the closer you are to something, the more is revealed to you. the men on my tier are locked in their cells 23 hours a day. like my neighbor, william curtis, a convicted murderer sentenced to life. he told me he tried to escape. how far did you get? not very. in 2017, louisiana lawmakers passed bipartisan reforms, which reduced its nonviolent prisoner population. louisiana is a poster child for why this country needs to make changes. the majority here, however, committed violent crimes. i was a lot different at 17 than i am at 60 but i still knew right from wrong. i was 17 years old when i took the life of cornell. terrence simon was convicted of second-degree murder at 17 and is now serving a life sentence without parole. i don t deserve sympathy. you don t deserve sympathy. no. i don t deserve a second chance. one thing i witnessed over