The first time that Teeanna Brisco saw her dad after he got out of prison was shortly before her graduation from law school when she waited for him at the airport.
Her dad, Bernard Brisco, spent two decades in prison due to being charged with non-violent drug crimes. He was sentenced back in 2001 for selling cocaine. At the time, his daughter was only four.
Brisco, today 53, was given a long sentence due to the three-strikes sentencing law. Under this policy, which was implemented back in 1994, the judges mandated life sentences for specific repeat crimes.
This changed at the federal level in 2018; however, it’s still active in many other states. Since Brisco had other drug offenses, he was given a mandatory life sentence and additional 240 years!
A life sentence in the US means living out the rest of one’s life in prison.
Growing Up with a Dad in Prison, Teeanna Wanted to Become a Lawyer
Teeanna went to Law School, inspired by what happened to her dad.
He was in a super maximum facility in Indiana. The 24-year-old lawyer said that at the recent celebration of her graduation, she finally felt some normalcy.
This moment included various firsts, including a first time picking up her dad from the airport and the first time her dad was in a car with his daughter driving.
Mr. Brisco said this was something that made him feel grateful and that his daughter graduating from law school is something he’ll never forget.
According to him, his paperwork claimed he would get out when he dies. Therefore, to be together with his daughter during this special moment was dreamlike.
“ I Don’t Remember Him ever Being Free”-Says Teeanna About Her Dad
Since she was very young when her dad went to prison, Teeanna doesn’t remember him being free; however, she does remember her family being honest with her about where her dad went.
Her mom also made sure her daughter and her dad stay in touch.
She says how she could always write to him and her mom always answered the phone when he called them. There was plenty of involvement and her dad got every report card copy in the mail.
But, as a young kid, Teeanna didn’t always tell others where her dad was. She would tell them he’s a construction worker because she felt ashamed and thought others may see this fact as a reflection of who she is.
By the time she was in high school, Teeanna started to realize what was for her the injustice of her dad’s incarceration and wanted to share his story.
Somewhere around 2021, the country was caught by Trayvon Martin’s story, an unarmed black teen who was shot by a neighborhood watch volunteer.
This shooting triggered a debate about racial profiling and according to Ms. Brisco, she began to realize how everything was connected (the law enforcement, the judicial system, and the prosecution system).
US Racial Profiling Is Real, Shows Statistics
The NAACP notes that black Americans go to prison five times more than whites. And, California data supplied by the Center for American Progress shows that black individuals in the state had a 12 times higher likelihood than whites of being imprisoned under the three-strikes law.
According to Teeanna, understanding these differences made her passionate about reforms in fair sentencing. She knows that there are so many other people in a similar situation and that her dad’s case isn’t an isolated one.
She enrolled in law school motivated by her younger relatives and the wish to change her family’s course and show them that something positive out of her dad’s imprisonment can come out.
How Was Mr. Brisco Released from Prison Despite a Life Sentence?
Last year, 20 years into his sentence, the Federal Defender Services of Wisconsin filed a motion for Mr. Brisco to be released.
At the time, he was a model inmate and dad, said his daughter.
He finished more than a hundred vocational programs and also went back to school. The judge who sentenced him back at the time was the one who gave him a compassionate release two decades later.
Mr. Brisco said that he was on a path to right his wrongs and do some improvements in his life, but also avert other young people from making the mistakes he did and that so many other men make.
Ms. Brisco has recently accepted an offer to work in a law firm in Washington and says she’s more than happy to take pro bono cases, especially ones to help inmates fight off unfair sentences.
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