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| Inmates dance with their daughters at the Federal Detention Center Miami. The federal prison system allowed inmates and their daughters to spend tow hours dancing. (Some of the faces of the subjects have been blurred to prevent identification, as agreed upon with prison authorities.) |
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| Omar Outten dances with his daughter at the Federal Detention Center Miami. |
BY AUDRA D.S. BURCH
ABURCH@MIAMIHERALD.COM
PHOTOS BY AL DIAZ
Inmate Ernest Williams, serving a 41-month
drug sentence, had long stopped asking his family — a wife and five children —
to come see him at the Federal Detention Center Miami. The visits, he says,
left him too chastened and hurt, a stark reminder of his loss of freedom.
So when a staffer told him about the Federal
Bureau of Prisons’ plan to host a first-ever dance allowing inmates to spend an
afternoon with their daughters, Williams said no, instead returning to the
predictable routine of his kitchen detail.
Weeks later, Williams says, he had a dream
while sleeping in his cell, an unclouded vision of him dancing with his three
daughters. The next day, he said yes.
On Tuesday, Williams moved beyond all the
emptiness and guilt, trading a khaki jumpsuit for a light gray suit, lavender
print tie and black shoes — and danced with his 9-year-old twin girls and
13-year-old daughter for a few precious moments at the detention center, a
high-rise administrative facility on Northeast Fourth Street. “I haven’t seen
my girls in months, I could not believe how much they have grown,” said
Williams, 37, convicted of intent to sell crack cocaine. “I was so happy to see
them but so sad that I will not be able to leave with them. I am here instead
of being outside with my family because of the choices I made.”
Read More HERE:
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| Xzavion Steadman checks his tie before seeing his daughter at the Federal Detention Center Miami. |
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| Omar Outten straightens the cuffs on his pants as he waits to see his daughter. |
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| Xzavion Steadman greets his daughter at the Federal Detention Center Miami. (Some of the faces of the subjects have been blurred to prevent identification, as agreed upon with prison authorities.) |
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| Inmate Santeli Martinez dances with his daughters visiting him in prison. |
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| Inmate Santeli Martinez walks with his daughter visiting him in prison. |
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| Omar Outten performs for his daughter with fellow inmates to the song My Girl by the Temptations. |
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Inmate Omar Outten plays with his daughter while she visits him in federal prison.
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