--- title: Sol in the Garden | TIME description: When Sol Mercado was born, her father gave her a name that means sun in Spanish, because, as she explains at the beginning of this film, she was the sunshine of his life. But for many years, sunshine was hard to come by for Sol. When she was 19, she shot and killed a rival gang member in California, and she served 16 years in prison as a result. canonical: https://time.com/video/4DshwlCY/ og:title: Sol in the Garden og:description: When Sol Mercado was born, her father gave her a name that means sun in Spanish, because, as she explains at the beginning of this film, she was the sunshine of his life. But for many years, sunshine was hard to come by for Sol. When she was 19, she shot and killed a rival gang member in California, and she served 16 years in prison as a result. og:url: https://time.com/video/4DshwlCY/ og:image: https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/4DshwlCY/poster.jpg?width=720 og:type: video.other twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Sol in the Garden twitter:description: When Sol Mercado was born, her father gave her a name that means sun in Spanish, because, as she explains at the beginning of this film, she was the sunshine of his life. But for many years, sunshine was hard to come by for Sol. When she was 19, she shot and killed a rival gang member in California, and she served 16 years in prison as a result. twitter:image: https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/4DshwlCY/poster.jpg?width=720 --- * U.S. # Sol in the Garden > Sponsored content. Supplied in partnership with TIME. 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They are at time.com/newsletters and are separate from a paid subscription. ## Video: Sol in the Garden [Watch (HLS stream): Sol in the Garden](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/4DshwlCY.m3u8) (20:49)  _Published 2023-10-04. When Sol Mercado was born, her father gave her a name that means sun in Spanish, because, as she explains at the beginning of this film, she was the sunshine of his life. But for many years, sunshine was hard to come by for Sol. When she was 19, she shot and killed a rival gang member in California, and she served 16 years in prison as a result._ --- Dec 1, 2023 3:24 AM UTC --- ## More From This Series [All Videos](https://time.com/video/) [A Face Transplant Gave This 26-Year-Old a ‘Second Chance at Life’](/video/1zL0Acn8/) ### A Face Transplant Gave This 26-Year-Old a ‘Second Chance at Life’ [Rufus Du Sol Is Changing the Way You Think About Electronic Music](/video/tQmUp5NZ/) ### Rufus Du Sol Is Changing the Way You Think About Electronic Music [Rival Gangs Play Basketball for Peace](/video/kF1J7BiC/) ### Rival Gangs Play Basketball for Peace --- ## Transcript Central. California. Women's facility. Solenoid. Mom. Papi. Injustice. When I was gardening in prison, I felt that that place was my little piece of Freedom. That was something that helped me to think of that there was something over that fence. My first time going to the water. I don't know how I feel right now. This is so amazing. right at the bay, I could see the Bay Bridge, the Golden Gate San Francisco, Is my bedroom is a little messy. I was just paying bills. No, I'm doing grown up things and you know it feels really good. Where do you see? I'm tiny. I told you when I go to stores and I'm still alive. Follow me. Watch me. They know I get locked up. I need your help. And you see I'm trying to fix what I want to do. I want to pick different stuff that I never wore before, you know like colors and stuff like that. Yes, reinvent myself. When I was in the gang, I will dress with Dickies Ben Davis Cortez outside. Wow, like this is not the person that I used to be, because the person that I used to be will go first for all, those are the type of clothing. No, I did this the other day and I felt so confused on my what do I do now do that. This is where we have a lot of like when you RV into meetings that you'll be a part of the month. What is this? Pineapple. Thank you. Nice to meet you, too. Thank you. Thank you. Yeah, I was supposed to do 31 because of the youth offender. I was able to get out 16. You yeah. In prison, we're no longer people were number everything, goes down to a number. And it's just like how we lose our identity, we lose everything about us. May I see the numbers and I'm like, oh good, you know, what's the number for Rose? Four plans? It's no longer a number for a person. The first time that I kind of felt like I've had some of my Humanity back was when I was having my parole hearing and the commissioner asked me to stake my first name and my last name. Months before that I was able to work in the garden and process things, you know in my life what let me to being the person I am today. I didn't want to share how being incarcerated affected how you saw on value yourself. I just want to comment on what what's a like a like as a person who just got out of prison and 16 years, you know, it's important for us to have that support in to have Dad to have the support system that help you build up your belief system your self-esteem in in everything