“I was victimized as a child. The physical abuse started when I was four, the sexual abuse when I was seven. When I was thirteen, a group of pimps drugged me up, moved me around, and sold me out to older men. That went on for three and a half years. I was resistant, so they beat me. I was forced to do a lot of things that I will take to my grave. The first time I told my life story, it was to forty inmates. I was filled with rage. I said, ‘If I had a gun, I’d shoot you all, because any one of you could have done this to me.’ There were tears all over the place. Those men stood and applauded and told me how courageous I was. That was the first time anyone had ever said they were sorry for what had happened. That’s when the healing began. The shame, the hatred, the nightmares—they’re gone. Now I can sleep with the lights off.”