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  • The Marshall Project

    My First Father-Daughter Dance Was in the Prison Gym

    “She saw a glimpse of me and what our life could be if I was free.”
    by Efrén Paredes Jr. as told to Elyse Blennerhassett Jun 11, 2019 5 minutes

    Editor’s note: This week, The Marshall Project is publishing a series of essays and interviews about fatherhood and incarceration. Read the first installment.

    Last October, I got to spend a full day with my daughter. She’s 9 years old, and for her entire life I’ve been incarcerated.

    It’s hard for her mother and I to know what to tell her. When she was younger, she thought I lived in a hotel. Now she knows I live in a prison, where I have lived for the past 30 years. When I was just 16, I was sentenced to life without parole. I have no out date. But thanks to a special program, several other incarcerated parents and I got to spend the day playing games with our kids outside of the walls—and rules—of the prison visiting room.

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