I'm a prison abolitionist because the prison system as it is set up is just not working. It's horrible.

I don't want to say that in a place that's negative about what the fear is. I just want to be a realist.

Figure out what you need to do to be the heroine of your own story.

By the end of the documentary [ '13th'], you really understand what prison is, what the prison industrial complex is, where this whole Black Lives Matter movement comes from, the history of resistance, the history of how politicians have used criminality over the decades for a particular political gain. It's to give people an understanding of it so they can make their own decisions about how they want to be in the world.

Folks can look at this issue and read it and it can feel like medicine, it can feel epidemic. We wanted this to hit people in their gut, and the hope is that by doing that, we can get more people to think more deeply about these issues.

I know that sounds a little bit corny, but I've found some solace in that. I hope art can continue to do that for people, I really do.

When I look in the mirror, I see a woman who is happy.