AUDIO DESCRIPTION: Text: “The content used in this documentary film is based on real life experiences of the protagonist, and does not constitute an endorsement, recommendation, or portrayal of best practices that should be used when working with a deaf and disabled person.” Orange Kite Productions.

[crickets chirping, dramatic music slowly builds]

AUDIO DESCRIPTION: Text fades. A sunlit country road, a sheriff’s SUV approaches, passes, and pulls into a small lot.

[sirens blare as dramatic music continues]

DISPATCHER: Michelle Ricks: last name Romeo India Charlie Kilo Sierra. First name Michelle: Mike India Charlie Hotel Echo Lima Lima Echo. Middle initial: R Romeo. That’s gonna be the missing person. She’s deaf and mute and has the mental capacity of a five-year-old child.

AUDIO DESCRIPTION: A white woman with a white cane, on officer body cam.

OFFICER: What’ going on?

KIM: I have guardianship over a young lady. She’s 35 years old. She’s autistic. She’s deaf/mute and terrified of police officers. She will become violent with officers.

OFFICER: Okay.

KIM: Because of what’s happened to her in the past.

OFFICER: We’re working on getting a bloodhound. As long as we have her clothing, we can get a sniff.

AUDIO DESCRIPTION: On body cam, a thicket of palms trees.

OFFICER: Michelle?

AUDIO DESCRIPTION: Night.

[cars passing]

KIM: Michelle’s missing. She’s been missing since 6:30 this morning. Trying to find somebody that has night vision goggles or a night vision scope.

AUDIO DESCRIPTION: A patch of railway roadbed lit by flashlight in black surroundings. Beside the tracks, the woman with the white cane squats, banging a rock against a rail.

[sharp, rhythmic tapping, dramatic music builds]

AUDIO DESCRIPTION: Fade to black. [dramatic music and tapping echo and fade away]

In script: “2 years earlier.” View from above a square arrangement of low rectangular buildings, a watch tower in the center and towering fence poles all around. [stirring, pulsing music] Lowell Correctional Institution in Ocala, Florida.

PUBLIC DEFENDER: I can’t even conceive of not being able to hear and not being able to talk and being in Florida state prison.

[door buzzer blares, door unlocks]

AUDIO DESCRIPTION: A Black guard ushers a white woman with short burgundy hair inside.

PUBLIC DEFENDER: How Michelle fits into the law isn’t easy. But we should be judged by how we deal with the hard ones. When confronted with the hard case that doesn’t fit into any particular category, the answer is too often to discard that person...sweep the problem under the rug, pass the problem on to the next place.

AUDIO DESCRIPTION: Placed into leg and hand restraints, she shuffles a corridor. Then staring into the camera. [prison door slams, echoes]

[stirring music pulses, slowly fades out]

AUDIO DESCRIPTION: Chalk-like lowercase letters appear on a teal-colored board as if being painted on: “being michelle.”

[breeze blowing, birds singing]

[footsteps crunching]

AUDIO DESCRIPTION: The woman walks down the center of a railroad track bed, her short, wavy hair now ginger. Bright yellowscript subtitles.

MICHELLE: I used to walk on the train tracks with my brother and sister. They taught me to watch for the train. I couldn’t hear it.

[haunting, pulsing sound]

AUDIO DESCRIPTION: She clasps two small yellow flowers.

MICHELLE: I could only feel it.

[tender music begins]

AUDIO DESCRIPTION: On her shirt the eyes, nose, and whiskers of a cat. Fair skinned, in glasses, now inside, she uses sign language.

MICHELLE: My name is Michelle.

[cars rushing]

AUDIO DESCRIPTION: Fingerspells her name. Then, Williston, Florida. A shady bend along a quiet rural road. She steps cautiously through purple wildflowers beside it in shorts and the cat-face shirt. [flowers crackle underfoot] She occasionally lifts her eyes from behind oval glasses. A

travel trailer: open awnings, a gas grill and picnic table, parked by a small, tan house and a tall flagpole with the Stars and Stripes. [tender music continues]

MICHELLE: It’s peaceful here. Helps me to sleep. I feel better. I don’t have seizures. It is calm.

AUDIO DESCRIPTION: Outside. [makes happy sounds to cat] A tabby cat atop a table leans in for a cuddle on its hind legs, paws pressed against Michelle’s chest. [cat purrs as music and birdsong continue] Its tail flicks as she scratches its back then sweeps it up.

Michelle and the woman with a white cane, Kim, walking opposite rails of the train tracks, each gripping the other’s outstretched hand for balance, teetering. [laughter]

KIM: Michelle and I met when she came to my Sunday School class that I teach at Lowell Prison.

AUDIO DESCRIPTION: Kim’s silvering hair pulled back, she wears dark glasses.

KIM: Bob and I have been motivational speakers and trainers for many years, helping people to be able to find their purposes in life. We took classes and programs that we had already been working on and converted them to the process of working with inmates so that when they get out, they have the tools to succeed.

MICHELLE: I saw a dog! They told me to be quiet. I saw her walking by with a guide dog.

KIM: Back in 2002, the doctors gave me some medication to deal with Bell’s palsy. As a side effect from the medication, I became what’s called “white blind.” My eyes have been permanently dilated open for 16 years. For about the past two years, my eyesight has started changing and improving. My eyes are beginning to practice tracking and focusing again together. It’s pretty cool.

AUDIO DESCRIPTION: Kim and Bob join Michelle waiting in a hearing room.

KIM: Michelle was in prison for five years. She had a really rough life.

Nice to see you again.

We have a program that assists individuals coming out of prison to be able to have a place to start over, basically.

AUDIO DESCRIPTION: At a prison complex.

MICHELLE: Kim talked to the judge.

[keys jingling, door clanking]

AUDIO DESCRIPTION: Staff unlock and push a door open to let Michelle out. She walks along the perimeter fence.

MICHELLE: On July 8, 2017 the judge said it would be ok if I came to live with Kim.

KIM: When she came to us, she was on so many medications, she literally looked like somebody who had full-blown Parkinson’s. She couldn’t hold a drink without spilling it to her

mouth. She was on perphenazine, Depakote, Celexa, Vistaril, benztropine. Side effects were tremors and shaking; uncontrollable muscle movements; fast and uneven heartbeats; severe nervous system reaction.

AUDIO DESCRIPTION: A fat stack of medical records.

KIM: There was four different times that we had to put her in the hospital because she was having such a hard time coming off of the stuff that they had her on in the prison.

AUDIO DESCRIPTION: Michelle poses with the stack as if holding up a diploma, earnest.

MICHELLE: [laughs] [crunching footsteps]

KIM: The reason I became Michelle’s guardian is because [voice shaking] if we didn’t do that, then she was gonna be institutionalized.

[glass beads clinking on wood]

AUDIO DESCRIPTION: In the trailer, Michelle and Kim arrange colored beads on a game board between them.

MICHELLE: Ah.

KIM: No, you’re not gonna give me one?

MICHELLE: Ah!

KIM: Uh-huh. [beads clinking]

[snaps]

KIM: When I was 13 years old, I had the opportunity to babysit for a 2-year-old little girl. She was deaf. So, as she learned sign language, so did I.

KIM: Ahhh!

MICHELLE: [laughs]

MICHELLE: [continues laughing]

KIM: When you and I met for the first time, what did you think when I started to sign with you?

MICHELLE: When we met, I had to sign close to you so you could feel and follow my hands to understand my sign language. It was good because you kept trying to sign with me.

AUDIO DESCRIPTION: Michelle smiles softly, nods. [pensive music, shoppers chatting nearby] Now, in a dime store the two browse novelties and clothes.

MICHELLE: When I was ten, I was at the Florida School for the Deaf and Blind. My friend and I went to a store. My friend wanted a music cd. She didn’t have any money so she put it in my clothes.

AUDIO DESCRIPTION: Kim plops a hot pink cowboy hat on Michelle’s head.

MICHELLE: An officer saw me.

AUDIO DESCRIPTION: She grimaces, removes it.

MICHELLE: He followed me. I ended up in jail. My friend just ran. It was a music CD, but I can’t understand music! The people in the past, they would laugh at me. It would just break my heart. I just stayed by myself.

AUDIO DESCRIPTION: Michelle tidies around the trailer near the back stoop of the house.

MICHELLE: But now I have a real friend. Ah.

AUDIO DESCRIPTION: Michelle waves a sprinkler stream over a shrub as Kim, shovel in hand, points to another.

MICHELLE: Ah!

KIM: Yeah, see? It’s peat moss.

AUDIO DESCRIPTION: Scooping a root ball from its hole, a new plant parked beside.

