1 00:00:11,745 --> 00:00:23,790 ** 2 00:00:23,823 --> 00:00:26,693 - I had so many thoughts leading up to this assignment 3 00:00:26,726 --> 00:00:28,228 as to what it was going to be like. 4 00:00:31,431 --> 00:00:35,035 Trying to imagine going down this road 5 00:00:35,068 --> 00:00:39,072 knowing it's a one-way trip. 6 00:00:41,741 --> 00:00:43,209 You know, this moment where you get 7 00:00:43,243 --> 00:00:45,311 your last glimpse of the world around you, 8 00:00:45,345 --> 00:00:50,150 but that glimpse is through steel mesh. 9 00:00:50,183 --> 00:00:52,819 - Louisiana's Highway 66. 10 00:00:52,852 --> 00:00:56,523 Its beautiful countryside is undoubtedly not lost 11 00:00:56,556 --> 00:00:59,025 on the countless men driven to the place 12 00:00:59,059 --> 00:01:01,494 where they'll most likely die. 13 00:01:03,630 --> 00:01:06,232 That road ends here. 14 00:01:08,868 --> 00:01:11,905 The Louisiana State Penitentiary, 15 00:01:11,938 --> 00:01:15,141 a former plantation the size of Manhattan. 16 00:01:15,175 --> 00:01:17,177 28 square miles. 17 00:01:17,210 --> 00:01:19,312 Most people call it Angola, 18 00:01:19,346 --> 00:01:23,083 named after the African country that was home to the slaves 19 00:01:23,116 --> 00:01:26,219 who once worked these very fields. 20 00:01:26,252 --> 00:01:31,091 Now, Angola is the largest maximum security prison 21 00:01:31,091 --> 00:01:32,625 in the country, 22 00:01:32,659 --> 00:01:37,597 where today I'll be housed with about 5500 men. 23 00:01:37,630 --> 00:01:39,966 I'm heading into ground zero 24 00:01:40,000 --> 00:01:42,669 of mass incarceration. 25 00:01:42,702 --> 00:01:44,604 - There's certainly a heightened awareness 26 00:01:44,637 --> 00:01:48,008 as I walk through here with no guards. 27 00:01:48,108 --> 00:01:51,111 - For the next couple of days, I'll be staying here, 28 00:01:51,144 --> 00:01:55,015 exploring key issues of the prison reform debate. 29 00:01:55,115 --> 00:01:57,951 Juveniles sentenced to life without parole. 30 00:01:57,984 --> 00:02:00,120 - We were children when we got incarcerated. 31 00:02:00,153 --> 00:02:02,822 - The lasting effects of the war on drugs. 32 00:02:02,856 --> 00:02:04,824 - My sentence was 150 years. 33 00:02:04,858 --> 00:02:07,560 - The power of rehabilitation. 34 00:02:07,594 --> 00:02:10,063 - You know that you've done something, 35 00:02:10,096 --> 00:02:11,798 your life is worthwhile. 36 00:02:11,831 --> 00:02:14,968 - And the demand by many for punishment. 37 00:02:15,068 --> 00:02:17,070 - Personally, I think he's where he needs to be. 38 00:02:17,070 --> 00:02:20,106 - I'll also be staying in a cell. 39 00:02:20,140 --> 00:02:22,842 Not to play prisoner, but to better understand 40 00:02:22,876 --> 00:02:25,311 the purpose and experience of prison 41 00:02:25,345 --> 00:02:27,614 all from the inside. 42 00:02:27,647 --> 00:02:35,388 ** 43 00:02:35,422 --> 00:02:39,125 - Hello and welcome to "Dateline: Secrets Uncovered." 44 00:02:39,159 --> 00:02:41,261 Whether the American penal system 45 00:02:41,294 --> 00:02:42,429 is truly effective 46 00:02:42,462 --> 00:02:45,098 has long been a source of debate. 47 00:02:45,131 --> 00:02:49,102 Does mass incarceration keep society any safer? 48 00:02:49,102 --> 00:02:51,538 And do lengthy prison terms 49 00:02:51,571 --> 00:02:53,773 rehabilitate inmates as intended? 50 00:02:53,807 --> 00:02:56,976 Lester Holt spent three days 51 00:02:57,010 --> 00:02:59,279 in one of the nation's toughest penitentiaries, 52 00:02:59,312 --> 00:03:02,148 and this is what he witnessed. 53 00:03:02,182 --> 00:03:05,318 Here's his special report: "Life Inside". 54 00:03:08,688 --> 00:03:12,292 - Life at Angola prison isn't what you might imagine. 55 00:03:12,325 --> 00:03:14,861 The vast majority live just like this. 56 00:03:14,894 --> 00:03:17,397 More than 80 men in open dorms, 57 00:03:17,430 --> 00:03:19,199 sleeping on bunk beds. 58 00:03:19,232 --> 00:03:22,335 But I'll be staying on a unit next to death row 59 00:03:22,369 --> 00:03:24,304 for high-risk offenders. 60 00:03:24,337 --> 00:03:27,741 Or, as in my case, a high-profile guest. 61 00:03:27,774 --> 00:03:29,275 - All right, we're going to go down the tier here... 62 00:03:29,309 --> 00:03:30,610 - My home for the next two nights 63 00:03:30,643 --> 00:03:33,079 will be on a tier called CCR, 64 00:03:33,113 --> 00:03:35,215 or closed cell restriction. 65 00:03:35,248 --> 00:03:37,250 The men here are locked in their cells 66 00:03:37,283 --> 00:03:39,786 23 hours a day. 67 00:03:39,819 --> 00:03:43,723 I'm given sheets, slippers, and some toiletries, 68 00:03:43,757 --> 00:03:45,825 and shown to my cell. 69 00:03:45,859 --> 00:03:46,893 - Cell 11. 70 00:03:46,926 --> 00:03:48,094 Go in here, please. 71 00:03:50,497 --> 00:03:51,364 Go ahead and close. 72 00:03:51,398 --> 00:03:52,832 [claps hands] 73 00:03:55,635 --> 00:03:57,904 [cell door locks] 74 00:03:57,937 --> 00:04:00,440 - Naturally, phones aren't allowed. 75 00:04:00,473 --> 00:04:03,610 All I have is my journal, a pen, a novel, 76 00:04:03,643 --> 00:04:06,646 my watch, and an AM/FM radio. 77 00:04:06,680 --> 00:04:08,782 I also have cameras all around me 78 00:04:08,815 --> 00:04:10,383 that were installed by our crew 79 00:04:10,417 --> 00:04:13,286 to record my experience and my thoughts. 80 00:04:13,319 --> 00:04:16,456 - You know, as journalists, we know that, you know, 81 00:04:16,489 --> 00:04:17,490 to get to the heart of something, 82 00:04:17,524 --> 00:04:18,892 you have to get inside it. 83 00:04:18,925 --> 00:04:20,560 The closer you are to something, 84 00:04:20,593 --> 00:04:23,363 the more-the more is revealed to you. 85 00:04:24,898 --> 00:04:27,534 - I soon meet my neighbor, William Curtis, 86 00:04:27,567 --> 00:04:30,870 who is serving a life sentence for second degree murder. 87 00:04:30,904 --> 00:04:33,106 He tells me he's locked in CCR 88 00:04:33,139 --> 00:04:36,509 because he's tried to escape multiple times. 89 00:04:36,543 --> 00:04:37,677 - How far did you get? 90 00:04:37,711 --> 00:04:39,779 - Not very. 91 00:04:39,813 --> 00:04:41,381 - He's only allowed out of his cell 92 00:04:41,414 --> 00:04:43,083 one hour a day. 93 00:04:43,083 --> 00:04:44,584 - Do you go out? 94 00:04:44,617 --> 00:04:46,386 - Um, not very often. 95 00:04:46,419 --> 00:04:47,654 The last time I went out there 96 00:04:47,687 --> 00:04:49,522 was probably about four years ago. 97 00:04:49,556 --> 00:04:51,825 - You haven't seen the sun in four years? 98 00:04:51,858 --> 00:04:54,561 - Four years. It's hard to imagine. 99 00:04:54,594 --> 00:04:56,629 I just want to get through the night. 100 00:04:56,663 --> 00:04:57,797 - All right, man, you take care of yourself. 101 00:04:57,831 --> 00:04:58,631 We'll be here a couple of nights. 102 00:04:58,665 --> 00:04:59,866 - All right. 103 00:05:02,168 --> 00:05:04,204 - I quickly learned that falling asleep 104 00:05:04,237 --> 00:05:07,440 in prison is challenging. 105 00:05:07,474 --> 00:05:13,680 The toilets flush loudly and often. 106 00:05:13,713 --> 00:05:19,052 Cell to cell chatter lasts well into the night. 107 00:05:19,052 --> 00:05:22,956 And my bed is attached through the wall to Curtis's. 108 00:05:23,056 --> 00:05:24,958 So believe it or not, when he moves around, 109 00:05:25,058 --> 00:05:26,426 I feel it. 110 00:05:31,064 --> 00:05:33,600 - Bed's not much for comfort. 111 00:05:33,633 --> 00:05:35,969 It's kind of a plastic mattress, uh, 112 00:05:36,069 --> 00:05:39,172 but it did the trick. I slept okay. 113 00:05:39,205 --> 00:05:41,975 - Breakfast arrives at 5:30 a.m., 114 00:05:42,075 --> 00:05:44,077 delivered by a prisoner. 115 00:05:44,077 --> 00:05:46,312 - In case you're wondering, it's, uh-- 116 00:05:46,346 --> 00:05:49,082 looks like scrambled eggs, grits... 117 00:05:49,082 --> 00:05:50,750 [toilet flushing] 118 00:05:50,784 --> 00:05:51,718 And biscuits. 119 00:05:51,751 --> 00:05:53,787 To the sound of a flushing toilet. 120 00:05:56,389 --> 00:05:59,592 - No country on Earth locks up more of its citizens 121 00:05:59,626 --> 00:06:01,227 than the United States. 