The first I saw of Dave Carlson was his back, in a prison jumpsuit on Sept. 3, 2015. Carlson had been calling me from the cellblock payphone for a few weeks for an NPR story about incarcerated combat veterans and PTSD.

"Jail is the least therapeutic atmosphere you could probably ever imagine," Carlson had told me over a scratchy phone line. "You come in one way and you leave three times worse."

Now I finally got a look at him, while the judge decided if Carlson could walk free — or stay locked up for up to six more years. He was 31, and the only Black man I remember seeing in that courtroom in Waukesha, Wisc. Nearly done with a four-year sentence for robberies and drug offenses, he was facing additional charges for crimes he'd committed inside prison.

Carlson served two combat tours i

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