KIM: Okay. Ah, here it is.

MICHELLE: Ah!

KIM: There’s the tree. Yeah.

MICHELLE: Nah.

KIM: No, it’s dead.

MICHELLE: [vocalizes]

KIM: [laughs]

KIM: What do you feel when you hear a loud sound?

MICHELLE: It bounces off my ears. It hurts. [music pulses] It scares me bad.

AUDIO DESCRIPTION: Michelle looks out on a sun-drenched clearing. She ferries the tabby cat toward the trailer, a potted plant garden by the steps. [mellow music, birdsong] Inside, hand painted cards on the wall, “Dream.” A rainbow bursts out of a dark cloud. “Tiny house. Hope. Smile. Faith.” A cross with “love” in bubbly script. Michelle’s palms blue-speckled with paint.

MICHELLE: I do art.

[mellow music continues, an uplifting melody]

AUDIO DESCRIPTION: Cross-legged on the carpet, lips pursed, sketching outlines on a blank canvas.

MICHELLE: I love to draw. I love to paint.

AUDIO DESCRIPTION: She holds a transparent ruler close to the canvas. Sketches begin to take shape.

MICHELLE: I love all colors.

AUDIO DESCRIPTION: A fine brush fills in vibrant colors.

MICHELLE: I can change it how I want. I like to change. I like to see differently.

AUDIO DESCRIPTION: She presents a penciled Native American-like face with headdress.

KIM: Michelle can create change for herself. She’s got a God-given talent, and this is something that could make her a success.

AUDIO DESCRIPTION: Painted cartoon unicorn, a flamingo in sunglasses. Shopping for art supplies.

KIM: Acrylics is her go-to.

CLERK: OK.

KIM: So, water and oil is something new that she wants to try.

AUDIO DESCRIPTION: Kim signs as she speaks to the clerk. Michelle chooses brushes and presents items at checkout. Michelle paints at the picnic table by her trailer.

MICHELLE: I learned to draw in prison.

AUDIO DESCRIPTION: Back inside.

MICHELLE: But the medicine I was on was bad. It was hard. I shook a lot. It was really hard.

[stomps her foot, moans]

KIM: No, no, no. No. It’s okay. Michelle?

MICHELLE: [cries, gasps]

KIM: Hey.

AUDIO DESCRIPTION: Michelle curled up on the floor. Kim gently caresses her arm. Then, Michelle at sunset.

KIM: I think the biggest hardship is not knowing what causes her to have a flashback with PTSD from the traumas that happened in her life.

[music begins to race]

AUDIO DESCRIPTION: Back to the sunlit country road, Bob driving and Kim on her cellphone.

KIM: Hey, we need your help.

ROBIN: What’s up?

KIM: Michelle’s missing.

AUDIO DESCRIPTION: The town outskirts, Kim in the backseat. View from officer body cam.

[dispatcher’s voice on police radio]

DISPATCHER: Need all units. Suspect is female. She does not like anybody in uniform. Again, she does not like anybody in uniform.

WOMAN: I lost her as soon as she went like that.

OFFICER: In those woods right there? Did she cut through the woods?

WOMAN: I don’t know!

OFFICER: Is she suicidal?

WOMAN: Yeah.

[chopper blades whir as music intensifies]

AUDIO DESCRIPTION: Beneath a hovering helicopter. Then from above, a lone figure clutching a highway bridge railing. Cars rush past.

OFFICER: Major, I’m on the bottom of the bridge here at the street.

OFFICER: Sergeant, I thought that maybe a couple of units can creep up the little walkway. Is that something we can get up to her?

SERGEANT: No, absolutely not. She’s on the outside of the bridge, outside the railing. She’s not even holding on.

Anybody else got sign language? We don’t have anybody?

OFFICER: We got a rescue swimmer here ready to go on a board.

DISPATCHER: Family’s on the way, you guys. Probably less than four minutes out.

[tense music, police walkie talkies buzz with voices]

AUDIO DESCRIPTION: On body cam: an officer climbing over a separator and stooping to pick up Michelle’s driver’s license. Kim, Bob, and Michelle by their car, clusters of officers nearby.

-Nice.

-Okay.

-Got her.

-Got her?

-She just came over the railing.

-Good.

AUDIO DESCRIPTION: Michelle is handcuffed.

KIM: We just wanna stand here and wait. We just wanted wait for the officer to get here.

[tense music slowly softens, fades]

AUDIO DESCRIPTION: Barefoot in a black dress, she climbs into the cruiser, escorted by Kim. Now outside the station.

OFFICER: Explain to her that because of everything that happened today with her running away from you and finding her on the bridge, I have to do this.

KIM: Because you ran today, they had helicopters looking for you.

MICHELLE: And cars.

KIM: Dogs looking for you. All the officers, all over, were looking for you. And they find you on top of a bridge?! All of them think that you are trying to kill yourself.

MICHELLE: No!

KIM: I know! But. He has to have you checked here.

OFFICER: I’ll get you a copy of the report.

KIM: Thank you.

OFFICER: You’re welcome.

OFFICER: Can you tell her I’m a nice guy?

AUDIO DESCRIPTION: On the phone with Michelle’s mom, Robin Elworthy.

KIM: The reason she was so upset was because she was wanting to spend time with you for Mother’s Day, and—

ROBIN: I know, and that even makes it worse.

KIM: Why? Why would you say worse? I think that that’s a—

ROBIN: It’s wonderful, yes. But then the fact that she run off because of it, you know, I mean, it makes it like god, it’s my fault.

KIM: The courts don’t realize that even though she left again, it didn’t take 27 hours

to find her this time. It was more of a cooldown time than anything, though we have to

work with helping her to understand if she’s upset, there’s other things she can do besides running. Because that’s like her go-to.

ROBIN: Yeah. Yeah, it really is.

KIM: Okay. I need you to understand that if you run again, the judge might not say it’s okay for you to stay with me and Bob. So, you need to not run. Do you understand?

AUDIO DESCRIPTION: Michelle nods, humble.

KIM: I want, and Bob wants, you to stay living with us always.

[pensive music]

AUDIO DESCRIPTION: Michelle paints, sitting by an above-ground hot tub.

KIM: My personal belief about Michelle’s case and what she’s dealing with right now in the court, I think it’s a bogus, trumped up situation. They are looking at her past record. Because when she was 13 years old, police officer released a police dog onto Michelle. And when the dog latched onto her leg and she was beating the dog, that dog is considered a police officer. So, she was charged with battery on a law enforcement officer. The police officer didn’t call the dog off! He just allowed the dog to stay latched to her. So, that was the first charge of battery on a law enforcement officer.

[pensive music continues, a dog barks sharply]

AUDIO DESCRIPTION: Her canvas divided into comic book-like panels by thick lines, in each a figure resembling herself: indoors, then a street, a handler with a pointy-eared dog, unleashed and latched onto her leg. She poses somberly beside the painting.

[music continues tenderly]

AUDIO DESCRIPTION: Shards of sunlight through weeping leafy tree branches, draped all around in Spanish moss. On the floor of her trailer, Michelle scrolls through arrest records on an tablet.

KIM: What is this? How old were you?

AUDIO DESCRIPTION: Leans close, touches Michelle’s signing hand.

KIM: 17, 18? 18.

MICHELLE: Ah.

KIM: So, you’re 18. That was the first time that you were in jail? And you were in Palatka. And this is Palatka.

MICHELLE: No.

KIM: That one’s Palatka. All of it is Palatka?

MICHELLE: Right.

KIM: Ah, Michelle, my gosh. Okay. Battery on a LEO.

MICHELLE: Mm.

KIM: You don’t know what that means? That is you hitting an officer. Did you hit an officer? Well.... What happened?

AUDIO DESCRIPTION: Bob reads the records.

BOB: 2003: battery upon a law enforcement officer. 2004: resisting officer with violence. 2005: battery upon a law enforcement officer. 2006: aggravated battery on a police officer with a deadly weapon. 2011: felony battery in Putnam County. [achingly tense music] 2011: felony battery.

AUDIO DESCRIPTION: Michelle outdoors painting, alternating with mug shots on a laptop.

BOB: Arson, willful damage to dwelling attempted in 2012.

KIM: It’s just heartbreaking.

AUDIO DESCRIPTION: Kim looking down, brows knitted, Bob at the laptop. [music becomes haunting] Outside, Michelle paints in fine brush a line of guards linked shoulder to shoulder, faces invisible beneath helmets and face shields.

[school bell rings; boisterous children’s voices] In a grainy yearbook photo, young Michelle with a strained smile. Outdoor sign reads “E.H. Miller School: Home of Exceptional Students.”

