Accused of leaking state secrets, journalist Lei Cheng was imprisoned in China for more than three years, where she was detained in tight quarters and kept under constant supervision. “Freedom is wasted on the free,” she says, recounting...

When wildfires rage in California, incarcerated people are often on the front lines fighting the flames. TED Fellow Royal Ramey was one of them. He shares the story of how doing public service in prison inspired him to cofound the...

Nadya Tolokonnikova, founding member of the anti-Putin resistance group Pussy Riot, was named a top enemy of Russia for speaking out against Vladimir Putin's dictatorship throughout the last decade. In this inspiring talk, she tells the...

More than 30 million people in the US are eligible to have their arrest and conviction records cleared -- but most people who qualify either can't afford it or simply don't know it's an option. In this gripping talk, second chance...

Right now, hundreds of thousands of people are "stuck" in the US criminal justice system. They've completed all of their requirements for release, but nobody knows it because the system is run on old databases that don't talk to each...

* Viewer discretion advised. This video includes discussion of mature topics and may be inappropriate for some audiences. Financial literacy isn't a skill -- it's a lifestyle. Take it from Curtis "Wall Street" Carroll. As an incarcerated...

* Viewer discretion advised. This video includes discussion of mature topics and may be inappropriate for some audiences. In the United States, two institutions guide teenagers on the journey to adulthood: college and prison. Sociologist...

Community organizer Raj Jayadev wants to transform the US court system through "participatory defense" -- a growing movement that empowers families and community members to impact their loved ones' court cases. He shares the remarkable...

In an engaging, insightful conversation, criminal justice reformer Nick Turner breaks down the ways the US criminal legal system perpetuates centuries-old racial and economic inequality. He joins TED current affairs curator Whitney...

In the past, some experiments were run in scary and unethical ways. From using children to unknowing subjects, these five experiments left people affected for the rest of their lives.

Reading and writing can be acts of courage that bring us closer to others and ourselves. Author Michelle Kuo shares how teaching reading skills to her students in the Mississippi Delta revealed the bridging power of the written word --...

When a parent is sent to prison, the unintended victims of their crimes are their own children -- without stability and support, kids are at higher risk for mental health and development issues. In a heartfelt talk, Alan Crickmore...

For the nearly 20 million Americans with a felony record, punishment doesn't end after their prison sentence. Sociologist Reuben Jonathan Miller sheds light on the aftershocks of mass incarceration through the stories of people who've...

Imagine seeking safety abroad and instead being detained and forced to defend yourself in a high-stakes legal battle — alone. Law professor César Cuauhtémoc García Hernández explains how the asylum process in the US became warped into...

* Viewer discretion advised. This video includes discussion of mature topics and may be inappropriate for some audiences. Why do juveniles falsely confess to crimes? What makes them more vulnerable than adults to this shocking,...

The freedom journey doesn't end when someone is released from prison. In many ways, it begins. Attorney and entrepreneur Brittany K. Barnett fights to free people from prison and champions restoring and nurturing the creative ingenuity...

This is episode 2 of our animated series "Think Like A Coder." This 10-episode narrative follows a girl, Ethic, and her robot companion, Hedge, as they attempt to save the world. The two embark on a quest to collect three artifacts and...

Sharing his experience of being held captive in a Taliban prison for 105 days, humanitarian Safi Rauf talks about his life's mission to get food, medicine and other critical supplies to Afghans in need -- and urges the world to bolster...

In 2011, Teresa Njoroge was convicted of a financial crime she didn't commit -- the result of a long string of false accusations, increasing bribe attempts and the corrupt justice system in her home in Kenya. Once incarcerated, she...

Learn about the life of World War II spy Noor Inayat Khan and how she worked with the French Resistance to build the network that defeated the Nazis. -- In May 1940, with the German army ready to occupy Paris, Noor Inayat Khan was...

Investigative journalist Will Potter is the only reporter who has been inside a Communications Management unit, or CMu, within a uS prison. These units were opened secretly, and radically alter how prisoners are treated -- even...

The ten women in this chorus have all been sentenced to life in prison. They share a moving song about their experiences — one that reveals their hopes, regrets and fears. "I'm not an angel," sings one, "but I'm not the devil." Filmed at...

"It's said that to be a poet, you have to go to hell and back." Cristina Domenech teaches writing at an Argentinian prison, and she tells the moving story of helping incarcerated people express themselves, understand themselves — and...

This is episode 1 of our animated series "Think Like A Coder." This 10-episode narrative follows a girl, Ethic, and her robot companion, Hedge, as they attempt to save the world. The two embark on a quest to collect three artifacts and...