When to use "where" and "that"?
She had never stopped crying for her parents in all those years that he kept her prisoner.2016 was the year (that) I was born.The first sentence is from a book and the second is from the internet. I'm confused by the the usage of "that" in sentences like this. Is "that" optional? Can it be dropped? Also in what cases do we use "where" as a relative?And how about "when"?Thanks in advance!

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Here's the rule regarding leaving out relative pronouns, according to the British Council:

"In informal styles, we often leave out the relative pronoun. We only do this in defining relative clauses, and when the relative pronoun is the object of the verb. We don’t leave out the relative pronoun when it is the subject of the verb nor in non-defining relative clauses."

(source: https://dictionary.cambridge.org/us/grammar/british-grammar/pronouns/relative-pronouns)

"where" can be used as a relative pronoun to mean "in which", usually when referring to a location but also  in mathematics:
(a) London is a big city, where (in which) you can find anything.
(b) Mass-energy equivalence is described by the equation E = mc², where (in which) c is equal to the speed of light.

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