[music darkens as children’s voices continue]

MICHELLE: I was talking with a deaf girl at school. A teacher came up and started yelling at us. He got in my face and started screaming so I ran.

AUDIO DESCRIPTION: Michelle walks a bridge at sunset.

MICHELLE: I went home and got a knife. I came up to the bridge. I stood on the edge with a knife to my throat. Five officers came.

MICHELLE: One of them told me to “get down on the ground!”

AUDIO DESCRIPTION: She looks out across the wide river below.

MICHELLE: Another one grabbed me. He pulled me down hard. I swung backwards with the knife.

AUDIO DESCRIPTION: Kim voices Michelle.

MICHELLE: [via Kim] I didn’t know. I didn’t know the other officer was there. When I swung backwards, I caught his leg, and it hurt him bad. They shot me with a taser, and I was shaking terribly bad. I couldn’t move. Then they handcuffed me. Then the officers took me to court.

KIM: When you came here to this courthouse, the judge, did he give you an interpreter?

MICHELLE: [via Kim] No. He said I was trouble. I was a lotta trouble growing up, all the time. I kept coming in over and over and over. He was mad at me. Very mad.

AUDIO DESCRIPTION: Michelle posed stoically before the Putnam County Courthouse.

KIM: Five years in prison.

[haunting music slowly builds]

AUDIO DESCRIPTION: A confederate soldier statue looms on a pedestal behind her. [haunting music soars] Back outside the prison, rising above green fields surrounding it to show the towers and tall fence. Virginia Brosie, ex-Sergeant at Lowell Correctional Institution.

EX-SERGEANT: What was it like in Lowell? It had a lot of inmates coming in that kept returning. They had a lotta juveniles that had no idea what to do. They didn’t even know how to fold clothes. Some of them were from bad backgrounds. Some was from rich backgrounds. A lot of them, you could tell, just didn’t have the upbringing at home. They were just turned loose to do their own. But then you had some that had such great talent that could’ve been turned around a different way instead of being put in prison.

AUDIO DESCRIPTION: Shannon.

SHANNON: Lowell Correctional Institution was the most dysfunctional institution I ever was housed in. There wasn’t much effort made to help us better ourselves or improve our situation. It was all about suffering and deprivation and pain.

AUDIO DESCRIPTION: Roxanne.

ROXANNE: I remember Michelle. I remember her not being able to speak. Michelle’s just another person in that prison that shouldn’t have been there, probably...really didn’t deserve it.

[window clanks open]

AUDIO DESCRIPTION: Michelle reenacts being cuffed through a slot in her cell door.

ROXANNE: And to know that she went to close management, and that’s a place where not only are you cuffed...’cause you have a black box that goes onto your cuffs to secure that your arms stay at an angle where you can’t do anything. And in that box, they take a chain, and they waist it around you. They take the clip, they stick it through, they padlock you.

AUDIO DESCRIPTION: Opening the door, guards complete the shackling.

ROXANNE: The way Michelle is, she can’t speak, she can’t hear, she needs her hands to talk. Can you imagine going in a shower like this and trying to wash yourself?

AUDIO DESCRIPTION: She shuffles in denim capri pants. Chena.

CHENA: When you’re in prison, you’re less than human. And that’s what you’re constantly reminded. Like, every day, it’s, “Inmate, inmate, inmate.” You’re nothing.

[dark music pulses and drones, voices echo all around]

AUDIO DESCRIPTION: Shannon, Roxanne, and Chena were all once incarcerated at Lowell. Michelle moves slowly down a monotonously yellow cinder block corridor beneath fluorescent lights, guards following.

MICHELLE: For five years, I had no interpreter. I didn’t know what anyone was saying. The doctor gave me medicine to calm me down. He thought I knew what he was writing, but I didn’t.

AUDIO DESCRIPTION: A tiny yellow cell with a cot-like bed and a combination lavatory sink.

MICHELLE: There was a ghost in my cell, a little girl. Her eyes were red. She was right there.

AUDIO DESCRIPTION: At the trailer picnic table, Michelle pushes Kim’s shoulder.

MICHELLE: [via Kim] I felt her push on me.

MICHELLE: I was scared. It was the medicine.

AUDIO DESCRIPTION: A meager prison dorm. Now, Michelle sketching outside her trailer.

MICHELLE: I was getting so stressed.

AUDIO DESCRIPTION: Penciling the story on canvas as a breeze ruffles a sketchpad.

MICHELLE: I blew up and punched the window!

AUDIO DESCRIPTION: Filling it in: red paint for hair, yellow for walls.

MICHELLE: I hit it with my fist and it shattered.

AUDIO DESCRIPTION: In the last panel, she is splayed out on a medical exam table.

MICHELLE: They sent in five officers.

AUDIO DESCRIPTION: Virginia.

VIRGINIA: Now, these people, they can be strong. She saw the shot the nurse was fixing to give her to calm her down, and we had to call for reinforcements. I mean, it was just like we were nothing. They coming after you, and it’s your life or their life. You’re trying to not kill them but bring them down. So, there’s a time and a place for most things.

AUDIO DESCRIPTION: Shannon.

SHANNON: That’s the only environment where you could abuse people and get away with it and get paid to be there and get promoted!

AUDIO DESCRIPTION: Painting a line of helmeted guards. Then finishing the story.

MICHELLE: I was turned away, hiding. Boom.

AUDIO DESCRIPTION: The lead guard in line holds a riot shield.

MICHELLE: They did a takedown and knocked my teeth out.

AUDIO DESCRIPTION: Curls her lip to point out a double gap in front.

MICHELLE: Now I can’t smile.

AUDIO DESCRIPTION: Presenting the completed painting: six guards against her. [buzzer, door banging open] Returning to the reenactment, guards escort her to a cell. [door crashes shut]

MICHELLE: Then they put me in a room all by myself.

SHANNON: Being locked in a room was torture. It’s meant to break you down. It’s meant to destroy your mind. The long-term isolation causes irreparable psychological damage, and it makes people less likely to function normally when they’re released. If they make it out of there alive!

MICHELLE: I was by myself for six months. Alone.

ROXANNE: She can’t speak. She can’t tell you nothing. She can’t tell on you! They can’t even hear her cries. Could you imagine being in prison, and somebody can’t even hear your cries?

AUDIO DESCRIPTION: Bird’s-eye view of the sprawling prison complex. [music becomes gentle, birdsong fills the air] Back at the trailer, light shines through gaps in the clouds above the neighboring pasture. A rusty mailbox and an old railroad crossing sign. Michelle, at a table, dips a fine brush into a vial in her hand, eyes fixed on the canvas in front of her. She brushes in short strokes, wipes a forearm across her brow, then paints a thick black border. The painting: Michelle cuffed to a table in a dress, an attendant touching one arm. “FWRC.”

[water sprinkles as music gently fades] [video call ringing]

AUDIO DESCRIPTION: Kim and Michelle on a video call with advocate Colleen Metcalf who uses ASL.

MICHELLE: [via Kim] Hi, how are you?

COLLEEN: [via Kim] Good.

MICHELLE: [via Kim] I’m fine. Thank you. Oh, May 22nd? Yes, court.

COLLEEN: [via Kim] On Wednesday. Yes, it’s close. It’s very close.

MICHELLE: [via Kim] We’re all gonna come to court together. They’re gonna come to court with me.

COLLEEN: [via Kim] That’s good. That’s very good.

MICHELLE: [via Kim] Today, when I was sleeping, I was crying.

COLLEEN: [via Kim] I understand. Worrying. You got a lotta stress. I understand. When you feel stress, it’s important to not worry so much. You gotta think positive. I’m asking you. Just try.

[piercing bird calls and tender music]

AUDIO DESCRIPTION: Michelle holds back tears. Later, she walks over to a coop of poultry wire and tarp draped over hoops. Inside, chickens with bright red combs and wattles scrape and peck at straw at the sunny end. [chickens cooing and clucking] Michelle reaches into a red, barn-shaped nesting box in the shady back.

MICHELLE: My dad knew just a little bit of sign language when I was young.

AUDIO DESCRIPTION: One hand full of eggs, she stoops to scoop up a hen with the other. [clucking intensifies] Sets down the eggs to pet the bird.

MICHELLE: He taught me words like Sprite, sandwich, and ice cream.

[bright music]

AUDIO DESCRIPTION: Bob drives, Kim and Michelle in the backseat.

MICHELLE: [via Kim] You go under the bridge. There’s like a courthouse there, and then there’s a place that you go inside. And over on the side is where the ice cream is.