122 00:06:01,261 --> 00:06:05,131 While we make up less than 5% of the world's population, 123 00:06:05,165 --> 00:06:08,735 we lock up more than 20% of the world's prisoners. 124 00:06:08,768 --> 00:06:12,939 Politicians, academics, and activists say 125 00:06:13,039 --> 00:06:16,443 mass incarceration is an American crisis. 126 00:06:16,476 --> 00:06:19,479 - We've gone from $6 billion in spending in 1980 127 00:06:19,512 --> 00:06:20,647 on jails and prisons, 128 00:06:20,680 --> 00:06:22,349 to $80 billion today... 129 00:06:22,382 --> 00:06:24,718 - Civil rights lawyer Bryan Stevenson 130 00:06:24,751 --> 00:06:28,521 is one of the nation's leading prison reform advocates. 131 00:06:28,555 --> 00:06:31,124 - I think we have hundreds of thousands of people in prison 132 00:06:31,157 --> 00:06:32,892 who are not a threat to public safety. 133 00:06:32,926 --> 00:06:35,862 - But is it about safety or is it about punishment? 134 00:06:35,895 --> 00:06:38,064 - I think we've created a culture 135 00:06:38,064 --> 00:06:41,301 that makes it entirely about punishment. 136 00:06:41,334 --> 00:06:44,137 - And you might be surprised who else thinks 137 00:06:44,170 --> 00:06:46,473 mass incarceration is a problem: 138 00:06:46,506 --> 00:06:50,076 the people who run Louisiana's prison system. 139 00:06:50,110 --> 00:06:51,611 - Yeah, I think nationwide, you know, 140 00:06:51,644 --> 00:06:55,081 we-we lock up people too long and too many of them. 141 00:06:55,115 --> 00:06:57,817 - Seth Smith is the director of operations 142 00:06:57,851 --> 00:07:00,653 for Louisiana's Department of Corrections. 143 00:07:00,687 --> 00:07:01,888 - It's not working. 144 00:07:01,921 --> 00:07:04,024 It's not giving us the results that we want. 145 00:07:04,024 --> 00:07:06,159 Uh, it's costing a lot of money. 146 00:07:06,192 --> 00:07:07,327 And we send people to prison 147 00:07:07,360 --> 00:07:09,229 that aren't necessarily a danger to society. 148 00:07:09,262 --> 00:07:10,397 And then we keep people 149 00:07:10,430 --> 00:07:12,098 that their time as a danger is over. 150 00:07:12,132 --> 00:07:13,767 You know, they're no longer a threat. 151 00:07:13,800 --> 00:07:16,436 - He says it's time for Americans to rethink 152 00:07:16,469 --> 00:07:18,171 the purpose of prison 153 00:07:18,204 --> 00:07:21,374 from simply punishment to rehabilitation. 154 00:07:21,408 --> 00:07:23,043 - You say it's about rehabilitation, 155 00:07:23,043 --> 00:07:25,845 but I think a lot of Americans think it is about punishment. 156 00:07:25,879 --> 00:07:27,347 That should be hell. 157 00:07:27,380 --> 00:07:29,082 - Sure. You know, they've done some awful things, 158 00:07:29,115 --> 00:07:30,083 but if this is just punishment, 159 00:07:30,116 --> 00:07:31,685 you know, we can make somebody worse. 160 00:07:31,718 --> 00:07:35,121 - But as I'm about to hear, plenty of the incarcerated 161 00:07:35,155 --> 00:07:37,891 do believe it's just about punishment. 162 00:07:37,924 --> 00:07:39,359 - Another day in the field. 163 00:07:42,062 --> 00:07:44,064 - "Dateline: Secrets Uncovered" 164 00:07:44,064 --> 00:07:45,899 returns after the break. 165 00:07:55,275 --> 00:07:58,578 - Much of Angola prison is farmland. 166 00:07:58,611 --> 00:08:00,513 Thousands of cattle are raised here 167 00:08:00,547 --> 00:08:02,215 to be sold on the open market, 168 00:08:02,248 --> 00:08:05,552 and a variety of crops are grown here as well. 169 00:08:05,585 --> 00:08:08,321 All of it happening with inmate labor. 170 00:08:08,355 --> 00:08:10,523 That's one of the many hot button issues 171 00:08:10,557 --> 00:08:12,759 in the mass incarceration debate. 172 00:08:12,792 --> 00:08:14,194 - Another day in the field. 173 00:08:14,227 --> 00:08:16,096 - I'm on my way out to the fields, 174 00:08:16,129 --> 00:08:19,165 riding on this truck they call a hootenanny. 175 00:08:19,199 --> 00:08:22,135 Many of the men are convicted killers, 176 00:08:22,168 --> 00:08:26,172 including the ones sitting on either side of me. 177 00:08:26,206 --> 00:08:29,075 - Javonte Sanders beat a woman to death 178 00:08:29,109 --> 00:08:30,577 and stole her car. 179 00:08:30,610 --> 00:08:31,811 - What's your sentence? 180 00:08:31,845 --> 00:08:34,948 - It's, uh, life without parole. 181 00:08:35,048 --> 00:08:36,649 - Without parole. 182 00:08:36,683 --> 00:08:40,387 - Terry Mays shot a man in the neck during a drug deal. 183 00:08:40,420 --> 00:08:42,455 - You've been here how many years? 184 00:08:42,489 --> 00:08:43,957 - 30. - 30 years. 185 00:08:44,057 --> 00:08:46,960 - Here, like prisons everywhere in America, 186 00:08:47,060 --> 00:08:49,896 most inmates get paid pennies per hour. 187 00:08:49,929 --> 00:08:51,398 - How much do you get paid to come out here? 188 00:08:51,431 --> 00:08:53,066 - 2 cents an hour. 189 00:08:53,066 --> 00:08:57,303 At one time we made 4 cents an hour, 190 00:08:57,337 --> 00:09:02,075 and for some reason or another, the budget got cut. 191 00:09:02,108 --> 00:09:04,210 It's injustice. 192 00:09:04,244 --> 00:09:06,446 - So this particular job 193 00:09:06,479 --> 00:09:08,782 is not one of the more desired ones? 194 00:09:08,815 --> 00:09:11,151 - No. This is, like, this is the bottom of the barrel. 195 00:09:11,184 --> 00:09:12,118 The field? - Yeah. 196 00:09:12,152 --> 00:09:13,420 - Nobody wanna be in the field. 197 00:09:20,427 --> 00:09:23,697 - Angola is not like any other maximum security prison 198 00:09:23,730 --> 00:09:24,898 I've ever been to. 199 00:09:24,931 --> 00:09:28,468 All of this, as far as the eye can see, is Angola. 200 00:09:28,501 --> 00:09:31,037 It's a series of prisons, they call them camps. 201 00:09:31,071 --> 00:09:32,706 These guys-- you guys from Camp D? 202 00:09:32,739 --> 00:09:35,041 - Yes, sir. - They're from Camp D, 203 00:09:35,041 --> 00:09:36,743 and then doing work like this. 204 00:09:36,776 --> 00:09:39,679 Today, we happen to be, uh, picking carrots. 205 00:09:42,682 --> 00:09:45,418 - So should I be worried about my safety here? 206 00:09:45,452 --> 00:09:48,121 - Well-- - If you was an inmate, yeah. 207 00:09:48,154 --> 00:09:49,189 - Yeah? 208 00:09:49,222 --> 00:09:51,825 - If you was an inmate, most definitely. 209 00:09:51,858 --> 00:09:55,762 - A majority of the inmates here are people of color. 210 00:09:55,795 --> 00:09:59,766 In fact, Black men in America are six times as likely 211 00:09:59,799 --> 00:10:03,236 to be incarcerated as White men. 212 00:10:03,269 --> 00:10:05,405 I certainly can't escape the optics. 213 00:10:05,438 --> 00:10:06,573 Look around. 214 00:10:06,606 --> 00:10:10,343 Mostly Black men working on a former slave plantation 215 00:10:10,377 --> 00:10:13,680 under the watch of armed guards on horseback. 216 00:10:13,713 --> 00:10:16,282 It's unsettling to many. 217 00:10:16,316 --> 00:10:18,818 - I know this is a sensitive subject, 218 00:10:18,852 --> 00:10:21,121 and it troubled me a little bit, made me uncomfortable, 219 00:10:21,154 --> 00:10:23,056 you know, talking to the guys, looking around, 220 00:10:23,089 --> 00:10:24,858 most of them look like me, African-American. 221 00:10:24,891 --> 00:10:28,995 The history of this land as a-as a slave plantation, 222 00:10:29,029 --> 00:10:30,797 do you see that as an issue? 223 00:10:30,830 --> 00:10:31,765 - You know, I can see 224 00:10:31,798 --> 00:10:34,100 where someone could have an issue with it. 225 00:10:34,134 --> 00:10:35,935 Any piece of farmland in the state of Louisiana 226 00:10:35,969 --> 00:10:37,637 was a slave plantation at some point, 227 00:10:37,671 --> 00:10:40,573 and these guys were sentenced to hard labor. 228 00:10:40,607 --> 00:10:41,875 At least when they're working the field, 229 00:10:41,908 --> 00:10:43,777 growing vegetables, it's something that 230 00:10:43,810 --> 00:10:46,246 is giving back to the prison itself. 231 00:10:46,279 --> 00:10:48,748 - Smith tells me the crops not only provide 232 00:10:48,782 --> 00:10:51,451 the inmate population fresh food, 233 00:10:51,484 --> 00:10:54,354 but he says it also saves taxpayers money. 