. Thompson has always been a great person, entrepreneur. He has so many friends in the Community Waiting for his release. Michael has demonstrated a lasting positive effect on those around him. Today, i ask for a measurement of mercy and justice. We believe the time michael has served has repaid any debt he may have owed to society many times over. I am 25 years old. So this sentence that he has served is literally inconceivable to me. It is a lifetime. After learning that this man has served 25 years out of a 40 to 60year sentence for selling marijuana, i was just compelled to do my part. We must do the right things, and im urging the parole board. Please release this man so he can spend the rest of his life getting the chance to know his family. Mr. Thompson stated that he no longer has a criminal mentality, and that alone says it all. Its about whether we in the state of michigan believe that his sentence was good. This man does not deserve to die in a prison cell. Well, that was■ that was a. [exhales] [sighs, sniffling] [clears throat] im thankful to everybody. That was really. Thats all i got say. Im thankful. Okay. Mr. Thompson, i■i obviously■ i mean, hearing all of that, you have a tremendous amount of support and i understand why youre emotional. As i mentioned. Hello. This is a prepaid debit call from. [indistinct chatter] Michael Thompson. An inmate at the Michigan Department of corrections. To accept this call, press zero. [keypad beeps] to refuse this call■ [chuckling] [laughs] this call is from a Correction Facility and is subject to monitoring and recording. [crying] [children playing] [birds chirping] [clock ticking] [dog barking distantly] [clock continues ticking] [soft dramatic music] hey, michael. So do you know why were calling . I heard that there was supposed to be some kind of press Conference Release sometime today. Thats what i heard. Well, im excited to tell you that Governor Whitmer has granted clemency, a commutation, to none other than Michael Thompson. [laughs softly] wow. Can you believe it . [sighs] how are you feeling . [laughs softly] good. Real good. Its good. Its real good. [voice breaking] real, real good. You dont know its been a hard journey, man. A hard journey, believe me. [upbeat guitar music] [cheers and applause] [guitar music] hi, girls. Can you say hi . Hi. Can you say hi . Hi, princess. Hey. I wanna say welcome home and give him a big hug. Hey. [overlapping chatter] thats my daughter. [laughter] hey. Everybody look like■ you know what im saying . [chatter] [singing] been traveling these wide roads for so long. My hearts been far from you, 10,000 miles gone. Once we strip away this artifice of thinking that the drug war is about actually helping people, we can see more clearly how unjust it is. If you were to not just look at what is the exact charge someones incarcerated on, but how did they sort of enter this revolving door, youll find that it had something to do with weed. It is a gateway. It is a gateway to mass incarceration, and thats how we should be talking about weed being a gateway drug. Across this country, people are voting to strike down these laws against marijuana. Legalization will give us some financial tools that we can use through taxation and investment to try to repair some of the harms of both, you know, longstanding racial injustices and the specific negative impacts of the war on drugs. [singing] i wanna go, wanna go, wanna go. Singers [singing] i wanna know, wanna know, wanna know. At one time i didnt think i was gonna ever get out. Just people like the ones i mentioned really, really, really kept me alive. And now i can get that out the way. Now i was gonna let you know im happy. [laughter] yeah [cheers and applause] [singing] ooh. Oh, whoa. Singers [singing] take me to yo i wanna go. [singing] lord. Please let me know. Singers [singing] take me to your river. I wanna go. Id like to thank our sponsor Liberty Mutual. They customize your Car Insurance, so you only pay for what you need. Contestants ready . Go only pay for what you need. Jingle liberty. 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Its nice to unwind after a long week of telling people how Liberty Mutual customizes your Car Insurance so you only pay for what you need limu squawks hes a natural. Only pay for what you need. Liberty. Liberty. Liberty. Liberty. Only pay for what you need. Welcome back. Im ari melber and youve been watching Msnbc Special Presentation of this new documentary the sentence of Michael Thompson. Telling the story of this decadeslong fight for freedom for a man sent to prison for selling marijuana all the way back in 1994. And is part of this msnbc special, now we turn to our guests, including the very subject of this film Michael Thompson and two of the filmmakers, Haley Elizabeth anderson and kyle thrash. Thank you to each of you for being here for having this conversation and for this work, i want to start with you. What does it feel like to get to this point where not only do you have freedom, but a chance to tell people your story. So they can decide whether this seems fair at all. Well, we use that word freedom. I got four years parole. Im still a lot of people dont understand. I got four years parole, you know, still to do. And, that aint that aint easy. You know, here you got guys getting out for murder and they only get two years yeah, i got none Violent Crime marijuana and and i got im still doing parole man. I dont get off parole till 2038. Right. So you i mean not 2038 but for four years. As you say, the state is still involved in what what they call supervision for, as this as the piece shows, something that many people are doing and making plenty of legal money off of nowadays. Making legal money out of it and and im, and im still on parole. Yeah, you know, it just, it just dont something is wrong with the Justice System of america. Something is wrong. And it needs to be fixed. And thats one of the main reasons im here because i just want to let you know. The system is broken, did you think this day would come . And you would be out. Did i think this day would come . No. No, because i didnt suppose to get out till 2038. Right. It took moving mountains to make you an exception but you probably know people who are also still in for, for, for drugs. I know a lot of people thats in for drugs. And thats really why . You know, its an honor for me