Just hours before he was scheduled for his final hearing, a man who had spent five years behind prison walls made one last request: to see his young daughter, whom he hadn’t held in three years.

“Bring the child.”

Three hours later, a white state vehicle entered the prison grounds. A social worker stepped out, holding the hand of an eight-year-old girl with blonde hair and solemn blue eyes.

Emily Foster walked through the long prison corridor without crying or hesitating. Even the inmates fell silent as she passed.

When she entered the visitation room, Daniel sat waiting, thinner than she remembered, wearing a faded orange prison uniform.

“My baby girl…” he whispered, tears filling his eyes.