234 00:10:54,387 --> 00:10:59,192 It costs $1.70 a day to feed each offender. 235 00:10:59,225 --> 00:11:02,295 This will be the life for many of these men 236 00:11:02,328 --> 00:11:04,230 for decades to come. 237 00:11:04,264 --> 00:11:07,300 And some have left young children behind, 238 00:11:07,334 --> 00:11:09,769 who are among the five million kids 239 00:11:09,803 --> 00:11:13,573 in America who have had a parent in prison. 240 00:11:13,606 --> 00:11:15,875 Javonte has two of them. 241 00:11:15,909 --> 00:11:17,344 - I mean, you know, the way it works sometimes 242 00:11:17,377 --> 00:11:20,580 is you're in prison 'cause your daddy was in prison, 243 00:11:20,613 --> 00:11:22,582 and your kid will be in prison. 244 00:11:22,615 --> 00:11:23,917 Are you afraid for your children? 245 00:11:23,950 --> 00:11:25,352 - Yeah, I definitely am. 246 00:11:25,385 --> 00:11:27,754 I mean, when I was growing up-- see, I didn't know my father. 247 00:11:27,787 --> 00:11:30,457 My father got murdered, um, when I was three years old. 248 00:11:30,490 --> 00:11:31,891 I never knew him. 249 00:11:31,925 --> 00:11:33,259 - Have they come here to visit you? 250 00:11:33,293 --> 00:11:34,594 - Oh, yeah. They came one time. 251 00:11:34,627 --> 00:11:36,663 - So what's that-- what is it like to have your-- 252 00:11:36,696 --> 00:11:40,967 to have your child see you in prison? 253 00:11:41,001 --> 00:11:42,902 - Man, it hurts for me. 254 00:11:42,936 --> 00:11:44,104 I mean, I'm happy to see them, 255 00:11:44,137 --> 00:11:46,106 but it hurts at the same time. 256 00:11:46,106 --> 00:11:46,973 - Because you wanna- - Especially when they-- 257 00:11:47,007 --> 00:11:49,642 when they leaving and they looking back, 258 00:11:49,676 --> 00:11:51,444 it's like, oh. 259 00:11:56,683 --> 00:11:58,818 - It's hard to imagine knowing that you'll be spending 260 00:11:58,852 --> 00:12:00,587 the rest of your life here, 261 00:12:00,620 --> 00:12:04,057 especially if you're convicted as a teenager. 262 00:12:04,090 --> 00:12:07,560 Advocates like Bryan Stevenson say juvenile offenders 263 00:12:07,594 --> 00:12:11,531 should never be treated the same as an adult. 264 00:12:11,564 --> 00:12:13,800 - And we put thousands of kids in adult jails and prisons 265 00:12:13,833 --> 00:12:16,369 and we started prosecuting these kids. 266 00:12:16,403 --> 00:12:18,672 And even today, we have states with no minimum age 267 00:12:18,705 --> 00:12:19,939 for trying a child as an adult. 268 00:12:19,973 --> 00:12:21,374 So I don't think we should ever put children 269 00:12:21,408 --> 00:12:23,810 in adult jails and prisons. 270 00:12:23,843 --> 00:12:26,479 - But what about ones who committed violent crimes 271 00:12:26,513 --> 00:12:28,081 like murder? 272 00:12:28,081 --> 00:12:30,150 - We were children when we got incarcerated. 273 00:12:30,183 --> 00:12:31,851 - I'm sitting in on a support group 274 00:12:31,885 --> 00:12:33,987 run by an assistant warden. 275 00:12:34,087 --> 00:12:35,655 All these men committed their crimes 276 00:12:35,689 --> 00:12:39,325 before they were adults and were given sentences of life 277 00:12:39,359 --> 00:12:42,095 without the possibility of parole. 278 00:12:42,095 --> 00:12:44,264 They're called juvenile lifers. 279 00:12:44,297 --> 00:12:46,166 - I was sixteen years old when I committed my crime. 280 00:12:46,199 --> 00:12:47,734 - I was seventeen years old. 281 00:12:47,767 --> 00:12:50,136 - I committed my crime at age sixteen. 282 00:12:50,170 --> 00:12:53,373 - There are about 2,000 juvenile lifers like them 283 00:12:53,406 --> 00:12:55,542 in U.S. prisons today. 284 00:12:55,575 --> 00:12:56,810 - I was a lot different at seventeen 285 00:12:56,843 --> 00:12:59,312 than I am at sixty now. 286 00:12:59,346 --> 00:13:03,283 But still, at seventeen, I still knew right from wrong. 287 00:13:03,316 --> 00:13:05,318 So how do you reconcile that? 288 00:13:05,352 --> 00:13:06,619 - You have to be accountable. 289 00:13:06,653 --> 00:13:08,488 There's no excuses for what I did, 290 00:13:08,521 --> 00:13:09,689 and there's no excuses for anything 291 00:13:09,723 --> 00:13:11,257 that any of us have done. 292 00:13:11,291 --> 00:13:12,258 - You know, if you wanna change, 293 00:13:12,292 --> 00:13:14,060 like you say, it starts within yourself. 294 00:13:14,060 --> 00:13:15,929 - They tell me they're no longer the boys 295 00:13:15,962 --> 00:13:20,467 they once were and say they are no longer a threat to society. 296 00:13:20,500 --> 00:13:23,503 But how do I know they're not conning me? 297 00:13:23,536 --> 00:13:27,073 - When we do get the opportunity to show that we are different, 298 00:13:27,073 --> 00:13:28,942 the people'll be able to see. 299 00:13:28,975 --> 00:13:32,412 - And in the past few years, they've all gotten new hope 300 00:13:32,445 --> 00:13:35,515 to make their case for a second chance. 301 00:13:35,548 --> 00:13:36,750 - What gives you the hope? 302 00:13:36,783 --> 00:13:38,485 - Right there. Right there. 303 00:13:38,518 --> 00:13:39,486 - This man? 304 00:13:39,519 --> 00:13:41,287 - That's our Mount Rushmore right there. 305 00:13:41,321 --> 00:13:43,656 Montgomery, State of Louisiana. 306 00:13:43,690 --> 00:13:47,894 - Montgomery versus Louisiana is a landmark Supreme Court ruling 307 00:13:47,927 --> 00:13:50,930 named after the oldest and longest serving member 308 00:13:50,964 --> 00:13:53,233 of this group, Henry Montgomery, 309 00:13:53,266 --> 00:13:56,002 who was seventy-two years old when I met him. 310 00:13:56,102 --> 00:13:57,971 - You were seventeen years old when you were sentenced. 311 00:13:58,004 --> 00:14:00,707 Do you remember what it was like being seventeen? 312 00:14:00,740 --> 00:14:04,611 - Yeah. Young, wild, and stupid. 313 00:14:04,644 --> 00:14:09,916 - Montgomery was indicted for murder in November 1963, 314 00:14:09,949 --> 00:14:13,386 the same month JFK was assassinated. 315 00:14:13,420 --> 00:14:17,190 He's been at Angola for fifty-five years. 316 00:14:17,223 --> 00:14:20,493 - Man I'm behind fifty-five years. 317 00:14:20,527 --> 00:14:26,066 In technology, I'm home 150 years behind time. 318 00:14:26,066 --> 00:14:28,802 In 2012, the United States Supreme Court ruled 319 00:14:28,835 --> 00:14:32,672 that mandatory life without parole sentences for juveniles 320 00:14:32,706 --> 00:14:34,507 are unconstitutional, 321 00:14:34,541 --> 00:14:36,509 pointing to science that says it's clear 322 00:14:36,543 --> 00:14:40,580 that adolescent brains are not yet fully mature. 323 00:14:40,613 --> 00:14:44,084 But that ruling didn't apply to people like Henry Montgomery, 324 00:14:44,084 --> 00:14:47,654 who had already been sent away as a juvenile. 325 00:14:47,687 --> 00:14:51,691 So that's why Montgomery took his case to the Supreme Court. 326 00:14:51,725 --> 00:14:54,361 And in 2016, he won. 327 00:14:54,394 --> 00:14:56,730 Now, all juvenile lifers, 328 00:14:56,763 --> 00:14:59,165 no matter how long ago they were locked up, 329 00:14:59,199 --> 00:15:02,402 can make a case that they deserve parole. 330 00:15:02,435 --> 00:15:04,270 - Mostly older guys over here? 331 00:15:04,304 --> 00:15:06,506 - Seventy-eight year old Clifford Hampton, 332 00:15:06,539 --> 00:15:07,741 is one of them. 333 00:15:07,774 --> 00:15:10,377 I went to see him in the dorm where he lives. 334 00:15:10,410 --> 00:15:11,911 - This is my bed right here. 335 00:15:11,945 --> 00:15:12,912 - This is your home? 336 00:15:12,946 --> 00:15:15,315 - Yeah, this is mine out here. 337 00:15:15,348 --> 00:15:18,752 - He's been locked up sixty-one years. 338 00:15:18,785 --> 00:15:20,687 - And since you've been here, we've landed a man on the moon. 339 00:15:20,720 --> 00:15:22,689 - Yeah. - Think about that. 340 00:15:22,722 --> 00:15:25,325 - Yeah. There's been a lot of changes. 341 00:15:25,358 --> 00:15:29,596 - Hampton says six decades in prison have changed him. 342 00:15:29,629 --> 00:15:32,198 And thanks to the man sitting next to him, 343 00:15:32,232 --> 00:15:35,835 Hampton will now have a chance at freedom. 