KIM: Ooh! So, it’s by the courthouse building? Awesome. Is that where your dad, he’d take you for ice cream? Oh, it tastes good. Okay. Hey, Bob.

BOB: Yeah?

MICHELLE: [laughs]

KIM: Can you take us to get some ice cream where her dad took her for ice cream?

BOB: Yes, I can.

KIM: Awesome.

AUDIO DESCRIPTION: A sunny birds eye view of Palatka, Florida, an old town center and a surrounding canopy of shade trees. [bright, uplifting music continues] Kim holds Michelle’s elbow as they walk up to an old-fashioned Dairy Queen and order from the window.

MICHELLE: We’d go for a ride in the car and we’d talk. He’d let me hold the steering wheel, while he smoked a cigarette. We were together a lot.

CLERK: Small vanilla cone.

MICHELLE: We’d have conversations. Nice.

CLERK: Have a good day, okay? Thanks, guys.

[bright music winds down slowly, gently]

AUDIO DESCRIPTION: Michelle tastes a nip from the top of her soft serve cone. Then, cross-legged atop a cement wall: “Welcome to Putnam County, City of Palatka.” A gentle breeze blows.

MICHELLE: Father, he would hit me. Mom just yelled a lot, and she did drugs. I would try to help her, but she just doesn’t want help. It’s hard.

[music becomes somber]

AUDIO DESCRIPTION: A “no trespassing” sign and a two-story house with faded yellow siding. Robin.

ROBIN: I didn’t really communicate that often when I was on drugs. So, there was a lotta gaps where I would not be around. Her father, he was also a drug addict, and Michelle was taken away from him because he was accused of sexually molesting her.

AUDIO DESCRIPTION: Framed photo of Michelle signing “I love you,” a flower by her ear. Painted cartoon cat. Michelle pushes an empty swing.

ROBIN: She was going to school, acting out with a doll. And when they saw her acting out with a doll, it drawed their attention to it. So, they were put in foster care for quite a little while. By the same token, Michelle still cared about her father, you know. So, and their relationship, I really don’t know how to describe it. The first time they were taken to put in foster care, I had went to prison because I took a charge for her dad. And when I got out, me and my second husband, Morgan, we got custody back of Michelle. Did pretty good for a little while with Morgan, and then I tried to stay sober. But I ended up drinking and drugging again. Somehow, her father got them back. After that, then Michelle just kinda went crazy. She started fires in the woods and got arson charges. This guy had taken advantage of her out there, so she had set the trailer on fire and burnt it down.

[flames roar, wood collapses]

AUDIO DESCRIPTION: Michelle’s high school yearbook photo, long hair and a slight smile. Now, the corner of her mouth twitches as she looks toward the camera. [somber music continues] Sitting on her trailer floor, painting.

ROBIN: She’s been locked up in the mental hospital, in Tampa Bay Academy, Ten Broek, just several different places. She’s been through a whole world of mess.

AUDIO DESCRIPTION: Painting four violent scenes at prison.

ROBIN: During my addiction, I did all kinds of things to get the drugs, from prostitution to stealing to robbing. [church bell rings out] It kept me numb. It kept me where I couldn’t think of what I was doing to their lives, my children’s.

AUDIO DESCRIPTION: Robin approaching a white cinderblock Macedonia PB church. [somber music continues] Now, at a branch office of the Florida Department of Children and Families. At a plexiglass window, Bob addresses a clerk, and Kim interprets for Michelle in ASL.

[music fades away]

CLERK: Okay. What type of records?

BOB: This is Michelle, and she has records from 1989-’91. We’ve requested the records several times. We’ve been in here. We’ve signed releases.

CLERK: This is the number for Jennesy Hennings. She might be able to tell you of a way to get those records, but we don’t have them here.

KIM: You don’t keep old records?

CLERK: No.

BOB: Can we use that phone?

CLERK: No.

AUDIO DESCRIPTION: Michelle points to a phone on the wall. Then seated in the lobby, looking over Bob’s cellphone.

[hold music on Bob’s cellphone]

RECEPTIONIST: [on speakerphone] Good afternoon, DCF Legal.

BOB: I’m calling on behalf of Michelle Ricks. She’s deaf, so she can’t hear.

RECEPTIONIST: Our records are confidential. So, are you her guardian?

BOB: Yes.

RECEPTIONIST: You went to our office in Marion County?

BOB: That’s where we’re sitting right now, in the lobby.

RECEPTIONIST: Oh! And so, are they just telling you there aren’t any records?

BOB: Yes.

AUDIO DESCRIPTION: Walking back to the car outside the building. At home, Bob reads from a photocopied sheaf of typed records.

BOB: This document is the DCF report. It provides a lotta detail on the early abuses that she dealt with. The father was released from jail and wanted custody of the children. But HRS did not want him to have custody due to past neglect. All the children were placed in a foster home. The children did very well in foster care.

AUDIO DESCRIPTION: Glenda Johns.

GLENDA: Michelle, she was about three years old. They brought her to me late in the evening, and Michelle decided that she wanted to stay under the dining room table, which I let her. And I’d talk to her every once in a while, and she acted like she knew what I was saying. So, we kinda just clicked. She was the best child. I couldn’t have asked for a better daughter. And I never had a daughter, so she was the closest thing I ever had to a child.

She didn’t fight with the other children. I never saw any violent temper. I never saw any aggravation. She just wanted to make everybody happy. I didn’t ever want her to leave, and that’s why I fought it so hard. But there was nothing I could do. My hands were tied.

They were with me a while, about three years, I think. Then the last time we went to court, the judge said that they were going home permanently. And that’s when Michelle got real upset when the last time that we started to go somewhere, we got in the car, and she started screaming ‘cause she thought she was going back to their dad’s.

BOB: July 6th, 1989, Judge Lee placed the children in the custody of the father. In returning the children to their father, Judge Lee ignored clear warning signals by HRS.

[somber, pulsing music]

AUDIO DESCRIPTION: Montage: happy childhood photos and videos at Glenda’s home. Michelle’s father’s small gray house as it is today.

MICHELLE: My mom, she was gone. They put me back with my father. I hated it. Hated it. My father told me, “Michelle, shhh, shhh. No, Michelle.” “You don’t tell the judge anything.”

AUDIO DESCRIPTION: Photo: Young and bright-eyed, boarding a school bus. [silence] Today, eyes tilted downward, pressed lips tensing and relaxing.

GLENDA: To know that that’s happening to a child, and to know that you can’t do a thing about it is devastating.

BOB: Michelle’s teacher, social worker, and foster parent, and the Child Protection Team were all subpoenaed for trial, but there was no presentation of evidence or trial at that time. And they brought Michelle in. They tried to get her to sign to the judge, but they said that she didn’t sign good enough to be a witness.

GLENDA: It looked like they were protecting him more than her. I always thought, when we left court that day, that her dad had to have some connection somehow because all the agency knew what she was going through. Everyone knew. Nobody in their right mind would’ve let that child go back to that environment.

AUDIO DESCRIPTION: Paints a gray-haired white man in judge’s robe.

BOB: The staff attorney, Susan K. Glant, decided to blow the whistle, saying the judge, the HRS attorney, and everybody who had anything to do with turning their backs on those children should be investigated by the federal government because there is something wrong.

[tender music]

AUDIO DESCRIPTION: An empty swing seat, then Michelle swinging high, her face beaming.

MICHELLE: I have been searching for my foster Mom for a long time. I finally found her on Facebook. I hope she remembers me.

[bright birdsong as tender music continues]

AUDIO DESCRIPTION: Strolling beneath trees toward her trailer. Then on the floor inside swiping through old photos on a tablet with Kim. [music fades away] One shows a slender, goateed man with a weathered face and a ball cap in a plaid shirt. She pinches and zooms in.

KIM: Your dad?

AUDIO DESCRIPTION: Kim enlarges the expressionless face still more. Michelle purses her lips, lowers her head. Kim gently shakes her head, rests a hand on Michelle’s shoulder. Michelle gestures, “I’m fine.”

MICHELLE: My mother and father, they were bad.

KIM: Yes, they were bad.

AUDIO DESCRIPTION: An agonized frown now.

KIM: But you’re not bad.

MICHELLE: But I went to prison before.

KIM: Okay, but okay. Yes, you went in prison. But no. No, you’re not bad.

MICHELLE: [sobs quietly]

KIM: [whispers] God, Baby, I’m so sorry.

[touching music]

AUDIO DESCRIPTION: Michelle sketches with pen in the car backseat in a t-shirt with colorful watering cans and flowers. Later, in a bright room with other adults around a long table in a mix of office chairs.

