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
my sentence was 150 years. that s right, 150 years. he s served 20 so far. estein s case is a prime example of harsh sentencing laws or both drug dealers and especially users. the legacy of the government s decades long war on drugs. more than 450,000 people in america are locked up for a drug offense. brian stevenson says criminalizing drug addiction is misguided. we said those people are criminals. and we didn t have to say that. we could have said their drug addiction and drug dependency is a health problem. is that why are jails are so full? absolutely. if you re looking for one explanation, this misguided war on drugs would be at the top of the list. but things have been changing. you may have heard of the first step act signed into law late last year by president
to say that. we could have said their drug addiction and drug dependency is a health problem. is that why are jails are so full? absolutely. if you re looking for one explanation, this misguided war on drugs is one of them. but things have been changing. you may have heard of the first step act signed into law late last year by president trump, which is projected to reduce the sentences of thousands of nonviolent offenders in federal prisons. but that doesn t affect more than 90% of the u. s. prison population, which is locked up in state and local facilities. some states had already been relaxing sentencing guidelines like here in louisiana, which started in 2001. heavenly father but estein was sentenced under the older and harsher laws. so, he sued the state and won, which earned him a date with the parole board. now he s just hours away. i m not a troublemaker. i have done everything possible to rehabilitate.
decades long war on drugs. more than 450,000 people in america are locked up for a drug offense. brian stevenson says criminalizing drug addiction is misguided. we said those people with criminals. and we didn t have to say that. we could have said their drug addiction and drug dependency is a health problem. is that why are jails are so full? absolutely. if you re looking for one explanation, this misguided war on drugs is one of them. but things have been changing. you may have heard of the first step act signed into law late last year by president trump, which is projected to reduce the sentences of thousands of nonviolent offenders in federal prisons. but that doesn t affect more than 90% of the u. s. prison population, which is locked up in state and local facilities. some states had already been relaxing sentencing guidelines like here in louisiana, which started in 2001. heavenly father but epstein sued the state
addiction and drug dependency is a health problem. is that why are jails are so full? yes. but things have been changing. you may have heard of the first step act signed into law late last year by president trump, which is projected to reduce the sentences of thousands of nonviolent offenders in federal prisons. but that doesn t affect more than 90% of the u.s. prison population, which is locked up in state and local facilities. some states had already been relaxing sentencing guidelines like here in louisiana, which started in 2001. heavenly father but epstein sued the state and won, which earned him a date with the parole board. now he s just hours away. i m not a troublemaker. i have done everything possible to rehabilitate. i m a little antsy right now.