344 00:15:35,869 --> 00:15:37,904 - Why do you think you deserve parole? 345 00:15:37,937 --> 00:15:40,874 - I wouldn't say that I deserve parole. 346 00:15:40,907 --> 00:15:44,511 I wouldn't use that word "deserve" 347 00:15:44,544 --> 00:15:47,914 because I took someone's life. 348 00:15:47,947 --> 00:15:52,419 I could say that I've earned parole. 349 00:15:52,452 --> 00:15:55,588 - In fact, both Hampton and Montgomery 350 00:15:55,622 --> 00:15:58,525 will see the parole board the same day. 351 00:15:58,558 --> 00:15:59,926 And I'll be there. 352 00:16:00,026 --> 00:16:01,428 - How are you feeling? 353 00:16:16,309 --> 00:16:17,077 - One of the things that struck me 354 00:16:18,111 --> 00:16:20,947 while walking around Angola was how many men I met 355 00:16:21,047 --> 00:16:24,050 who seemed to be focused on changing their lives. 356 00:16:24,084 --> 00:16:27,120 One of them is Dalton Prejean Jr. 357 00:16:27,153 --> 00:16:31,291 - I just knew I had to do something different 358 00:16:31,324 --> 00:16:35,862 than just do time and die in prison. 359 00:16:35,895 --> 00:16:39,065 - Since coming to Angola back in 2004, 360 00:16:39,099 --> 00:16:41,901 he says he's turned his life around by taking advantage 361 00:16:41,935 --> 00:16:43,970 of the prison's programs. 362 00:16:44,070 --> 00:16:48,608 I graduated with a BA, a 3.91 average. 363 00:16:48,641 --> 00:16:51,611 I was selected to be a social mentor. 364 00:16:51,644 --> 00:16:54,080 - At the prison, he earned a master's degree 365 00:16:54,080 --> 00:16:55,682 from a Bible college. 366 00:16:55,715 --> 00:16:57,917 He even became an ordained minister. 367 00:16:57,951 --> 00:16:59,219 - Thank you, Lord God. 368 00:16:59,252 --> 00:17:02,489 - A couple of times a week, Prejean Gospel raps, 369 00:17:02,522 --> 00:17:05,225 his form of preaching, to the population. 370 00:17:05,258 --> 00:17:06,826 - ...I'm seeking your face, 371 00:17:06,860 --> 00:17:09,462 and turning from my wicked ways. 372 00:17:09,496 --> 00:17:12,532 - It's hard to square the man sitting across from me 373 00:17:12,565 --> 00:17:15,735 with the horrible crime that he committed. 374 00:17:15,769 --> 00:17:18,538 - Your actions cause the death of a baby? 375 00:17:18,571 --> 00:17:19,906 - Yeah. 376 00:17:19,939 --> 00:17:23,043 - When he was twenty-one, he was watching his stepson. 377 00:17:23,076 --> 00:17:26,279 He says the child was inconsolable. 378 00:17:26,312 --> 00:17:29,949 Prejean shook the baby so violently, he died. 379 00:17:30,050 --> 00:17:32,852 Now he's serving a sixty-year sentence 380 00:17:32,886 --> 00:17:34,487 for manslaughter. 381 00:17:34,521 --> 00:17:35,689 - How do you move past that? 382 00:17:35,722 --> 00:17:38,925 How do you become a different person? 383 00:17:38,958 --> 00:17:40,694 - At first, to be honest, 384 00:17:40,727 --> 00:17:43,063 I didn't know what I was gonna do. 385 00:17:43,063 --> 00:17:46,332 It was sickening to my heart that I would actually have done 386 00:17:46,366 --> 00:17:48,268 something like that. 387 00:17:48,301 --> 00:17:50,904 - Prejean says he was filled with anger, 388 00:17:50,937 --> 00:17:53,640 which had its roots in his childhood. 389 00:17:53,673 --> 00:17:57,077 This is a picture of Prejean and his father, 390 00:17:57,077 --> 00:17:58,945 Dalton Prejean Sr. 391 00:17:58,978 --> 00:18:03,016 Shortly before he was executed in the electric chair in 1990 392 00:18:03,016 --> 00:18:07,220 in this very prison for killing a Louisiana state trooper. 393 00:18:07,253 --> 00:18:09,155 - You know, kids watch television all the time 394 00:18:09,189 --> 00:18:10,857 and they're like, "Oh, you know, well, 395 00:18:10,890 --> 00:18:12,659 "your dad is about to be fried chicken". 396 00:18:12,692 --> 00:18:15,061 And by me having the same name, you know, 397 00:18:15,095 --> 00:18:17,297 when people would call my name, you know, 398 00:18:17,330 --> 00:18:19,299 I would-I would put my head down, 399 00:18:19,332 --> 00:18:23,169 because I was-I was ashamed of what I believe 400 00:18:23,203 --> 00:18:24,938 that name had meant. 401 00:18:25,038 --> 00:18:26,072 - But over the years, he says, 402 00:18:26,106 --> 00:18:28,875 programs at Angola helped change him. 403 00:18:28,908 --> 00:18:31,211 Opportunities that weren't available 404 00:18:31,244 --> 00:18:34,381 when his father was here and still aren't available 405 00:18:34,414 --> 00:18:37,050 at most prisons across the country. 406 00:18:37,050 --> 00:18:38,952 - There's a whole movement around trying to revive 407 00:18:39,052 --> 00:18:41,688 the rehabilitation debate that we sort of abandoned. 408 00:18:41,721 --> 00:18:44,491 We've got people locked up with nothing to do, 409 00:18:44,524 --> 00:18:46,960 and we know that education is transformative. 410 00:18:47,060 --> 00:18:49,095 It reduces recidivism. 411 00:18:49,129 --> 00:18:51,765 - Education and programs have also proven 412 00:18:51,798 --> 00:18:54,567 to reduce violence inside prison. 413 00:18:54,601 --> 00:18:58,838 Angola was once known as the bloodiest prison in America. 414 00:18:58,872 --> 00:19:01,908 But things began to change here in the 1990s, 415 00:19:02,008 --> 00:19:04,077 when the prison began to focus on more 416 00:19:04,110 --> 00:19:06,780 than simply locking up people and feeding them. 417 00:19:06,813 --> 00:19:08,281 - Yeah, go ahead! 418 00:19:08,314 --> 00:19:12,318 Now, in addition to its popular annual inmate rodeo, 419 00:19:12,352 --> 00:19:14,888 there are a variety of programs. 420 00:19:14,921 --> 00:19:16,322 - All right, ready? Go. 421 00:19:16,356 --> 00:19:19,392 - These men are training service dogs for veterans. 422 00:19:19,426 --> 00:19:23,329 There's even a radio station run by incarcerated men. 423 00:19:23,363 --> 00:19:24,364 - ...the only one in the nation, 424 00:19:24,397 --> 00:19:27,367 the station that kicks behind the bricks. 425 00:19:27,400 --> 00:19:28,268 I'm your host... 426 00:19:28,301 --> 00:19:29,869 - You can get a lot more freedom here 427 00:19:29,903 --> 00:19:31,204 depending on your behavior. 428 00:19:31,237 --> 00:19:33,907 You know, we have a lot of programs that are mentor-led, 429 00:19:33,940 --> 00:19:36,576 led by other guys that are here serving life sentences. 430 00:19:36,609 --> 00:19:38,545 And it gives them purpose. 431 00:19:38,578 --> 00:19:39,579 - It looks like a shop. 432 00:19:39,612 --> 00:19:41,047 - Yeah, no, it does. 433 00:19:41,047 --> 00:19:43,049 Looks like any-any auto shop I've been in. 434 00:19:43,083 --> 00:19:44,117 - Yes, sir. 435 00:19:44,150 --> 00:19:45,685 - I talked to John Sheehan, a master mechanic 436 00:19:45,719 --> 00:19:47,687 at the prison's auto shop. 437 00:19:47,721 --> 00:19:48,855 - I didn't know how to change a spark plug 438 00:19:48,888 --> 00:19:50,790 before I came to prison. 439 00:19:50,824 --> 00:19:52,759 - Don't let the uniform fool you, 440 00:19:52,792 --> 00:19:56,096 Sheehan has been incarcerated here since 1989 441 00:19:56,129 --> 00:19:59,065 for killing his wife with a shotgun. 442 00:19:59,065 --> 00:20:01,134 Even though he'll likely never get out, 443 00:20:01,167 --> 00:20:06,039 he mentors nonviolent offenders in a reentry program. 444 00:20:06,072 --> 00:20:09,142 - When you can see a man come in here, 445 00:20:09,175 --> 00:20:13,279 change his life, go back out and stay out, 446 00:20:13,313 --> 00:20:15,582 you know that you've done something. 447 00:20:15,615 --> 00:20:17,851 Your life is worthwhile. 448 00:20:17,884 --> 00:20:20,887 - Many graduates of the program now work at a car dealership 449 00:20:20,920 --> 00:20:23,023 outside of New Orleans. 450 00:20:23,056 --> 00:20:25,992 But there are other nonviolent offenders at Angola 451 00:20:26,026 --> 00:20:29,029 who might never get a second chance. 452 00:20:29,062 --> 00:20:32,399 This man was sentenced to more than a lifetime. 453 00:20:32,432 --> 00:20:34,634 - My sentence was 150 years. 454 00:20:34,668 --> 00:20:38,705 - You'll hear his dramatic story next. 455 00:20:51,317 --> 00:20:53,253 - Welcome back to "Dateline: Secrets Uncovered". 