i had so many thoughts leading up to this assignment as to what it was gonna be like. trying to imagine going down this road, knowing it s a one-way trap. there s this moment when you get this last glimpse of the world around you, but that glimpse is through steal match. louisiana s highway 66. it s a beautiful countryside. it s undoubtedly not lost on the countless men driven to the place where they ll most likely die. but road ends here. the louisiana state penitentiary. a former plantation the size of manhattan. 28 square miles. most people call it angola, named after the african country that was home to the slaves who once worked these very fields. now, angela is the largest maximum security prison in the country, where today, i ll be housed with about 5500 men. i m heading into ground zero of mass incarceration. there s certainly a heightened awareness as i walk through here. no guards. for the next couple days, i ll be staying here, explain key issues of the pri
$6250 for each of his 28 years behind bars. from 2016 to 2020, 374 people wrongfully convicted of murder, 61% african-americans, have reunited with their families together they spent over 6000 years in prison. years. years they will never get back. that s all for this edition of dateline. i am craig melvin. thank you for watching. i am craig melvin and this is dateline. leading up to this assign what it was going to be like. i had so many thoughts leading to this assignment as to what it would be like. trying to imagine going down isoad, knowing it s a one- way trip. this moment where you get your last glimpse of the world around you, but that glimpse is through steelman mesh. louisiana highway 66. it s beautiful countryside and undoubtedly not lost on the countless men driven to the place where they will most likely die. that road ends here. the louisiana state penitentiary, a former plantation. the size of manhattan. 28 square miles. most people call it angola named
in spending in 1980 on jails and prisons to $80 billion today. civil rights lawyer, brian stevenson, is one of the nation s leading prison reform advocates. i think we have hundreds of thousands of people in prison who are not a threat to public safety. but is it about safety, or is it about punishment? i think we have created a culture that makes it entirely about punishment. and you might be surprised who else thinks mass incarceration is a problem, the people who run louisiana s prison system. and i think nation-wide, we lock up people too long and too many of them. seth smith is the director of operations for louisiana s department of corrections. it s not working. it s not giving us the results that we want. it s costing a lot of money. we send people to prison that aren t necessarily a danger to society, and then we keep people that their time for danger is over. they re no longer a threat.
breakfast arrives at 5:30 a. m., delivered by a prisoner. in case you re wondering, it is scrambled eggs, grits and biscuits, to the sound of a flushing toilet. no country on earth locks up more of its citizens than the united states. while we make up less than 5% of the world s population, we lockup more than 20% of the world s prisoners. politicians, academics and activists say mass incarceration is an american crisis. we have gone from $6 billion in spending in 1980 on jails and prisons to $80 billion today. civil rights lawyer, brian stevenson, is one of the nation s leading prison reform advocates. i think we have hundreds of thousands of people in prison who are not a threat to public safety. but is it about safety, or is it about punishment? i think we have created a culture that makes it entirely
breakfast arrives at 5:30 a. m., delivered by a prisoner. in case you are wondering, it is scrambled eggs, grits and biscuits to the sound of a flushing toilet. no country on earth locks up more of its citizens than the united states. while we make up less than 5% of the world s population, we lockup more than 20% of the world s prisoners. politicians, academics and activists say mass incarceration is an american crisis. we have gone from $6 billion in spending in 1980 on jails and prisons to $80 billion today. civil rights lawyer, brian stevenson, is one of the nation s leading prison reform advocates. i think we have hundreds of thousands of people in prison who are not a threat to public safety. is it about safety, or is it