Shaquanda Cotton Home & Happy

“I missed my family,” said Shaquanda Cotton, the Texas Youth Commission's most famous releasee at a recent town hall meeting in Paris, Texas. ("Cotton speaks on TYC stay," Paris News, April 23) “My father died two weeks before I was released, and I was unable go to his funeral.” That's too bad - what unfortunate timing. “I am going to college and become a lawyer and help other kids,” she told the gathering at a local church. I hope she does. Via Dallas South Blog.

RELATED: a brief video posted on YouTube from the Chicago Tribune shows Shaquanda Cotton's reunion with her family after being released from the TYC facility in Brownwood, a scene that's been replicated more than 450 times in the last few weeks as kids have been released from understaffed facilities.