456 00:20:53,653 --> 00:20:54,688 I'm Craig Melvin. 457 00:20:54,721 --> 00:20:56,723 Of the roughly two million Americans 458 00:20:56,756 --> 00:21:00,326 currently behind bars, about 20% of them are in 459 00:21:00,360 --> 00:21:02,128 for drug-related offenses 460 00:21:02,162 --> 00:21:04,931 with some serving life-long sentences, 461 00:21:04,964 --> 00:21:07,300 like the man you are about to meet. 462 00:21:07,334 --> 00:21:11,438 But a parole board is about to reconsider his fate. 463 00:21:11,471 --> 00:21:15,842 Back to Lester Holt with "Life Inside". 464 00:21:15,875 --> 00:21:19,312 - In my three days at Angola, most of the men I spoke with 465 00:21:19,346 --> 00:21:23,616 had committed violent crimes and received long sentences. 466 00:21:23,650 --> 00:21:25,485 - So you're life without parole? 467 00:21:25,518 --> 00:21:26,986 - Yeah. 468 00:21:27,087 --> 00:21:28,421 - But like every prison, 469 00:21:28,455 --> 00:21:30,256 there are also nonviolent offenders 470 00:21:30,290 --> 00:21:34,728 serving long sentences that might as well be life. 471 00:21:34,761 --> 00:21:37,464 John Esteen is one of them. 472 00:21:37,497 --> 00:21:39,566 - I grew up in a middle class neighborhood, 473 00:21:39,599 --> 00:21:41,368 one with the Catholic schools. 474 00:21:41,401 --> 00:21:45,405 Esteen is a Gulf War vet who says he was lost and broken 475 00:21:45,438 --> 00:21:47,307 when he came home. 476 00:21:47,340 --> 00:21:49,542 - Well, I had no direction in life. 477 00:21:49,576 --> 00:21:54,014 - In 2000, he was found guilty of running a massive drug ring 478 00:21:54,114 --> 00:21:58,451 that moved kilos of cocaine between Texas and Louisiana. 479 00:21:58,485 --> 00:22:01,054 It was his second drug conviction. 480 00:22:01,054 --> 00:22:03,056 - My sentence was 150 years. 481 00:22:03,089 --> 00:22:06,359 - That's right, 150 years. 482 00:22:06,393 --> 00:22:08,461 He's served twenty so far. 483 00:22:08,495 --> 00:22:10,964 Esteen's case is a prime example 484 00:22:11,064 --> 00:22:13,633 of harsh sentencing laws for both drug dealers 485 00:22:13,667 --> 00:22:15,769 and especially users. 486 00:22:15,802 --> 00:22:19,906 The legacy of the government's decades long war on drugs. 487 00:22:19,939 --> 00:22:22,976 More than 450,000 people in America 488 00:22:23,076 --> 00:22:25,779 are locked up for a drug offense. 489 00:22:25,812 --> 00:22:29,616 Bryan Stevenson says criminalizing drug addiction 490 00:22:29,649 --> 00:22:31,384 is misguided. 491 00:22:31,418 --> 00:22:32,986 - We said those people are criminals 492 00:22:33,086 --> 00:22:34,521 and we didn't have to say that. 493 00:22:34,554 --> 00:22:35,855 We could have said that drug addiction 494 00:22:35,889 --> 00:22:38,091 and drug dependency is a health problem. 495 00:22:38,091 --> 00:22:40,326 - Is that why our jails are so full? 496 00:22:40,360 --> 00:22:41,327 - Absolutely. 497 00:22:41,361 --> 00:22:43,096 If you're looking for one explanation, 498 00:22:43,096 --> 00:22:46,399 this misguided war on drugs would be at the top of the list. 499 00:22:46,433 --> 00:22:49,536 - But things have been changing. 500 00:22:49,569 --> 00:22:52,205 The First Step Act, which was signed into law 501 00:22:52,238 --> 00:22:55,408 by former President Trump in 2018, 502 00:22:55,442 --> 00:22:58,244 had been projected to reduce the sentences 503 00:22:58,278 --> 00:23:00,780 of thousands of nonviolent offenders 504 00:23:00,814 --> 00:23:02,549 in federal prisons. 505 00:23:02,582 --> 00:23:05,118 But that doesn't affect more than 90% of 506 00:23:05,151 --> 00:23:07,887 the U.S. prison population, which is locked up 507 00:23:07,921 --> 00:23:10,290 in state and local facilities. 508 00:23:10,323 --> 00:23:12,525 Some states had already been relaxing 509 00:23:12,559 --> 00:23:15,295 sentencing guidelines, like here in Louisiana, 510 00:23:15,328 --> 00:23:18,064 which started in 2001. 511 00:23:18,064 --> 00:23:20,700 But Esteen was sentenced under the older 512 00:23:20,734 --> 00:23:24,804 and harsher laws, so he sued the state and won, 513 00:23:24,838 --> 00:23:27,607 which earned him a date with a parole board. 514 00:23:27,640 --> 00:23:30,777 And now he's just hours away. 515 00:23:30,810 --> 00:23:32,612 - I'm not a troublemaker. 516 00:23:32,645 --> 00:23:35,081 I did everything possible to rehabilitate. 517 00:23:35,081 --> 00:23:36,850 And that's what it's about, rehabilitation. 518 00:23:36,883 --> 00:23:38,351 Gettin' a little antsy right now. 519 00:23:38,385 --> 00:23:39,285 A little nervous, you know? 520 00:23:39,319 --> 00:23:41,554 I went to bed kind of late, you know, 521 00:23:41,588 --> 00:23:43,289 just thinking about things, you know, 522 00:23:43,323 --> 00:23:46,793 just trying to get my mind that, you know, 523 00:23:46,826 --> 00:23:48,828 the possibility of me being released. 524 00:23:48,862 --> 00:23:49,796 - You leadin' the way. 525 00:23:49,829 --> 00:23:51,331 You making the way for all of us here. 526 00:23:51,364 --> 00:23:53,099 You have made the way. 527 00:23:53,099 --> 00:23:54,801 - Y'all be blessed, my brothers. 528 00:23:54,834 --> 00:23:55,669 - Bless. 529 00:23:55,702 --> 00:23:59,572 - All right, you all be blessed. 530 00:23:59,606 --> 00:24:02,776 - His thirty-one-year-old son, a law school graduate, 531 00:24:02,809 --> 00:24:05,712 came to surprise him. 532 00:24:05,745 --> 00:24:08,748 A three-member panel must vote unanimously 533 00:24:08,782 --> 00:24:11,051 to grant parole. 534 00:24:11,084 --> 00:24:16,222 Our cameras weren't allowed inside the parole hearing room. 535 00:24:16,256 --> 00:24:17,957 About an hour later, 536 00:24:18,058 --> 00:24:21,761 Esteen's family walked out first. 537 00:24:21,795 --> 00:24:22,829 - He made it. - Yes! 538 00:24:22,862 --> 00:24:29,069 - He made it. - He made it. 539 00:24:29,069 --> 00:24:31,204 - We were there for his first steps 540 00:24:31,237 --> 00:24:33,907 as a free man in twenty years. 541 00:24:33,940 --> 00:24:35,141 - This is my freedom passing. 542 00:24:35,175 --> 00:24:38,878 What? Should I go? Man. 543 00:24:38,912 --> 00:24:42,182 [crying] 544 00:24:47,721 --> 00:24:52,158 - Very good, my son. 545 00:24:52,192 --> 00:24:56,429 - Two other people are eager to follow him out that gate. 546 00:24:56,463 --> 00:24:58,998 Henry Montgomery and Clifford Hampton, 547 00:24:59,099 --> 00:25:02,569 who have served a combined 116 years at Angola, 548 00:25:02,602 --> 00:25:06,306 are about to face the parole board themselves. 549 00:25:06,339 --> 00:25:09,676 - Do you think you should be paroled? 550 00:25:09,709 --> 00:25:12,879 - I should be, 'cause, uh, I ain't the same guy 551 00:25:12,912 --> 00:25:15,248 as that seventeen year old guy. 552 00:25:15,281 --> 00:25:18,585 I'm fifty-five years older, you know, 553 00:25:18,618 --> 00:25:24,758 and I'm mature enough to know I ain't gonna do that again. 554 00:25:24,791 --> 00:25:26,693 - But that might not matter. 555 00:25:26,726 --> 00:25:29,396 This is Montgomery's second parole hearing. 556 00:25:29,429 --> 00:25:32,232 He was denied just a year before. 557 00:25:32,265 --> 00:25:33,967 And it seems clear to many 558 00:25:34,067 --> 00:25:37,203 why Montgomery is still in prison. 559 00:25:37,237 --> 00:25:40,306 - You killed a cop? - Yeah. 560 00:25:40,340 --> 00:25:44,210 - The man Montgomery murdered was Deputy Sheriff Charles Hurt 561 00:25:44,244 --> 00:25:46,746 from East Baton Rouge. 562 00:25:46,780 --> 00:25:51,084 In November 1963, Montgomery, then seventeen years old, 563 00:25:51,084 --> 00:25:53,186 was playing hooky when Deputy Hurt, 564 00:25:53,219 --> 00:25:55,422 in plain clothes, approached him. 565 00:25:55,455 --> 00:25:57,524 Montgomery says as a black teenager 566 00:25:57,557 --> 00:26:01,661 living in the segregated South, he was startled and scared, 567 00:26:01,695 --> 00:26:04,564 was carrying a gun, and he shot him. 568 00:26:04,597 --> 00:26:06,099 - I know I had the gun in my hand, 569 00:26:06,132 --> 00:26:09,102 I know I shot him. I know I did it. 570 00:26:09,135 --> 00:26:10,337 And I'm sorry. 