to be here because i want people to hear me and tell theres some people that need help. And quit Playing Politics, you know, quit Playing Politics with peoples lives because theres some guys in there whod do well out here just like me. Would do well out here and theres a guy going to school to be a, get his masters degree. I mean, doctors degree. His name is leroy washington. Guys like that just just rotting away in there. You know . It just and then i can name on and on, you know im saying youve got people like horace peterson, you know, he didnt kill anyone. But you get him in prison, hed been in prison for 52 years. You seem to have kept some of your spirit. I dont know you, we met today but the cycle of overincarceration especially for very young, people can really change the whole trajectory of their lives. So before i bring in the filmmakers, a bit of a personal question however you want to answer it, how did you stay true to yourself and keep your hope or whatever, kept you going to be the person you are here to be able to talk to us right now. Well, i believe the only, the only one i can depend on was god. And i believed in him, i believed that one day. Yeah, i believed in him. And thats what got you through. Yeah. Like i said, i dont know you, but i appreciate meeting you and you telling your story here. Hayley, your thoughts. Thank you for having us. And im just really happy to be seeing this day with michael. Our whole goal is just to put a face to all of the numbers. Like theres michael knows them. Theres tons of other people that are in just like him. And we just wanted to use the film to kind of bring the humanity to the story because, you know, we know its in the news and everything. In the elections are coming up, but i think seeing somebody like michael and hearing his story is, it helps people access kind of this issue a little bit easier. Now were doing that weird tv thing where we talk about you while youre here. But thats that also goes to kyle which is why does it matter to take some that, we talked about this in politics. We talked about this in numbers. Sure. Why did it matter to you to tell the story as haley was saying through a person . Because this is all people is all people in the system. Yeah, well, i think you know, with cannabis being legal in a lot of states now you know weve seen a lot of people profiting off of you know, Legal Cannabis and theyre still not over 40,000 nonviolent people that are incarcerated you know for cannabis offenses, around this country and theres great people like the last Prisoner Project that are doing work around this and you know they were able to bring you know Michael Story to us and able to tell his story and this last chapter of it you know for his fight for clemency. And i think its just important that you know as as we see legalization around this country. That that we remember that theres still a lot of people incarcerated for it. Yeah, im yeah. And michael my final question to you for people who look at this and say, this is somebody elses problem. Theres just other people in the prisons, youre here on msnbc with the platform. What do you want people to know, think or believe maybe this just doesnt concern them . Well. You know, theyre human beings. Its human beings in there. Yeah, i mean thats thats the thats the crux of it, right . Yeah, i know this is emotional for you and i just want to ill Say Something on tv i said before which is some people go through things and they walk away and deal with their family and we get that some people are willing to risk, the difficulty the retraumatization, so that others might learn. I appreciate you doing that sir. Well, you know, its just its just like you guys. Just dont know. What damage it does to a family. Man spending 25 years of his life in prison for 3 pounds of marijuana. Who had marijuana killed . And you gonna lock him up for 25 years . You know, its its so many other people got a story like mine. The needed to be heard. Thats what im here for. Im fighting for those who you cant hear. Yeah. We got a lot of them we dont get to hear from because of the position the government puts them in. Mr. Thompson. Thank you very much. Appreciate it. Let me tell everyone, i really appreciate it. What were going to do next is part of this special, we are going to then turn to the law. And what michaels case reveals about the laws that are still on the books in many parts of this country. Stay with us. Thank you. People remember ads with young people having a good time. So to help you remember that Liberty Mutual customizes your home insurance, heres a pool party. Good times. Insurance only pay for what you need. Liberty. Liberty. Liberty. Liberty. Lets dive in but what about your back . Its fineeeeeeee ugh Advil Dual Action fights pain two ways. Advil targets pain at the source, acetaminophen blocks pain signals. Advil dual action. Covid19. Some people get it, and some people can get it bad. And for those who do get it bad, it may be because they have a highrisk factor. Such as heart disease, diabetes, being overweight, asthma, or smoking. Even if symptoms feel mild, these factors can increase your risk of covid19 turning severe. 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Jingle liberty. Liberty. Liberty. Liberty. Technically when enamel is gone, you cannot get it back. But there are ways you can repair it. Im excited about pronamel repair because it penetrates deep into the tooth to help actively repair acidweakened enamel. I recommend pronamel repair to my patients. Its nice to unwind after a long week of telling people how Liberty Mutual customizes your Car Insurance so you only pay for what you need limu squawks hes a natural. Only pay for what you need. Liberty. Liberty. Liberty. Liberty. Only pay for what you need. If they dont, let it go this time. Liberty. Liberty. Liberty. Liberty. Its over 2038 will be the day he get out. That was another moment from tonights msnbc presentation of this new documentary, the sentence of Michael Thompson. Im ari melber with more on the fight to free this man who was in prison all those years for selling marijuana. And yet this is at a time when Legal Cannabis is a multibillion Dollar Industry for entrepreneurs, Business People and even some former lawmakers who wrote the laws incarcerating these individuals. To advance our discussion, were now joined by paul butler, a