Now they do . Now they do. Rap star hashtag, Symbol Meek Mill inspired a symbol. He has been wronged by the criminal Justice System for a decade now. We have been conducting Criminal Justice with a chainsaw. In his first post Prison Interview he tells his powerful story. My father was murdered in south philly. Have you ever seen somebody with their brains blown out . Ive seen it several times. How key rose from the streets to the charts. Sentenced to prison for a probation violation. Get incent away is a mental torture. It affects all of us. And why he rose up for change. Im still doing time for that case, something is not working. This is a tough judge. He violated, he got a tough sentence, what is wrong with that . We take you inside his emotional journey to freedom. I feel like i am in the middle of a movie right now. We are there for every step. We are home. You made powerful friends, kevin hart, jayz, Michael Reuben with the 76 sirs. I feel like god put me in a position to be the voice for the voiceless. This is ray more bigger than me. Hello and welcome to dateline, countless Young Musicians dream of fame and fortune, meek mill was actually living that fantasy. He went from wrapping on Street Corners to rubbing elbows with some of the biggest names in hiphop. Then suddenly the rising star found himself in the spotlight he never imagined. What happened to meek mill and how he fought back struck a chord that had nothing to do with music. Here is lester holt with the dreams and nightmares the meek mill story. We are here today to demand justice. His plight sparked headlines around the world and protests in the street. Free meek mill free meek mill his case to finding a cause for millions demanding reforms, charging the criminal Justice System is corrupt and Mass Incarceration and a punitive Justice System are unfairly ensnaring minorities. Were sick of a system that crushes the rights of black and brown people. His name is robert williams, also known as meek mill, a philadelphia rapper who has sold millions of albums. In November 2017 he was thrown in prison for probation violation. Free who meek mill . But it gave many hope that change is on the way. According to longtime justice advocates like jason. What do we want . Justice in 25 years of working in criminal Justice Reform i cannot remember a moment that has the potential to galvanize the public the way that meek mills horrible situation has done and is going to do. We are with meek mill as our cameras go behind the scenes to capture his journey to freedom. This is too crazy. This is too much for me. How easy it is to get into the system is probably 100 times harder to get out even if youre innocent. Dreams and nightmares is the title of meek mills 2012 hit debut album, its lyrics tell the story of a inner city kid who made it. Overcoming the violence, poverty and chaos he grew up in. Its been a long time since i heard something that naturally charged. Its pure adrenaline, im mad we didnt have that for ourselves. Like meek mill, Musicians Questlove and Black Thought are from philadelphia. I think his style was uniquely philadelphian but it was a cadence, a registered that he was wrapping in that felt fresh. Before he became a hiphop star his family says meek was quite and shot. His talent came as a surprise to his mother and sister, kathy williams. When did you both realize that he had this musical talent . I was going to a party line and some boys came up and they were like, she doesnt have to pay thiss meeks sister, and i found out they played his mix tape. You had never heard him wrap . No. Never heard his tapes . No. His music sprang from north phillies street, he depicted it as a war zone with bullets everywhere, when he was only five years old a bullet killed his father. Was that really his first exposure to violence . I wouldnt say that because the neighborhood we lived in had violence, shootings. One of my brothers got murdered. Cousins, all different types of people. The area we lived in is all it was about, murder. He saw music as his way out. See im the king, he painted his world in songs, first on the corner and then in local clubs. He also caught the eye of hip hop mogul jayz who signed him to his management company, roc nation. There are red carpets, Celebrity Friends and one very highprofile romance with hip hop star nikki minaj, with stardom came new connections to powerful people like Michael Reuben a self made billionaire and coowner of the philadelphia 76 hours. The two met at a game and instantly hit it off. What was your First Impression of him . My First Impression of him was actually, man, you cant judge a book by its cover. Hes a hardcore rapper, but yet this guy was asking me so many great questions. It was like it reminded me of myself. The two were an unlikely pair, two sons of philadelphians with dramatically different upbringings. Did you come to think that maybe there are two philadelphias, one that you grew up in and one that he grew up in . Whether that was to philadelphias, two worlds, the way he has been treated and the way im treated, far before any success ive had are different ways of being treated. Ruben says he had never been in trouble with the law but meek had. He told reuben he had been on probation for years. Were going to this place, and he said im not allowed to go. And i said do you need a note from your mother . Were going an hour away. He said no, im on probation. In November 2017, meek was ordered to court for a hearing on a probation violation. Michael reuben went with him. The Probation Officer got up in front of me and said all kinds of great things about meek mill and said we recommend no sentence. Then the District Attorney got up and said we recommend no sentence, i looked over at the team of lawyers and said i dont get it, why are we here . The judge said meek needed to be punished because he wasnt following the rules she set for his probation. She brought down the hammer and sentenced him to 2 to 4 years in prison. And when she said 2 to 4 years in state prison, i looked up at meek and he may not want to admit this but his eyes turned red and tears came out of his eyes. I dont ever cry but i started tearing up and crying, i looked at him i said, i got you. I am not going to stop until we fix this together. Coming up meek mill behind prison walls. What is your life back there . Like a caged animal, basically. And a look back at the case that started it all. Did the judge actually give meek a break . When dateline continues. Datel. luke so. I hear some of you are concerned about the fact that im taking over the company. Well, rest assured, companys in great hands. 