that you are not those labels. You know that you are a human being and they are you coming out here in a new person and those labels are being put on you like a sex offender convicted criminal you are the scum of the earth and all these things. You know, that's not really you so with all those labels I could take the weeds out that we're being given to me and plant new species of who I really truly am that the thing that helped me even understand right now going to get in the garden to always tell me a story about. How is he was about 12 He was picking cotton basically the lady who owned the land. He was like looking to take you with me to tell you we going to the market, open your own account. And that's how he was able to leave Louisiana don't want to go back to gardening because of those memories of slavery, but actually enslaved people especially women created their own Gardens so that they could survive they were given such poor food rations that with the garden they could supplement their diet and some were allowed to sell it at the Sunday market through the money that they earned they were able to buy their own Freedom one, very important fact that I learned is that Nelson Mandela when he was incarcerated he started gardening and that we transformed his life. So I'm really believe on the power of God. I heard there's something that nature does to the mine we can imagine our minds located in our brain that's not the case. The mind is outside of us in language and the labels we give nature. So in other words nature animates the mind and the mind in turn also animated nature. Bambi for sure. I ain't going nowhere. I was lost in the dark, search for the Lights TV screens Play for Keeps a man can't do for Life losing friends losing sleep, and I'm losing my mind, but I'm a diamond in the dirt and one day I just took the wrong road and got lost on the ride made it from out of place. Where was saying is if there's no end to pay the price for my fans now I can breathe again made amends with the sun. Now. It's shining through the window that now I'm outside looking in. I have experienced sexual abuse since I was 5 years old. We came to California when I was 12 years old against my father's wishes. And my mother started drinking it was times where she would leave weeks at a time and I will have to stay at the house and take care of my sister. And I experienced rape the game. So I became a runaway I start running away from an early age. And that's when I started running again. I join again at 13. This is a place where it happened. This is a place where I took somebody's life somebody who didn't deserve to die. His car got stuck in traffic and would pass by the side and and a shot and killed him. And he died instantly. Daily passenger run out of the car and run through this Trail. And hid in the bushes because he was scared for his life. You know, I like am I selfish choice? I decided to shoot and kill him without any regard for anybody in today. I see then. I cost a huge ripple effect. I hope that you can see that I'm no longer the person that I was before. That little girl was broken that girl that did that that they was lost was broken. She didn't like she has no healing in her life. She didn't get any. No. She never ask for help. And I know that if that little girl would have asked for help. Her life would have been different. Benicio Benicio Molina See the kittens and yellow Google. CVS. Haha. D e, y. The Glass House. See. Please Don't Go music. See if I left already go by m Young. I'll see. Aquila. Chris, can you text me sometime if you don't believe me? Eve, but I'm afraid if you say Pocoyo, What is a settlement in Australia? Like we were hurting other people, you know? Listen to in Massena. What can you do? Song lyric. Amigo mean. E l Restaurant Louisville. You know what? He, he look at the inside. Look at yourself, you know, like, you know, me like an Ultra You know. So they saw the pictures that they took today at the ultrasound and I feel like it's so cute. In prison, I ended up going to see his doctor and he was talking about doing my hysterectomy that I was never going to be able to have kids. Little did I know that at that time, that same doctor was giving a lot of emails hysterectomy and I had a constant battle with this doctor. Every time I went something in me told me not to do it, you know. Sri Lanka, Sri, Lanka. To be able to have a child when I never imagined that I was going to have kids. When I never imagined that, I was going to get out and be pregnant and just have responsibilities and be able to care for a child. Being able to have my co-workers like and feel like a family. Like coming out, it feels like, I finally know what the sense of community means. Play. I'm no longer wa 247, you know today, I'm Sol. ```json {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"Sol in the Garden","description":"When Sol Mercado was born, her father gave her a name that means sun in Spanish, because, as she explains at the beginning of this film, she was the sunshine of his life. But for many years, sunshine was hard to come by for Sol. 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