Life Inside and Out
Lorenzo Brooks and Samuel Hamilton each served decades in prison for second-degree murder. They shared their experiences of their time inside and of adapting to life after incarceration.
Life Inside and Out 3 VIDEOS
The Letter ‘V’
Samuel Hamilton, who served 32 years in prison, and Lorenzo Brooks, who served 30 years, describe the barriers created by being classified as violent felons.
Changing Course Behind Bars
Samuel Hamilton and Lorenzo Brooks describe rehabilitation opportunities in prison, including college courses and mentoring other inmates.
Life After Lockup
Samuel Hamilton and Lorenzo Brooks, who each served more than three decades for second-degree murder, tell of an uphill battle to search for jobs, housing, and stability after leaving prison.
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2:01
The Letter ‘V’ -
3:56
Changing Course Behind Bars -
2:57
Life After Lockup
More than 700,000 state prisoners are serving time for violent offenses—that’s 53 percent of the state prison population. As calls for criminal justice reform grow, few have dared to touch this issue, instead favoring reforms for low-level, nonviolent drug offenders. With that avoidance comes a massive human and fiscal cost.
When corrections budgets are strained, rehabilitation and educational programs are often the first to go, in spite of ample evidence that such programming reduces the chance that a person will reoffend after their release from prison. We talked to two men who each spent more than three decades in prison for second-degree murder about how they got there, their experiences on the inside, and life after incarceration.