former federal prosecutor and civil rights advocate. And those two filmmakers we heard from Haley Elizabeth anderson and kyle thrash. Your thoughts. Thank you for making this enraging, eloquent cry that helps us understand why not a lot of us dont say criminal Justice System. We talked about a criminal legal system because what happened to mr. Thompson was a travesty of injustices from the macro being sentenced to die in prison. In 2038, when he was supposed to get out, he would have been 90 years old. Thats 20 years past the Life Expectancy for most black men. And of course when youre locked up, you go even quicker to the petty just dumb stuff like calling the parole board over and over. Nobody is answering the telephone. Mr. Thompson has to do his laundry in the prison toilet. So, from the indignities to the huge tragedies, this is american criminal, quoteunquote justice. Yeah. And paul this is something that as we were discussing with mr. Thompson, some people think either doesnt concern them or is over, but we have some data here when you just look at drug arrests nationwide. People look at some of the hard drugs and certain drugs have proven to be very dangerous. Other drugs related to death, its still 34 . Marijuana arrests, paul. And thats not going to change until we stop giving police and prosecutors the power to lock up people. Not just for using this substance, but for also, for supplying it to consumers. So theres been progress which is really good news. President biden made a very important first step with pardoning people who have posseed, who have used drugs, and who got locked up for that. Vastly disproportionate number of those people are black and brown and thats largely the reason why they were targeted by police. We look at mr. Thompsons case. How did he catch this charge . He was turned in by an undercover buyer. In Street Language we call that a snitch. A person who probably got a good deal on his, or her own criminal case for ratting out mr. Thompson, over three pounds of weed. And from that, the cops were able to get a Search Warrant to look inside his house where they find these guns that are mainly are locked up or antique guns. Theyre not hurting anybody. But i do think its important to not only focus on the weed case. A lot of people would look at this and say well dude have 14 guns. He needs to be locked up. But for this long, and for those kinds of guns, lets say, arguably, its a Violent Crime, even though theres no evidence that he used guns at any point or hurt anybody. These guns were literally in in safes, but lets say, for the sake of argument, its a Violent Crime. Well the same thing is true with regard to reform of the criminal legal system regarding people who have caused harm as for people who are nonviolent drug offenders. And the, well the category as you mentioned are important because legally this is where discrimination and discretion comes in because you can walk around texas and you got people brandishing all their weapons and saying this is their right. And then in a different context this is being treated that the possession or existence of something is classified as violent. Although again, if you took a dictionary out, youd say, well, no violence was perpetuated there, but legally they can be stacked that way. Looking at the film that. Now, our viewers have been able to see, youre telling a story, but much of it sort of in reverse because youre not there with the camera at the inception of this situation. Lets look a little bit at how you do that when we hear mr. Thompson on the, on the phone. Haley, tell us about trying to capture the inside of the prison when youre very restricted, but thats the life that paul just referred to, and showing how you got here with a life that in some ways, thats been, thats been paused. Yeah,i think the life inside the prison was mostly represented through his calls. We had a lot of calls, a lot of pictures so we felt very restricted in that way. I think in the filmmaking, since it felt very restricted, all the images representing, this prison felt restricted because we were just listening to michael which is all we really need to hear is michael and then in his in the clemency hearing, were just restricted to seeing his face and theres a shadow and bars kind of across his face. So thats how we kind of got his that element across, but its mainly about focusing on michaels humanity. Yeah. And similarly, lets also before we go kyle, look at this quiet moment when he does leave prison. Final thought from you, some of the most important stories of injustice, are the hardest to tell because powerful forces make them hard to tell. Sure yeah, i mean, you know, it was a difficult journey, you know, kind of being able to kind of tell this and work with michael and hailey and the nonprofit last Prisoner Project that are doing this amazing work around nonviolent, you know, offenders and when it comes to cannabis and you know, so being able to kind of, you know, its a, its a privilege, you know, and also a duty to kind of, you know, be able to get michael up platform because again, a lot of people dont have that platform. So we just tried to you know, do it in the most, you know, honest and authentic way. Well, as his known msnbc partnered here to present this, but as a journalist and a lawyer, i really think you did something important. And it took all this work, as well as hearing from mr. Thompson night. And its one story. So we leave viewers with the fact that theres so many right. So we leave viewers with the fact that theres so many so we leave viewers with the fact that theres so many other stories and people and the change can really be up to us. So thats why we did this. I really appreciate your work and everyone being here tonight. I want to thank the filmmakers kyle thrash and Haley Elizabeth anderson, paul butler, mr. Thompson was with us earlier, this has been a special msnbc presentation of the sentence of Michael Thompson, and if you want to share this or learn more about the film, you can stream it on documentary plus. You can also go online, on socials or we have information about this. Thanks for watching msnbc. People remember ads with young people having a good time. So to help you remember that Liberty Mutual customizes your home insurance, heres a pool party. Good times. 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