INSTRUCTOR: Okay. Well, hopefully, we’re full up and not gonna have too many more joiners. We’re gonna be a little crowded today, but that’s okay. I don’t know a lot of you. You’re fairly new here. So, I’m gonna go around, and you can just let me know who you are and tell me something about you that’ll help me remember you, okay? Michelle, why don’t we start with you?

MICHELLE: [via ASL interpreter] My name is Michelle. This is my sign name, Michelle. And I’m here to learn in class. That’s about it.

INSTRUCTOR: Good. Today, we’re going to plant some flowers. And when we’re on our own, we want to plant flowers, plant a tree, plant a garden. And learning to do one thing, you can learn to do a lot of things. Make your soil on the bottom level. If you have to move it so that it fits in there level, you can do that and put more dirt around. Sprinkle.

-Do we push it down?

-You can. You don’t have to push it down super hard.

[many conversations, touching music continues]

AUDIO DESCRIPTION: Michelle presses the dirt around a tiny, potted plant with one bloom, eyes on the ASL interpreter. The teacher inspects Michelle’s work, gives a thumbs up.

INSTRUCTOR: Looks good. Awesome.

[water sloshes, music rises with emotion]

AUDIO DESCRIPTION: Back home, Michelle holds a large plastic watering can chest high in both hands, eyes fixed on where the shower from its spout is landing: a clump of pink blooms and pointy leaves against a tree and beneath a hammock. The leaves bounce in the shower.

[pouring water builds to rain pattering on the tree leaves]

AUDIO DESCRIPTION: In the rain, a potted plant, tree leaves, and tangled threads of Spanish moss. On a country lane, Michelle strolls barefoot beneath an umbrella, flip flops in hand. She veers deliberately to step through a puddle, shrugs, and smiles gleefully.

MICHELLE: Ah!

[touching music slowly fades]

AUDIO DESCRIPTION: Photos and floor plans on Michelle’s tablet.

KIM: So, this is the tiny house that you wanna do, 12 by 24. And art supplies. Oh! Okay.

MICHELLE: [via Kim] Shelves, I’m gonna put shelves in there on that side so I can put all my arts and paints. I’m not gonna have a kitchen.

KIM: You don’t wanna cook?

MICHELLE: [via Kim] No, I don’t cook.

MICHELLE: I want a composting toilet, like yours.

KIM: [laughs] A composting toilet! Awesome! I love it. That’s great. Why do you want a tiny house?

[stirring music]

AUDIO DESCRIPTION: Michelle rounds the house, stroking a plant en route to the door.

MICHELLE: I want a tiny house so that I can draw my ideas that I love to do.

AUDIO DESCRIPTION: A bright, bare room, a mama cat.

MICHELLE: I want to be able to think.

AUDIO DESCRIPTION: She pets and caresses tiny kittens.

[laughs with delight, speaks to mewling kitten]

MICHELLE: It’s nice and calm and quiet. I can watch birds, and pet animals. [coos to the kitten]

AUDIO DESCRIPTION: Robin.

ROBIN: She always wanted to pet animals. She loves cats. Cat’s her favorite animal. I suppose that she liked the animals more because they probably related to her better.

GUIDE: The building coming up serves as a holding area and a hatchery for many of our bird species.

ROBIN: She veered more to the animals than trying to mess around with other people because people would make fun of her because of her disability.

GUIDE: We have one male named Dixon and seven females.

ROBIN: You know, slamming her around, bruising her up.

GUIDE: We have three African bush elephants here at the Jacksonville Zoo. We have two females named Thandi and Sheena and one male, who is in the yard right now, named Ali. Ali stands six feet tall at the shoulders....

ROBIN: Well, I just really have no respect for none of them. She didn’t need to be put in a prison. She needed to go to a place where she could actually get help. It’s obvious that she could’ve been a different person because she is now. All they did was just throw her into the system and let her fend for herself.

[tender, stirring music continues]

AUDIO DESCRIPTION: In awe, watches an elephant, then a tiger. Beams for a selfie with Robin. Paints a tiger.

MICHELLE: Mom?

ROBIN: Uh-huh?

MICHELLE: What was it like when you were growing up?

ROBIN: Oh, wow….

AUDIO DESCRIPTION: Robin’s halting mix of sign and finger spelling as she speaks.

ROBIN: It...[sighs] was bad. Not much good. Maybe same as you.

AUDIO DESCRIPTION: Weathered Palatka welcome sign with civic club logos. [traffic passes, music darkens] The back of a gray two story house.

MICHELLE: For probation, I was sent to live in a women’s shelter. This is where five men hurt me bad.

AUDIO DESCRIPTION: In front, points at it over her shoulder. Later, paints a wide-eyed young woman.

MICHELLE: When it was over, I ran. I tried to tell the officer I was raped, but he didn’t understand me.

[rush of a nearing car]

AUDIO DESCRIPTION: Beside a rural highway, she holds the painting. A police cruiser passes.

MICHELLE: The officer grabbed me when I tried to walk away. He didn’t understand me, and I didn’t want him to grab me. I tried to pull away. He put handcuffs on me and put me in jail.

AUDIO DESCRIPTION: Shakes her head in disbelief. [chains rattle, music continues] Back at the prison, shackled, escorted by the guards.

MICHELLE: The judge said it was a probation violation. He sent me back to the shelter. I had to stay there for four years. It happened over and over.

[music softens, slowly fades]

AUDIO DESCRIPTION: Michelle and Kim face each other at the highway rail crossing, backlit by a low afternoon sun filtered through clouds, Michelle clasping a flower. Now at the dentist, Michelle in a paper bib, plays slap hands with Kim. [staff chats quietly]

[slap]

MICHELLE: [giggles]

[slap]

AUDIO DESCRIPTION: Michelle struggles not to smile too smugly at her victory.

KIM: I swear!

MICHELLE: [calls out, laughs gleefully]

DENTIST: Okay. Here’s what we’re gonna do. I have to make bite rims, some guides for the technician to mount the teeth. I’m gonna make her like a temporary denture and see how she does first. You see what I’m saying? We gotta open her bite up ‘cause it’s collapsed.

[camera clicks]

AUDIO DESCRIPTION: As the dentist prods, Michelle reaches for Kim’s hand.

[pensive music]

MICHELLE: The dentist is going to fix my teeth, so I can smile again.

KIM: With Michelle, I do my best to keep my composure when she’s sharing with me what’s going on. And then after she goes to bed, I just cry. I cry a lot because it’s really hard to imagine how she has managed to survive.

MICHELLE: [moans]

AUDIO DESCRIPTION: Now on her bed painting a monarch butterfly on a tuft of pink blossom against a turquoise sky.

KIM: Michelle never had a trial by peers in any case. It was always in front of a judge. The judge made the decision whether she went to jail or not.

AUDIO DESCRIPTION: Outside the trailer, Kim is using her Braille reader at the table, and lights up as Michelle presents the painting.

KIM: Oh!

AUDIO DESCRIPTION: Removing her earbuds, Kim takes the canvas in two hands and leans close to examine it.

KIM: Oh, that’s the same as my shirt! Thank you. Oh, my God. That is so awesome!

AUDIO DESCRIPTION: They hug tight.

KIM: There’s a thing called recidivism. The average for the nation is three out of four inmates will return to prison within the first five years of being released. I’m very concerned for her safety.

AUDIO DESCRIPTION: Michelle with her many paintings on a wall. Chena.

CHENA: It’s always drilled in your head: You made a mistake. You were a bad person. You have to be punished. There’s no such thing as paying a debt to society. It always comes back up. I know people who try to go get a job. Something happened 10 years ago. It pops up. Guess what. They can’t get a job. You’re not the same person who you were five years ago. You’re not the same person who you were a week ago. People constantly change. But once you become a convicted felon, you’re forever penalized.

AUDIO DESCRIPTION: Michelle carefree on a bike. Then, on body cam.

OFFICER 1: [from body cam] Get down! Hands in the air. Hands up in the air. Don’t move. Don’t move.

OFFICER 2: 5527. 1012, 1015.

DISPATCHER: 10 4. 1012....

[dispatcher continues]

[ominous music]

AUDIO DESCRIPTION: In a roadside thicket, Michelle in a hoodie turns, ready for cuffing behind her back. April 22nd, 2018.

MICHELLE: [moaning]

OFFICER 1: Got it. You got her?

OFFICER 2: Yes, sir. All right. It’s all you.

[officers continue talking]

OFFICER 3: Knife is right there on the ground up there, so get something to secure it. You know where my stuff is at. Right there on the left side. Let’s get it secured.