571 00:26:10,370 --> 00:26:13,039 - JP deGravelles says it doesn't really matter 572 00:26:13,039 --> 00:26:14,774 how Montgomery feels. 573 00:26:14,808 --> 00:26:18,345 What does matter is that he stays behind bars. 574 00:26:18,378 --> 00:26:20,080 - An attack on a police officer is an attack 575 00:26:20,113 --> 00:26:24,484 on the very fabric of society. 576 00:26:24,517 --> 00:26:27,153 - DeGravelles is the victim's grandson, 577 00:26:27,187 --> 00:26:30,457 and today he is a police officer himself. 578 00:26:30,490 --> 00:26:33,827 - There's no parole for Charles Hurt. 579 00:26:33,860 --> 00:26:35,395 You know, he-he's-- 580 00:26:35,428 --> 00:26:37,297 his life sentence is permanent, you know? 581 00:26:37,330 --> 00:26:41,801 And my mom, my aunt, my uncle, our belief in the system 582 00:26:41,835 --> 00:26:45,071 is that it's equal justice. 583 00:26:45,071 --> 00:26:47,774 - The family of Clifford Hampton's victim 584 00:26:47,807 --> 00:26:50,143 didn't want to speak to us on camera, 585 00:26:50,176 --> 00:26:51,344 but they did tell us 586 00:26:51,378 --> 00:26:54,914 they don't think Hampton should get out either. 587 00:26:54,948 --> 00:26:57,350 In 1958, when he was seventeen, 588 00:26:57,384 --> 00:26:58,685 Hampton got into 589 00:26:58,718 --> 00:27:00,820 an argument with his eighteen-year-old neighbor, 590 00:27:00,854 --> 00:27:02,555 Albertha Gibson. 591 00:27:02,589 --> 00:27:06,393 He flew into a rage and brutally stabbed her to death. 592 00:27:06,426 --> 00:27:10,430 - When I realized what I had did, 593 00:27:10,463 --> 00:27:13,600 I walked to the home of the deputy sheriff 594 00:27:13,633 --> 00:27:15,435 and turned myself in. 595 00:27:15,468 --> 00:27:18,872 - And Hampton has another hurdle to overcome. 596 00:27:18,905 --> 00:27:24,344 In 1961, at age twenty, he killed another inmate here. 597 00:27:24,377 --> 00:27:26,813 He told me it was self-defense. 598 00:27:26,846 --> 00:27:30,583 - Angola was like a jungle, you know? 599 00:27:30,617 --> 00:27:34,254 That's what you had to do, you know, kill or go under. 600 00:27:34,287 --> 00:27:37,190 - Hampton and Montgomery will soon find out 601 00:27:37,223 --> 00:27:39,492 if they will be granted parole. 602 00:27:39,526 --> 00:27:42,796 But if they're denied, they could eventually end up 603 00:27:42,829 --> 00:27:46,533 where I'm heading next, the prison's hospice ward. 604 00:27:55,141 --> 00:28:00,647 ** 605 00:28:01,414 --> 00:28:03,783 - Like every maximum security prison, 606 00:28:03,817 --> 00:28:07,620 Angola can be a dangerous place. 607 00:28:07,654 --> 00:28:10,023 On this morning, a knife is found. 608 00:28:10,023 --> 00:28:13,560 And when that happens, this is the response, 609 00:28:13,593 --> 00:28:15,028 a shakedown. 610 00:28:15,028 --> 00:28:16,396 - What we have here is what appears to be 611 00:28:16,429 --> 00:28:17,897 crushed up medication. 612 00:28:17,931 --> 00:28:19,099 - We've seen a couple of shakedowns 613 00:28:19,132 --> 00:28:20,200 since we've been here. 614 00:28:20,233 --> 00:28:21,901 What kind of stuff do you find? - Cell phone. 615 00:28:21,935 --> 00:28:24,471 - Weapons, drugs. - Homemade shanks. 616 00:28:24,504 --> 00:28:27,941 - Then, captains Jarvis Callahan and William Russo, 617 00:28:28,041 --> 00:28:31,111 along with Assistant Warden Anne-Marie Easley, 618 00:28:31,144 --> 00:28:33,313 said being a corrections officer 619 00:28:33,346 --> 00:28:36,049 is among the toughest jobs in the world. 620 00:28:36,049 --> 00:28:38,084 - You've had things that have raised your anxiety here? 621 00:28:38,118 --> 00:28:39,285 - Absolutely. 622 00:28:39,319 --> 00:28:40,553 - The reason why I'm thirty years old 623 00:28:40,587 --> 00:28:44,391 and on anxiety medicine. - He isn't alone. 624 00:28:44,424 --> 00:28:46,659 Studies have shown corrections officers 625 00:28:46,693 --> 00:28:49,662 have a significantly higher suicide rate 626 00:28:49,696 --> 00:28:52,365 than the general population. 627 00:28:52,399 --> 00:28:54,601 - Can you give me, uh, some specific anecdotes 628 00:28:54,634 --> 00:28:57,270 of things that have happened to you on the cell block? 629 00:28:57,303 --> 00:29:02,042 - An offender threw human waste out the cell at me. 630 00:29:02,075 --> 00:29:03,376 What can you do to that offender? 631 00:29:03,410 --> 00:29:06,012 He's already in the cell, he got life. 632 00:29:06,012 --> 00:29:07,881 - Here, like in so many other states, 633 00:29:07,914 --> 00:29:10,316 the institution is understaffed, 634 00:29:10,350 --> 00:29:13,420 and the officers say they're underpaid. 635 00:29:13,453 --> 00:29:16,022 - We start people off at $14 an hour. 636 00:29:16,056 --> 00:29:20,026 People in the free world can go to Home Depot 637 00:29:20,026 --> 00:29:21,227 and make the same amount of money 638 00:29:21,261 --> 00:29:23,596 and not get feces thrown on 'em.' 639 00:29:23,630 --> 00:29:25,632 - These officers tell me that poor behavior 640 00:29:25,665 --> 00:29:28,168 is often the result of hopeless men. 641 00:29:28,201 --> 00:29:30,370 Assistant Warden Easley says one of the things 642 00:29:30,403 --> 00:29:31,538 that's helped, 643 00:29:31,571 --> 00:29:33,840 but something I was surprised to learn, 644 00:29:33,873 --> 00:29:37,377 that the majority of the officers here are women. 645 00:29:37,410 --> 00:29:41,114 - I think there is value in the female officers. 646 00:29:41,147 --> 00:29:42,716 You know, ladies, we can sometimes 647 00:29:42,749 --> 00:29:46,386 talk an offender down a lot quicker. 648 00:29:46,419 --> 00:29:50,757 You know, just because we have a calming ability. 649 00:29:50,790 --> 00:29:53,493 - And something else I didn't expect to hear, 650 00:29:53,526 --> 00:29:56,529 they believe that life without parole sentences 651 00:29:56,563 --> 00:30:00,400 make prison less safe for everyone. 652 00:30:00,433 --> 00:30:03,837 - If a man has life and he has nothing to lose, 653 00:30:03,870 --> 00:30:06,373 if he knows there's no chance at going home. 654 00:30:06,406 --> 00:30:09,776 - I heard the same thing for many people who work here. 655 00:30:09,809 --> 00:30:13,613 Tonia Faust works in the prison's hospice unit. 656 00:30:13,646 --> 00:30:15,782 - I personally would love to see a lot of these guys 657 00:30:15,815 --> 00:30:17,117 get a second chance. 658 00:30:17,150 --> 00:30:19,085 I worry about backlash that I would get from that 659 00:30:19,119 --> 00:30:22,355 because I know that the outside public's perception 660 00:30:22,389 --> 00:30:24,157 is they're here, they're supposed to be here. 661 00:30:24,190 --> 00:30:25,725 - Do you surprise yourself when you say that? 662 00:30:25,759 --> 00:30:27,627 Was there a period in your life that you would have been 663 00:30:27,660 --> 00:30:29,429 on the other side? - Oh, absolutely. 664 00:30:29,462 --> 00:30:32,032 My mother actually worked here as a security guard, 665 00:30:32,065 --> 00:30:33,266 and I used to tell her all the time, 666 00:30:33,299 --> 00:30:34,901 "How can you work there with those people?" 667 00:30:34,934 --> 00:30:36,102 But then when you actually get here 668 00:30:36,136 --> 00:30:38,938 and you do hear some of the offender stories, 669 00:30:38,972 --> 00:30:41,341 no one is the same person they are, you know, 670 00:30:41,374 --> 00:30:44,310 from when they were younger to now. 671 00:30:44,344 --> 00:30:47,047 - Decades in prison would change anyone. 672 00:30:47,080 --> 00:30:50,083 There is an aging crisis in American prisons, 673 00:30:50,116 --> 00:30:52,986 a gray wave, as some have called it. 674 00:30:53,019 --> 00:30:56,256 More than 130,000 inmates older than fifty-five 675 00:30:56,289 --> 00:30:58,258 are incarcerated today; 676 00:30:58,291 --> 00:31:02,629 that's costing taxpayers more than $9 billion a year. 677 00:31:02,662 --> 00:31:04,964 Experts say the aging and the dying 678 00:31:05,065 --> 00:31:08,201 are the most expensive people to keep incarcerated, 679 00:31:08,234 --> 00:31:13,373 and yet they pose the lowest risk to society. 