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An alternative to pills, voltaren is a clinically proven arthritis pain relief gel, which penetrates deep to target the source of pain with nonsteroidal antiinflammatory medicine directly at the source. Voltaren, the joy of movement. Almost immediately after meek mill was sent to prison for violating the rules of his probation, an entire Movement Rose up to support him. No justice no peace setting off a social Media Firestorm including meeks comedian kevin hart. Really trying to get this sentence reevaluated. I mean, look, its just not fair. Jayz wrote in the New York Times, meek mill its just one example of how our criminal Justice System in traps and harass as hundreds of thousands of black people every day. When i read jayzs New York Times oped that i realized how serious it was. Hopefully this is a turnaround period in which we really address the issue of why young black men are severely punished for crimes that their counterparts arent. He had been thrown into prison for what many sauce petty offenses, he had recently been arrested twice one for an airport scuffle. And once for popping a really on a New York City street. Both charges had been dropped but the judge had sent him to prison anyways. Michael reuben struggled to wrap his head around it. Put bad people in prisons, murderers and prisons, rapists and prisons but dont put someone in prison because they had a technical probation violation. What meek scented this provision to set i first spoke to him in april 2018. What is your life like there . Like a caged animal, basically, right now. This its jail time. I dont think it gets any worse. Why was he even on probation . It was for a crime that happened years earlier when he was 19. On the night of January 24th 2007 he was walking out of his cousins house, a gun in his waist band when he says a great charger pulled up and cops from philadelphias narcotic field units jumped out. They were acting on an officers claim that he had seen meek the day before still drugs down the street. And the screaming, please, i ducked behind a car and i put the firearm on the ground they ran up on me and tackled me. And like, nissan my head put the cuffs on me behind my back, and barge to be through the front door. They barge me through the front door like with my head basically. When i came in, it was brutal, it got brutal. There was blood everywhere. I got knocked out about 34 times. Did you ever see my mugshot . Yes. You know no ones ever asked me how did my face gets so been in like that. It was just like, normal, that a black guy had a mugshot like that. The officer on the scene Reggie Graham claimed that meek pointed a gun at him, meek was charged with 19 counts including assault, gun and Drug Possession. The police say you pointed a gun at them, did you . Do you think thats true . A black male, at 8 00 at night, with a full raid of at least ten cops at one time with their firearms drawn. Do you think i pointed a gun at them cops and left there without being riddled with bullets . We wouldnt even be having this conversation. He chose to waive a jury trial and placed his faith in the hands of judge journeys. Ive known her honor for decades, and obviously she had a reputation for always being tough. Brian and jordan sees our meeks defense attorneys, they did not represent him at his trial. Some people say she is no nonsense. Is that fair . I think its a fair description of her, no nonsense. Only one witness testified against meek, Reggie Graham the arresting officer. When meek took the stand he admitted he had a gun, but denied pointing it at anyone. He also denied selling drugs the day before his arrest. Meek has always professed his innocence. Was this essentially meeks word against a Police Officers word . If that with this case came down to . It really did, it was a bench trial and it was a one witness case, obviously the court returned the verdict taking the polices word over him. Robert williams aka meek mill was found guilty on six of the 19 charges. Including gun and Drug Possession and civil assault. Prosecutors asked for 5 to 10 years in prison. Bug the judge gave him a break, she sentenced him to 11 to 23 months in the county jail. Then after less than six months she ordered his release. She could have put him in jail for a lot of years, and she didnt, and i look at that and think, sounds to me like she did him a favor. The problem with the sentence was in the Jail Sentence that was imposed it was the enormous amount of probation that was placed on top of it. Eight years of probation, the judge would keep meek on a short leash requiring him to follow the courts rules, among them, random drug test, travel restrictions and he had to submit his travel schedule for court approval. Any missteps called a technical violation would send him to prison. So what exactly is a technical violation of ones probation . Technical violation can be anything, it can be being late for a curfew, it can be being out of the jurisdiction, it can be something as minor as not being on time for a probation meeting. Meek mill return to his life as a rapper but it wasnt long before he got in trouble. The judge found him in technical violation multiple times. In november 2012, she banned meek for touring for a month, after he was arrested for suspected Marijuana Use but never charged. In 2014, she sent meek to jail for 3 to 6 months for traveling without permission and testing positive for opioids and added more years to his probation. And two years later, she slapped him with house arrest without permission to work for 90 days. Again, for Travel Violations and forgiving of fake urine samples. Again, added more years to his probation. A lot of lawabiding people who hear this story and say technicolor not, you know, the rules were laid out you knew what the rules were and you violated them. How do you explain that . Weve never made any excuses for anything, when people are put on probation they are expected to tow the line, but when you put somebody on a tight rope, and i dont mean a probation but a tight rope, for their entire adult life they are going to fall off. According to the Bureau Of Justice Statistics in 2017, meek was just one of a staggering 4. 5 Million People under parole or Probation Supervision in the u. S. A third of them were african americans. This is the life of the black man. There are two americas. Youve got an america where cops theyll smack you in your face with the pistol so fast doing horrendous crimes and getting away with it. And thats just our side of america. He always said to me and its fascinating he would say michael, there are two americas. I would say meek there are not, he would say michael there is america and black america. I have to tell you something, he was right and i was wrong. So while the rapper sat in prison serving his 2 to 4year sentence for a probation violation, and investigator looking into his original conviction was about to make a discovery that could change everything. How solid was the case against 19 year old meek mill . A key witness comes under scrutiny. Coming up the only witness against meek was the Police Officer who arrested him. I distinctively remember him saying, you arrested this kid, you beat this kid and you ripped hair out of this kids hair. When dateline continues. When dateline continues. With nurtec odt, i can treat a migraine when it strikes and prevent Migraine Attacks, all in one. Dont take if allergic to nurtec. Allergic reactions can occur, even days after using. Most common side effects were nausea, indigestion, and stomach pain. Ask about nurtec odt. 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