MICHELLE: [moaning]

AUDIO DESCRIPTION: Escorted to one of several sheriff SUVs along the road margin, Michelle cranes her neck to see behind her.

OFFICER: Face the car for me, ma’am.

MICHELLE: [cries]

OFFICER: Face the car. Face the car, ma’am.

AUDIO DESCRIPTION: An officer bags something from the ground.

OFFICER: Removing your purse so we can check to make sure there’s no additional weapons, okay?

REPORTER: Well, Deputy Casey was sitting in front of the Dollar General when an unarmed Lowell Correction Officer, who was in uniform, off-duty, came out of the Dollar General and advised that former inmate Michelle Romaine Ricks had just pulled a knife on him inside the store and was chasing him around.

AUDIO DESCRIPTION: She shakes her head no.

MICHELLE: I didn’t hurt any people. I just pointed at it and said, “shame on you!” “I’m leaving. You can’t hurt me again.”

AUDIO DESCRIPTION: Video from store security camera.

MICHELLE: He was the same officer who knocked my teeth out in prison. I ran outside. There were officers everywhere.

[tense music, voices on police radios]

AUDIO DESCRIPTION: She reenacts the event with Kim.

MICHELLE: One of them pulled out a gun. I dropped the knife and put my hands behind my back.

AUDIO DESCRIPTION: A reporter and uniformed officer address the camera.

REPORTER: She violated her probation. Her previous arrest was for, get this, assaulting a law enforcement officer.

OFFICER: Hmm. Making it a habit.

AUDIO DESCRIPTION: On a cruiser seat, wriggling.

MICHELLE: Ah.

OFFICER: You wanna take your jacket off ‘cause you’re hot?

MICHELLE: [groans]

OFFICER: Are you hot?

MICHELLE: [moans]

OFFICER 1: Yeah, she won’t talk. She’s deaf.

OFFICER 2: Oh, she is?

OFFICER 1: Yes.

OFFICER 3: I’m not gonna ask her any questions. We have enough PC without her talking.

OFFICER 1: Oh, yeah.

OFFICER 3: How do you Miranda as a deaf person?

-Write it down?

-Let her read it.

AUDIO DESCRIPTION: Kim and Michelle in front of the Public Defender’s office.

PUBLIC DEFENDER: The crime Michelle Ricks is being accused of is, under Florida law, called aggravated assault on a law enforcement officer. In laymen’s terms, it’s someone you know or should know is a police officer, and you use a weapon, a deadly weapon, to place them in a reasonable fear...that you’re gonna use that weapon upon them. If I were a prosecutor, I could make a compelling argument why Michelle should go to prison. Michelle pulled a knife on the corrections officer, and that’s the crime.

AUDIO DESCRIPTION: Public Defender Michael Graves.

MICHAEL: It’s 15 years for something that happened in 15 seconds.

[pensive music]

MICHAEL: In Michelle’s circumstance, definitionally, it’s a one-sided investigation: She must be a violent individual. You have all these batteries.

[gentle music]

AUDIO DESCRIPTION: At the station on body cam, a bedraggled Michelle gestures for pen and paper, then writes. On her wrist, the deep red imprint of a handcuff.

MICHAEL: People will look at it and say, “Oh, God. She might be a sociopath.”

OFFICER: Transfer to jail staff.

AUDIO DESCRIPTION: Michelle’s restraint painted in four panels.

MICHAEL: Michelle’s case is a confluence of her prior cases where, as a result of her incarceration in Florida state prison, she was victimized by the authorities, we believe, and that it was just by happenchance she had run into one of the individuals that had victimized her. And

she acted out in a manner that, in Michelle’s mind, was acting in self-defense. But she got arrested for a violent felony.

There’s this thing called due process that really is the rights of the person in court. That they have a right to a fair trial. They understand, have the right to be heard, have the right to have their side of the story heard, to be represented by a lawyer. If you can’t understand what’s being said, nothing about those things are fair. And then that isn’t the due process that our law says that every citizen has.

[Kim’s white cane tapping]

AUDIO DESCRIPTION: Michael walks out with Kim and Michelle.

MICHAEL: Certainly, with a number of Michelle’s disabilities, we have significant question whether Michelle can ever be competent to proceed. We’re setting out to prove that to the court.

AUDIO DESCRIPTION: She walks the highway at dusk in the cat-face t-shirt.

MICHAEL: Michelle’s next court date is late June. We still have some work to do because it’s going to be the important court date as we stand.

AUDIO DESCRIPTION: The darkened roadside and sunset behind. [peaceful, lyrical music] Now, Michelle paints blue around penciled clouds, mama cat nestled at the edge of the canvas, napping. She is at the table outside her trailer, leaning forward with her head cocked as she paints. Now birds in silhouettes occupy the upper sky, and a long-haired woman with tan arms reaches up for a giant heart floating in the center. Applying brown to hair, lilac to her dress. Grass and wildflowers remain in pencil.

MICHELLE: Because of all the things in the past, they say I’m bad.

AUDIO DESCRIPTION: Poses, pleased, with the finished painting.

MICHELLE: I want to be free like everyone else.

[lyrical music continues soaring, twinkling]

AUDIO DESCRIPTION: The painted woman’s hair falls from her forehead in a heart shape, mirroring the heart in the sky. Then, from above: the pasture at sunset under wispy fog. From an exam chair, Kim reads an eye chart at arm’s length, lights low in the clinic.

OPTOMETRIST: Do you notice any difference between lens one, lens two, or they look about the same?

KIM: Two seems to be sharper.

OPTOMETRIST: Okay. And what about this one: Number two versus number three?

KIM: Oh, no. Definitely number two.

OPTOMETRIST: Very nice. All right.

KIM: Yes.

BOTH: [laugh]

KIM: I guess I don’t have a problem with that! Oh, my God.

OPTOMETRIST: I’m so happy for you!

KIM: You just don’t understand.

OPTOMETRIST: [laughs] I’m so happy for you. Oh!

AUDIO DESCRIPTION: Kim and the optometrist hug. Dusky sky behind the trees. [cricket chirps fill the air] Michelle in the cat-face T walks the country lane with an old black dog on leash and turns toward her trailer. [somber music, slow steps crunching on the dirt] The brightly lit trailer glows through the entryway. Michelle climbs the steps, turns and walks from view. Text onscreen: “8 days before court hearing.”

[smoldering pile of leaves crackles lightly]

AUDIO DESCRIPTION: In the morning mist, distant cows graze the field. Kim fans a smoldering leaf pile with a rake as Bob, in a dress shirt and slacks, walks to the car holding a binder. 8:30 AM.

[cell phone buzzes, leaves crackle]

KIM: Hi. Okay. Was the door unlocked? When was the last time you saw her last night? The last time she walked off, she told me that she’d walked on the train tracks. Make sure you notify the train system that there’s a deaf girl that might be walking the tracks. We’ve got to figure out a way for her to clearly understand if there’s something she’s gonna do, she has to let us know.

-[on phone] I’ve told her that. I said, “They’re gonna have to tell someone in court that you escaped again. There’s gonna be consequences for that.”

[suspenseful music races]

AUDIO DESCRIPTION: 12:30 AM, Bob drives with Kim in the backseat.

KIM: How many officers do you have on duty right now in Levy County?

SAMANTHA: I have seven, and they’re all on calls.

KIM: [sighs] It took us five hours with a helicopter, hound dogs, and 10 police officers the last time to do this.

AUDIO DESCRIPTION: Kim, brow furrowed, turns to the window.

KIM: I just got off the phone with Marion Correctional, Said all they needed is a call from you guys saying that you need their assistance to find Michelle.

SAMANTHA: We spoke to our Corporal earlier, and he said we didn’t need assistance from Marion County.

KIM: Okay. So.... [frustrated laugh]

[music intensifies]

AUDIO DESCRIPTION: Bites her lip and shakes her fist. They pull into a ranch.

KIM: Michelle walked up to some people’s houses that were close to the train track. We’re trying to find somebody that has night vision goggles or a night vision scope.

[footsteps crunching on gravel]

-So, I think you said it’s just all pasture. The gate’s open over here.

KIM: Okay. So, she jumped this fence?

-Yeah, she jumped the fence, but jumped that way over there.

[rock bangs and echoes on track]

AUDIO DESCRIPTION: Kim squats at the train tracks in leopard-print blouse and leggings to rap on a rail with a rock. Feels for a reply with the back of her hand.

[suspenseful music continues]

AUDIO DESCRIPTION: Sunrise colors above a two-lane road illuminated only by headlights.

-[on phone] I’m right off of 41.

-Okay.

-[on phone] Something happened to her. She’s been cutting herself or crawling through barbed wire.