680 00:31:13,406 --> 00:31:16,910 This is what a life sentence looks like 681 00:31:16,943 --> 00:31:20,513 when life is running out. 682 00:31:20,547 --> 00:31:23,883 Dying prisoners being cared for in hospice 683 00:31:23,917 --> 00:31:28,655 by other incarcerated men. 684 00:31:28,688 --> 00:31:31,091 Sixty-three-year-old Frank Walgamotte 685 00:31:31,091 --> 00:31:34,094 has been in prison for forty-five years. 686 00:31:34,094 --> 00:31:35,662 When he was nineteen, 687 00:31:35,695 --> 00:31:38,465 he and his younger brother robbed a store; 688 00:31:38,498 --> 00:31:41,935 a crime that ended with the murder of the owner. 689 00:31:41,968 --> 00:31:44,270 Now, dying of cancer, 690 00:31:44,304 --> 00:31:47,273 he's asked for a compassionate release. 691 00:31:47,307 --> 00:31:49,109 But the vast majority of petitioners 692 00:31:49,142 --> 00:31:52,779 for compassionate release are denied. 693 00:31:52,812 --> 00:31:55,115 And so was Frank. 694 00:31:55,115 --> 00:31:59,586 - Frank, how you feeling? 695 00:32:01,788 --> 00:32:04,491 Lester Holt. 696 00:32:08,061 --> 00:32:12,065 Frank, do you think you should go home? 697 00:32:15,301 --> 00:32:19,205 Grabbing you a candy? 698 00:32:19,239 --> 00:32:22,676 I can-- here, I can open it for you. 699 00:32:24,577 --> 00:32:26,880 There you go, Frank. 700 00:32:32,318 --> 00:32:35,555 All right. I'm gonna let you rest, okay? 701 00:32:35,588 --> 00:32:38,258 - Okay. 702 00:32:47,434 --> 00:32:51,137 - He's a human being. 703 00:32:51,171 --> 00:32:55,875 I'm not here to judge him. 704 00:32:55,909 --> 00:32:58,912 But I don't know how you not have compassion. 705 00:33:03,616 --> 00:33:06,786 A few weeks later, I learned that Frank died 706 00:33:06,820 --> 00:33:10,423 in his hospice bed alone. 707 00:33:12,092 --> 00:33:14,060 Back in my cell, I had a lot of time 708 00:33:14,094 --> 00:33:17,530 to reflect about everything I've seen. 709 00:33:17,564 --> 00:33:20,200 I've personally wrestled with this question of... 710 00:33:20,233 --> 00:33:22,135 is prison punishment? 711 00:33:22,168 --> 00:33:24,571 Because if it's punishment, it's-it's pretty bad. 712 00:33:24,604 --> 00:33:27,073 Is it a place of reform? 713 00:33:27,073 --> 00:33:30,744 I can certainly see efforts to reform here. 714 00:33:30,777 --> 00:33:32,078 I can't help, you know, thinking 715 00:33:32,112 --> 00:33:34,514 as we're talking to men 716 00:33:34,547 --> 00:33:36,683 who were incarcerated when they were teenagers, 717 00:33:36,716 --> 00:33:39,085 and I think of my own self at sixteen, 718 00:33:39,085 --> 00:33:43,857 seventeen years old, and it's all very complicated. 719 00:33:43,890 --> 00:33:45,792 And now, the two men I met 720 00:33:45,825 --> 00:33:48,261 who committed murders as teenagers, 721 00:33:48,294 --> 00:33:51,498 Henry Montgomery and Clifford Hampton, 722 00:33:51,531 --> 00:33:55,702 are about to find out if they'll finally get parole 723 00:33:55,735 --> 00:33:59,906 and walk back out into the world. 724 00:33:59,939 --> 00:34:03,043 - "Dateline: Secrets Uncovered" returns after the break. 725 00:34:12,786 --> 00:34:16,389 ** - If there is one state that defines mass incarceration, 726 00:34:16,423 --> 00:34:17,924 it's Louisiana, 727 00:34:17,957 --> 00:34:22,062 known for decades as the prison capital of the world. 728 00:34:22,062 --> 00:34:25,331 In 2019, the state's Governor, John Bel Edwards, 729 00:34:25,365 --> 00:34:28,935 said that tough-on-crime approach hadn't been working. 730 00:34:28,968 --> 00:34:30,804 Let's talk about mass incarceration. 731 00:34:30,837 --> 00:34:33,440 I suppose there was a time that that was a good thing. 732 00:34:33,473 --> 00:34:34,908 We're locking up all the bad guys. 733 00:34:34,941 --> 00:34:36,543 - Well, I don't know if it was ever a good thing, 734 00:34:36,576 --> 00:34:38,678 but we know now, because of our experience, 735 00:34:38,712 --> 00:34:40,246 that it was counterproductive. 736 00:34:40,280 --> 00:34:42,082 We had the highest incarceration rate 737 00:34:42,082 --> 00:34:44,484 in the nation for the last couple of decades, 738 00:34:44,517 --> 00:34:46,720 but our crime rate wasn't any better for it, 739 00:34:46,753 --> 00:34:48,755 the recidivism rate wasn't better. 740 00:34:48,788 --> 00:34:49,956 But the bottom line is, 741 00:34:49,989 --> 00:34:52,192 most importantly, we just weren't safer. 742 00:34:52,225 --> 00:34:54,361 It was costing us $700 million a year 743 00:34:54,394 --> 00:34:55,762 just in Louisiana. 744 00:34:55,795 --> 00:34:58,264 That's third only to education and health care. 745 00:34:58,298 --> 00:35:00,033 So we couldn't afford it. 746 00:35:00,033 --> 00:35:04,504 - In 2017, Edwards, a Democrat in the Deep South, 747 00:35:04,537 --> 00:35:08,641 signed bi-partisan criminal justice reform legislation, 748 00:35:08,675 --> 00:35:11,378 the most ambitious in the state's history. 749 00:35:11,411 --> 00:35:13,847 You have actually reduced your prison population here. 750 00:35:13,880 --> 00:35:16,182 - We have, but we are number two in the country 751 00:35:16,216 --> 00:35:17,617 at present. 752 00:35:17,650 --> 00:35:18,918 And it's a process. 753 00:35:18,952 --> 00:35:22,355 - To see this happen in a deep red state, 754 00:35:22,389 --> 00:35:24,057 Law and Order South, 755 00:35:24,057 --> 00:35:25,592 it's pretty stunning to a lot of folks. 756 00:35:25,625 --> 00:35:26,659 Wouldn't you agree? - It is. 757 00:35:26,693 --> 00:35:28,161 And look, it's counterintuitive 758 00:35:28,194 --> 00:35:30,730 that you can over-incarcerate 759 00:35:30,764 --> 00:35:33,600 and actually be less safe because of it. 760 00:35:33,633 --> 00:35:35,669 - The reforms are projected to reduce 761 00:35:35,702 --> 00:35:37,771 Department of Corrections spending 762 00:35:37,804 --> 00:35:41,875 by more than $260 million over the next decade. 763 00:35:41,908 --> 00:35:43,543 Some of that money will be invested 764 00:35:43,576 --> 00:35:46,713 into re-entry programs for those coming home. 765 00:35:46,746 --> 00:35:49,249 An important investment, because every week 766 00:35:49,282 --> 00:35:52,519 an average of 12,000 prisoners in America 767 00:35:52,552 --> 00:35:55,088 are released back to society. 768 00:35:55,088 --> 00:35:58,591 - 95% of the inmates are going to get out. 769 00:35:58,625 --> 00:36:00,527 And when you do next to nothing to prepare them 770 00:36:00,560 --> 00:36:02,328 for successful re-entry, 771 00:36:02,362 --> 00:36:04,097 then you are creating a future 772 00:36:04,130 --> 00:36:07,367 that is more riddled with crime. 773 00:36:07,400 --> 00:36:11,271 - But Louisiana's reforms focus on non-violent offenders. 774 00:36:11,304 --> 00:36:13,673 So, what about violent offenders, 775 00:36:13,707 --> 00:36:16,209 like the juvenile lifer group I met? 776 00:36:16,242 --> 00:36:18,812 Or the men dying in hospice? 777 00:36:18,845 --> 00:36:21,314 We clearly met people in that prison 778 00:36:21,348 --> 00:36:24,050 who don't pose a threat to society. 779 00:36:24,050 --> 00:36:25,852 But in your opinion, do some people 780 00:36:25,885 --> 00:36:27,487 simply belong in prison 781 00:36:27,520 --> 00:36:30,123 because what they did was just reprehensible? 782 00:36:30,156 --> 00:36:33,159 - Well, because what they did was reprehensible. 783 00:36:33,193 --> 00:36:36,162 And there continues to be opposition in the community 784 00:36:36,196 --> 00:36:37,697 and among the victim's family. 785 00:36:37,731 --> 00:36:40,200 And look, whether someone continues to pose a threat 786 00:36:40,233 --> 00:36:42,268 to society is a factor to be considered 787 00:36:42,302 --> 00:36:43,370 in whether they get released. 788 00:36:43,403 --> 00:36:45,271 - But not the only factor? - It is-- Correct. 789 00:36:45,305 --> 00:36:48,208 It can't-it can't be the determinative factor 790 00:36:48,241 --> 00:36:51,511 to the exclusion of all others. 791 00:36:51,544 --> 00:36:54,280 - Both Henry Montgomery and Clifford Hampton 792 00:36:54,314 --> 00:36:57,550 face opposition from their victims' families. 