AUDIO DESCRIPTION: 3:00 AM. Kim walks in darkness, then kneels before Michelle slumped beneath a porchlight beside a woman in a night dress.

-I had my light on. I was just getting ready to go to bed, and I heard the doorbell.

KIM: [whispers] Thank you. Thank you.

AUDIO DESCRIPTION: Michelle looks away. Kim inspects cuts on Michelle’s forearm.

MAN: We’ve been, the last five hours, we’ve been talking to cops.

KIM: Let’s go home. Yeah, home. Yes. No. No, no, no, no. What’s wrong?

MICHELLE: Why did you call the cops?

KIM: No, to find you! You. I didn’t call until you ran! I didn’t. I didn’t call!

MICHELLE: I was really cold!

KIM: Yeah! You see this? I’m cold! [whispers] Been looking for hours for you.

AUDIO DESCRIPTION: Michelle nods. Now Kim slides beside Michelle in the backseat.

MICHELLE: Why do I keep remembering all the bad things that happened to me?

KIM: Yeah. But why did you, why did you leave?

You gotta open it. No, not that one, this one. No. Come over on the— No! No, no, no. You’re staying. You’re staying.

MICHELLE: [moans]

KIM: No! You, you ran. You’re gonna stay with me, my home.

OFFICER: Does she have any kind of ID or anything like that, that I can run to make sure, to verify that it’s her?

KIM: Yeah, yeah. They just need your ID.

OFFICER: All righty. I’ll be right back with it, all right?

KIM: Okay.

AUDIO DESCRIPTION: The officer steps into the darkness out of view. Now, driving, the pale pink of dawn hangs over the headlighted road. [pensive music, an ethereal voice sings]

[river water flows, birds singing]

Then looking out over the river. Text: “5 days before court hearing.” Bob.

BOB: It’s been an interesting couple of days.

KIM: This is really hard. God, I need your help. Please help me.

BOB: Sometimes it’s stressful helping other people, but it’s a commitment that we make.

AUDIO DESCRIPTION: Michelle at a boardwalk railing. Bob with an arm around Kim, looking out over the river.

Sign for the Center for Independent Living of North Central Florida. [bells jingle as a door opens] Inside Colleen Metcalf, a Consumer Specialist and Advocate for 20 years, leads them to a conference table, where they all sit. On the wall hangs a clock with sculpted counting hands in place of numerals. Colleen signs as she speaks.

COLLEEN: Okay. The court said you run away, what happens?

MICHELLE: I don’t know. They’re going to put me in prison. I don’t care.

COLLEEN: You would go to jail. You would go to jail in a heartbeat. You don’t know the rules of the law. You don’t need to let stress build up and run away. You get so mad and upset that you

explode. You need to calm down and think about it before you explode. Stay calm. Don’t run away. We don’t want you to go to jail again. We don’t want them to hurt you. We love you.

MICHELLE: I don’t believe people.

COLLEEN: You don’t believe people. I know you’re worried about tomorrow. I know. Call me tonight. Talk to me. Just forget about court. Sleep well. In the morning, eat a good breakfast. Go to court. Stay calm. Be positive.

[soft, wistful music]

AUDIO DESCRIPTION: Michelle seated in a smock in the yard back home with a towel around her neck and a tabby in her lap. Kim applies burgundy dye to her hair from a bowl Michelle holds up. A yellow glow through the trees.

MICHELLE: I want to try to stay calm.

[crickets chirp, water pouring]

AUDIO DESCRIPTION: Under lamplight, Kim rinses Michelle’s hair with a garden hose. She bends her head forward and wriggles. Now together, they face the lowering sun across the river.

MICHELLE: I want to be able to tell the judge that I’m sorry, that I want to stay living here.

AUDIO DESCRIPTION: Michelle in the yard holding back tears, eyes squeezed shut. [music rises with emotion] She looks upward and presses hands together as in prayer.

MICHELLE: Please, God, please.

AUDIO DESCRIPTION: Holding her prayer hands to her forehead, she folds forward in her chair and sobs.

[sniffles and cries]

[birds sing as she continues to cry]

AUDIO DESCRIPTION: Kim and Michelle rest against a boardwalk railing, looking out over the water…. Driving a faded 8-lane highway, shadows of the passing cars long. [music brightens and lifts] The day of court hearing, June 17th, 2019. Michelle fidgets. Her nails painted a cheery pink, she wears an Apple watch with flower wristband. Michael.

MICHAEL: Nothing in her life has ever happened to her except bad things. This is her day in court, her ability to participate, her ability to understand what’s going on, her ability to assist us in her defense. This is really the best opportunity we’re gonna have for her to get out of the revolving door of the criminal justice system.

AUDIO DESCRIPTION: Looking up from the foot of a pole, a billowing U.S. flag in front of the Marion County Judicial Center, an imposing contemporary building. In the garage, Michelle, Bob and Kim gather by their car. Kim signs as she recites, Bob bows his head, Michelle presses hands together.

KIM: Heavenly Father, we thank you for today, for the help and the judge knowing and understanding that this case needs to stop and finish. We pray for help and strength, that it’s gonna be okay, and that Michelle is gonna get to stay with us and live with Bob and me. We ask for help in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.

[jiggles handle]

KIM: It’s locked.

MICHELLE: [moans]

KIM: I just have to wait four.

COLLEEN: 20 minutes

KIM: Just have to wait.

AUDIO DESCRIPTION: Now inside, Michelle and Kim walk with Colleen to the courtroom, Michelle in a light print vest over a v-neck T and skirt.

MICHELLE: Should we ask the officer?

MICHAEL: There’s a number of things that the courts look at: the ability to understand the charges against you, the ability to understand the consequences of those charges. I wish I could look into my crystal ball and see what the judge is gonna do. Courts previously have ruled she has become competent. I don’t agree with their decision. I’ll respect their decision, but I think we’re hoping to give Judge Rogers in this case a little more background, a little more information. She suffered abuse. She suffered violence while she was in Florida state prison. I don’t think anybody can deny that. I’m not sure she’s capable of setting aside the role that she has perceived the judges played in her life previously.

AUDIO DESCRIPTION: Afterward, Michelle paints the hearing as recorded audio plays.

BAILIFF: ...hearing for the State of Florida versus Michelle Ricks case, 2018, CF-1526.

ASST. PUBLIC DEFENDER: Yes, Your Honor. I had a couple of things that I wanted to address under Florida Rules of Criminal Procedure 3.21382. After determination that the person is incompetent to stand trial, the charge shall be dismissed no later than two years after a finding if incompetency is due to intellectual disability. I would argue here that there’s no indication that Ms. Ricks is going to regain competency in the near future, so I’d ask first that the Court dismiss this charge.

ASST. STATE’S ATTORNEY: What she is saying is not accurate. The most recent evaluation I have, it does not say that she is incapable of regaining competency. And to the contrary, in the case back in 2012, she was found incompetent and then regained competency. The State’s concern is that there has been no additional expert opinion that something has changed with Ms. Ricks.

ASST. PUBLIC DEFENDER: I would dispute that. I’d like to take some testimony from Ms. Law. I understand that the condition of the Court has imposed that Ms. Ricks must stay with you is becoming a hardship on you.

KIM: We teach in the prison. We can’t go into the prison unless we have someone to sit with Michelle. We’re not able to go and work the way we normally do to create the income, and the costs of supporting Michelle is much more than what her Social Security check is. Just based on the medications that we have her on, those are not sufficient enough to cover all of the expenses. It’s causing us a very strong financial challenge.

ASST. STATE’S ATTORNEY: I have no further questions.

AUDIO DESCRIPTION: Michelle in her yard with the finished painting of a high-walled courtroom.

MICHAEL: The judge will hold a status type review and make a determination as to whether Michelle continues to be incompetent to proceed. In the worst case, she goes back to state prison.

AUDIO DESCRIPTION: The view sweeps over prison buildings tucked in behind two rings of high barbed wire fencing and trim grassy fields. [music soars, then slowly drifts away] Back by the river, the bridge reflecting in its glassy surface. [water gently laps the shore] Text: “3 weeks later.” The faded U.S. flag by Michelle’s trailer flaps on its pole.

KIM: What do you think about the judge?

AUDIO DESCRIPTION: Voicing Michelle.

MICHELLE: [via Kim] I’m afraid of what the judge will say. He needs to just let it go, just wash his hands and let it go. He needs to. I’m tired of having to go to court. I’m tired. I am so tired! I need the judge to let everything go. I need him to let me stay living with you, Kim. That would be good.

AUDIO DESCRIPTION: Beside Kim at the picnic table, Michelle bows her head, fiddles with torn bits of leaf.

KIM: At times, I think you’re psychic.

AUDIO DESCRIPTION: At the dentist’s, Michelle and Kim follow a hygienist. In the exam chair, Michelle faces Kim and photographs her signing “I love you” using Kim’s cellphone. [camera clicks] She returns it with a playful smirk.

TECHNICIAN: I’m gonna let Doctor know that she’s seated, and he’ll be in, in just a couple minutes.

KIM: Okay.

You wanna get your new teeth today?

[sweet music]

AUDIO DESCRIPTION: Nods, smiling softly.

KIM: Awesome!

MICHELLE: I’m shy.

KIM: No! You’re not shy. You wanna show everybody your smile!

[uplifting music]

AUDIO DESCRIPTION: Back home, the wind blows softly. A cat wearing a blue collar walks past the hammock draped between two majestic oak trees. Michelle stands with a smile, blue and red-framed glasses matching her multi-colored flower top. [car tires crunching on gravel, music continues] A sedan pulls in. Her smile widens, showing a full row of gleaming teeth.

MICHELLE: I’m about to see my foster mom for the first time in 31 years.

AUDIO DESCRIPTION: Michelle looks out from a screened veranda as a beaming older white woman approaches, Glenda Johns, Michelle’s foster mom. Her hair is short, reading glasses perched atop her head.

[screen door squeaks]

GLENDA: Oh, yeah!!! Oh, you look so pretty! Your hair’s gorgeous.

MICHELLE: Oh.

GLENDA: It’s so good to see you!

AUDIO DESCRIPTION: Glenda enters.

GLENDA: You’re all grown up. [laughs]

AUDIO DESCRIPTION: They embrace.

GLENDA: Oh.

MICHELLE: It’s been a long time since I saw you.

GLENDA: I love you. I’ve missed you.

MICHELLE: I love you.

AUDIO DESCRIPTION: Embrace again.

GLENDA: There you are. You were little! You were. Maybe you were.

MICHELLE: I was happy.

AUDIO DESCRIPTION: Looking through stacks of old photos.

GLENDA: Yeah. On the bus, going to school. Getting your ears pierced.

BOTH: [laugh]

GLENDA: You were probably seven when you left my home. You were my baby. [chuckles] You were always my baby.

MICHELLE: I have missed you. You were a good mom.

GLENDA: Wow.

MICHELLE: You were awesome!!!

GLENDA: [laughs gently] It’s amazing to see how she turned out such a beautiful person.

AUDIO DESCRIPTION: Glenda gazes at Michelle. [music soars with emotion] As Michelle’s chin quivers and tears gather, Glenda draws her in to nestle her head on her shoulder.

GLENDA: [chuckles softly] Aw, you’re so sweet.

AUDIO DESCRIPTION: Morning mist over the tree-lined country road and the dewy pasture. [music continues, birds sing] Michelle against an old ranch fence looks up and raises arms to the sky. The tabby cat relaxes in the grass beside her.

MICHELLE: Praise you, God. God loves all the people, the hearing, the deaf, all the people, and you, and you, and you, my heart, my cat!

MICHELLE: [happy sounds and laughing]

AUDIO DESCRIPTION: She lifts the cat into her arms and strokes it.

MICHELLE: I’m calm. I smile a lot. I hope for good. [cat purrs]

AUDIO DESCRIPTION: One month later. Seen from overhead, the compact family car turns out onto the empty two-lane highway in the low light of morning. In the backseat, Michelle glumly looks out the window through large, brown-framed glasses, then reaches toward Kim in front and nods. [dulcet music] Clip-ons shade Kim’s glasses. Small farms and occasional palm trees cruising past. Kim removes her clip-ons.

[cell phone buzzing]

KIM: Hello? Yes. Mmhmm. Hang on. The attorney’s on the phone. Pull in front of the gas station.

[turn signal ticks]

KIM: Uh-huh. Really? Hold on, hold on, hold on! Hold on. Wait. Wait, wait, wait. Just a minute. I gotta tell Michelle. Hang on just a second. Hang on. Michelle, it’s your lawyer. They said...the judge said you’re finished. All done. Good job. Awesome! Thank you! Bye.

BOB: All right! Good deal! Whew. Man, that takes a load off us. Michelle is free. All right!

AUDIO DESCRIPTION: Orange sunlight directly on her, Michelle breaks into a smile.

On the train track.

MICHELLE: Hi! My name is Michelle. Sign name Michelle.

AUDIO DESCRIPTION: An energetic smile on her face.

Jangling keys of a guard at the re-enactment, Michelle pulling uncuffed hands in from the slot in the cell door.

MICHAEL: “Michelle Ricks, case number 2018, CF 1526.”

[music rises and fills with delight]

AUDIO DESCRIPTION: Michelle greets Robin on a riverside lawn with open arms.

ROBIN: I’m so happy for you.

MICHAEL: “This cause came before the court at the review hearing conducted on June 17th, 2019.

AUDIO DESCRIPTION: An evening patio party for Michelle.

MICHAEL: The court finds the defendant is not expected to become competent to proceed in this action. Wherefore, based upon the foregoing, it is hereby ordered that this action is dismissed without prejudice, dated this 12th day of July, 2019, Circuit Court Judge.”

AUDIO DESCRIPTION: Michael slides the letter to Michelle beside him.

MICHAEL: There you go.

KIM: “I’m gonna keep this,” she says. [laughs] “Put it in my book.”

[tender music]

AUDIO DESCRIPTION: Michelle’s eyes fix on the letter as Kim nods, all smiling. They head out from his office.

MICHAEL: The fact that Michelle is deaf isn’t the factor that caused her to be found incompetent. Because she was deaf, no one wanted to take the time to communicate. If we don’t take the time to communicate, we don’t discover the other issues that are present: the mental health issues, the educational deficits, the abuse that she suffered during a lifetime. And without discovering those issues, someone like Michelle is never going to receive due process, is never going to receive justice. Michelle, all the Michelles, become an inconvenience.

AUDIO DESCRIPTION: Childhood video: Michelle and her younger brother play happily in Glenda’s backyard. Now, Kim drives the compact car.

KIM: It’s a different feeling.

AUDIO DESCRIPTION: She no longer wears clip-on tinted lenses.

KIM: For all those people who are the same as Michelle, their voice is not being heard. She’s gonna be that voice.

AUDIO DESCRIPTION: Michelle rides on the back of a zoo train. [uplifting music] Painted around a doorbell with, “Deaf. Push for light.” Turquoise tiles on a light blue wall spell out “love.” Leis hang between letters. The painted woman reaching toward the heart now says, “Don’t worry. Be happy!”

MICHELLE: This is the color blue that I mixed. I mixed white and blue together and I made the color myself! I wanted it to be bright. That’s why I mixed it. I like nice cool, relaxing colors. I wood burned this. These are my cats.

AUDIO DESCRIPTION: A pond mural spans one wall.

MICHELLE: Koi. It was my idea to draw these koi fish.

AUDIO DESCRIPTION: Michelle breaks into laughter. [music becomes triumphant] Now, she stands in the entrance to her pink tiny house, green double doors wide. Painted on the exterior, a nature scene and heart balloons. Fade to black.

[music softens, becomes pensive]

Text: “More than an estimated 750,000 incarcerated individuals have a disability. An estimated 153,000 deaf individuals are incarcerated in jails or state and federal prisons. (Mizrahi, et al., Report by RespectAbility, 2016).”

“Every deaf person has the right to an unbiased, qualified interpreter in any interaction with police, attorneys, judges, etc. As per the ADA, any place of public accommodation is required to provide sign language interpreters or other effective means of communication for deaf and hard of hearing individuals.” Fade to black.

[pensive music soars with emotion]

Photo: Michelle wraps an arm over Robin’s shoulder and signs “I love you” with her other hand posed in front of a small white church. [an ethereal voice floats above the music] “This film is dedicated to Robin Romaine Elworthy.”

Credits play over a series of Michelle’s vibrant paintings. Abbreviated credits.

[tender music]

Artwork / Font Design / Story Consultant: Michelle Romaine Ricks.

Director / Producer / Director of Photography: Atin Mehra.

Produced by: Mae Thornton Mehra.

Executive Producers: Rajiv Sanghvi, Priti Sanghvi.

Executive Producers: Doug Blush, Delbert Whetter.

Edited by: Randy Redroad.

[the ethereal voice returns, soaring]

Associate Producers: Alyson Larson, Colleen Metcalf, Harold Foxx, Tanya Ward.

Original Music: Fabien Bourdier, Leon Lacey.