793 00:36:57,584 --> 00:36:59,152 What will happen to them 794 00:36:59,185 --> 00:37:01,087 when they see the parole board? 795 00:37:01,121 --> 00:37:03,723 Montgomery is about to find out. 796 00:37:07,227 --> 00:37:10,463 And someone has come to support him. 797 00:37:10,497 --> 00:37:12,532 His name is Andrew Hundley. 798 00:37:12,565 --> 00:37:14,701 He might look like a lawyer, 799 00:37:14,734 --> 00:37:17,103 but he's actually the first juvenile lifer 800 00:37:17,137 --> 00:37:19,372 in Louisiana to be released 801 00:37:19,406 --> 00:37:22,542 because of Montgomery's Supreme Court case. 802 00:37:22,575 --> 00:37:24,911 - All right. All right. - Today's the day. 803 00:37:24,944 --> 00:37:26,212 - Oh, yes, sir. 804 00:37:26,246 --> 00:37:30,417 - Hundley served 19 years in prison. 805 00:37:30,450 --> 00:37:33,586 At age 15, Hundley was out with a teenage girl 806 00:37:33,620 --> 00:37:35,422 when they got into an argument. 807 00:37:35,455 --> 00:37:38,124 He became enraged and beat her over the head 808 00:37:38,158 --> 00:37:39,526 with a metal rod, 809 00:37:39,559 --> 00:37:41,428 and then tried to get rid of her body 810 00:37:41,461 --> 00:37:42,562 by burning it. 811 00:37:42,595 --> 00:37:45,365 You committed a pretty savage crime. 812 00:37:45,398 --> 00:37:47,834 - It was a horrible crime, it's an inexcusable crime, 813 00:37:47,867 --> 00:37:50,270 and there's nothing I can do that'll be able to undo that. 814 00:37:50,303 --> 00:37:52,305 Thankfully, they were able to look and see 815 00:37:52,339 --> 00:37:54,674 how I had changed. 816 00:37:54,708 --> 00:37:56,976 - So if the parole board said that he changed 817 00:37:57,077 --> 00:37:59,346 after 19 years, what will it say 818 00:37:59,379 --> 00:38:03,049 about Henry Montgomery after 55 years? 819 00:38:03,083 --> 00:38:04,217 You're the first guy that got out, 820 00:38:04,250 --> 00:38:05,685 and he's still here. 821 00:38:05,719 --> 00:38:08,521 - Yeah, there's- there's a lot of guilt. 822 00:38:08,555 --> 00:38:12,392 I went to prison whenever I was 15, a white kid, 823 00:38:12,425 --> 00:38:15,895 um, and got out when I was 34. 824 00:38:15,929 --> 00:38:19,566 Henry went to prison, a Black kid at 17, 825 00:38:19,599 --> 00:38:22,435 and he's still here after 55 years. 826 00:38:22,469 --> 00:38:25,071 - Big day. Big day. - Big day. 827 00:38:25,105 --> 00:38:26,473 - The three members of the panel 828 00:38:26,506 --> 00:38:29,442 must vote unanimously to free him. 829 00:38:29,476 --> 00:38:33,179 They were behind closed doors for more than an hour. 830 00:38:33,213 --> 00:38:35,615 This is the audio from that hearing. 831 00:38:40,587 --> 00:38:43,423 Two yeses for Montgomery's release. 832 00:38:45,158 --> 00:38:48,228 Then came the third and final vote. 833 00:39:00,373 --> 00:39:02,175 - I caught up with Montgomery 834 00:39:02,208 --> 00:39:04,310 right after he heard the news. 835 00:39:04,344 --> 00:39:07,480 He told me that he had already packed his bag. 836 00:39:07,514 --> 00:39:09,015 You were getting ready just in case? 837 00:39:09,049 --> 00:39:10,083 - Yeah. - Just in case 838 00:39:10,116 --> 00:39:11,851 they said you can go home? - Yeah. 839 00:39:11,885 --> 00:39:13,920 - But you're holding together. 840 00:39:14,020 --> 00:39:15,155 - Long as I got life, 841 00:39:15,188 --> 00:39:21,327 I'm gonna keep my mind on trying to get out. 842 00:39:21,361 --> 00:39:25,231 You gotta keep your hope alive. 843 00:39:25,265 --> 00:39:28,401 - Clifford Hampton's hope remains alive. 844 00:39:28,435 --> 00:39:31,871 He is about to face the parole board himself. 845 00:39:31,905 --> 00:39:36,042 I'm realizing he has been in prison 846 00:39:36,076 --> 00:39:37,744 longer than I've been alive. 847 00:39:37,777 --> 00:39:42,215 That's-- I can't even wrap my head around it. 848 00:39:42,248 --> 00:39:46,786 It was a unanimous vote. Parole granted. 849 00:39:46,820 --> 00:39:50,657 I was there moments after a surprisingly subdued Hampton 850 00:39:50,690 --> 00:39:51,825 learned the news. 851 00:39:51,858 --> 00:39:54,194 So now a new adventure begins? 852 00:39:54,227 --> 00:39:56,062 - Yeah. - Life on the outside? 853 00:39:56,062 --> 00:39:57,063 - Yup. 854 00:39:57,097 --> 00:39:59,366 - Can you even imagine what that might be like? 855 00:39:59,399 --> 00:40:01,801 - Imagine it'll be pretty exciting. 856 00:40:01,835 --> 00:40:04,804 - A few days later, Hampton walked free 857 00:40:04,838 --> 00:40:07,707 for the first time in 61 years. 858 00:40:07,741 --> 00:40:09,309 - We'll stop and drop your stuff off 859 00:40:09,342 --> 00:40:10,276 at your apartment... 860 00:40:10,310 --> 00:40:13,546 - And Andrew Hundley is here to help Hampton, 861 00:40:13,580 --> 00:40:15,248 because in 2016, 862 00:40:15,281 --> 00:40:17,050 Hundley started a non-profit 863 00:40:17,083 --> 00:40:19,352 called The Parole Project. 864 00:40:19,386 --> 00:40:23,356 By 2020, it had helped more than 40 juvenile lifers 865 00:40:23,390 --> 00:40:25,091 re-enter society. 866 00:40:25,125 --> 00:40:27,293 - Hit the spot? - Oh, yeah. 867 00:40:27,327 --> 00:40:30,030 - Hampton's first taste of the outside world, 868 00:40:30,063 --> 00:40:34,200 a fast food hamburger with everything on it. 869 00:40:34,234 --> 00:40:36,302 - First apartment. This is for you. 870 00:40:36,336 --> 00:40:39,205 - His temporary apartment, painted with bright colors, 871 00:40:39,239 --> 00:40:42,175 to remind him that he's no longer in prison. 872 00:40:42,208 --> 00:40:45,211 - I'm seeing so much that's really new to me, 873 00:40:45,245 --> 00:40:46,546 you know? 874 00:40:46,579 --> 00:40:48,214 But I'm excited about it all. 875 00:40:54,020 --> 00:40:56,790 - Two and a half years later, Hundley had the honor 876 00:40:56,823 --> 00:40:59,392 of assisting another juvenile lifer 877 00:40:59,426 --> 00:41:01,928 in his first moments as a free man. 878 00:41:01,961 --> 00:41:03,797 - How you doing? 879 00:41:03,830 --> 00:41:08,501 - In November 2021, 75-year-old Henry Montgomery, 880 00:41:08,535 --> 00:41:11,671 the man who paved the way to freedom for Hundley 881 00:41:11,705 --> 00:41:14,741 and hundreds of others, was granted parole 882 00:41:14,774 --> 00:41:18,812 after serving nearly 58 years behind bars. 883 00:41:18,845 --> 00:41:20,814 - In all honesty, Henry probably should have been 884 00:41:20,847 --> 00:41:24,084 the first one of us to come home. 885 00:41:24,084 --> 00:41:27,520 However, he is home today. 886 00:41:27,554 --> 00:41:29,122 - You're gonna do great. - All right. 887 00:41:29,155 --> 00:41:30,724 - You're gonna do great. 888 00:41:30,757 --> 00:41:32,559 - It's a wonderful feelin'. - It is. 889 00:41:32,592 --> 00:41:34,160 [laughing] 890 00:41:37,697 --> 00:41:39,466 - Montgomery and Clifford Hampton 891 00:41:39,499 --> 00:41:41,501 left behind thousands of others 892 00:41:41,534 --> 00:41:43,370 who will never go home. 893 00:41:43,403 --> 00:41:46,873 Their todays filled only with yesterdays, 894 00:41:46,906 --> 00:41:50,210 something my neighbor Curtis knew all too well. 895 00:41:50,243 --> 00:41:53,413 - Who's this little guy? - That's my, uh, son. 896 00:41:53,446 --> 00:41:55,815 He was killed in a motorcycle wreck in '94. 897 00:41:55,849 --> 00:41:57,417 - Oh, man. 898 00:41:57,450 --> 00:42:04,357 ** 899 00:42:04,391 --> 00:42:06,226 In my short time here, I learned a lot 900 00:42:06,259 --> 00:42:09,095 about the human ability to cope. 901 00:42:09,129 --> 00:42:12,399 To accept. To survive. 902 00:42:12,432 --> 00:42:13,767 Bye, Curtis. 903 00:42:13,800 --> 00:42:15,068 Take care of yourself, man. 904 00:42:15,101 --> 00:42:17,303 As I wrote in the journal I kept, 905 00:42:17,337 --> 00:42:21,241 "It's too easy to look away from prison and prisoners. 906 00:42:21,274 --> 00:42:25,779 "Dignity is earned, but hope is essential." 907 00:42:40,794 --> 00:42:41,828 - That's all for this edition 908 00:42:41,861 --> 00:42:44,330 of "Dateline: Secrets Uncovered". 909 00:42:44,364 --> 00:42:45,265 I'm Craig Melvin. Thank you for watching.