District of Second Chances

<font color=#000000FF>This program was made possible in part by</font> <font color=#000000FF>Village of Promise.</font> <font color=#000000FF>Transforming lives, one child, one family</font> <font color=#000000FF>and one neighborhood at a time.</font> (ominous rumbling music) - [Anthony] To be honest, I think about it, but then I don't think about it.

'Cause if I think about it, it's gonna always haunt me, 'cause this is something I took another person's life.

I don't wanna never see nobody go through that again.

(upbeat instrumental music) - Well I was 19 when I come to prison, so having 82 years to life, I didn't see the future.

My change started when I started to realize the actual lives that was taken.

I don't mean just the life of the victim, but also her family.

- But when I was 18, I was at a very low point.

I played a part in taking someone's life, so there's no second look for that person.

(somber instrumental music) I'm very remorseful but the fact still remain, I am not that same person that I was when I was 18.

(somber instrumental music continues) - When I seen my son walk out the door, my heart dropped to my feet and I had to bring my heart back up, because I knew that there was a God and God do second chances.

(upbeat instrumental music) - How you doing, Ma?

We filming the documentary right now, so don't get to cursing.

- All right.

Bye, Ma.

- Bye.

My name is Anthony Petty.

I've been home since December 11th, 2020.

A little more speed.

(skateboard whirring) So really, I've been home seven months and 12 days.

It's beautiful.

(upbeat instrumental music continues) I grew up in Lincoln Heights, Northeast Washington, D.C., one of the biggest housing projects in D.C.. Every family, they knew who I was.

So it was a community that we looked out for each other.

But at the same time you had rapid drug use.

You see violence.

It was just a part of life, something that you had to deal with.

This was where I was born at so this was what I was taught.

I was taught someone hits you, you hit them back.

You a ball of rage, you know what I'm saying?

Every day, this is no lie, every day I was getting a butt whooping from my mother.

But I deserved it if you looked at it from the standpoint of parents and back in that day, 'cause all I did was fight.

When crack hit D.C., that was one of the worst things that I ever seen in my life.

That right there really messed up the nucleus of the family.

'Cause you had mothers, fathers, aunts, uncles buying drugs from family members.

(somber instrumental music) My mother, yeah she got caught up in using drugs.

But I really started getting in trouble 'cause now I'm like, "Okay, what are you going to say to me?

You're using drugs."

I ain't gonna never forget when my mother got locked up.

(somber instrumental music continues) - I was guilty because I should've been there.

I started getting high when Pete was probably like 12 and I stayed out there and I was doing bad, but I always came home.

But when my baby went to jail, it really hurt.

(somber instrumental music continues) - The day that I caught my charge, some girl was like, "Man, your friend's over there fighting.

(ominous instrumental music) I think about it all the time.

I could just see the whole incident happen.

I was standing right there.

Little guy came behind.

The deceased wind up running behind him.

He had the meat clever in his pocket.

He was pulling the meat cleaver out like he was gonna throw it, and I stood right there and I just got to shooting.

(ominous rumbling music) I had one of those, I would say, razor thin tempers and I couldn't control it.

When I just get so mad I just black out.

I run up in the building and he slipped and I just remember standing over top and just shooting him.

That's all I remember.

(ominous rumbling music continues) I didn't know what I was doing but I did it, you know what I'm saying?

It is gonna always haunt me 'cause this is something I took another person's life and I basically destroyed a family.

And at the same time I destroyed two families, my family and his family, but his family will never see him again.

(somber instrumental music) When you that age you don't understand choices.

No matter what nobody, you always got a choice.

I was sentenced to 35 years to life.

(ominous rumbling music) - I arrived in Washington, D.C., in the mid 1990s in the heat of the consequences of the war on drugs, and the heart of this superpredator myth.

(dramatic instrumental music) This sort of pseudoscientific myth that predicted that Black children would run amuck and rape, maim, and kill was put forth by Princeton Professor John Dilulio.

- A superpredator is a young juvenile criminal who is so impulsive, so remorseless that he can kill, rape, maim without giving it a second thought.

- You've got politicians who are grabbing on to the superpredator myth and running with it.

- Experts call them superpredators.

- No conscience, no empathy.

We can talk about why they ended up that way, but first we have to bring them to heel.

(ominous rumbling music) - Not withstanding the fact that there was a precipitous decline in crime, actually starting in 1992, but it was being missed.

And even as Professor Dilulio recants, he comes out publicly and recants, it's far too late.

- The superpredator idea was wrong.

Once it was out there, though, it was out there.

There was no reeling it in.

- A range of legislation was passed and that still lives on in the books.

And that association between Blackness and criminality is so strong that for many people, they walk down the street and they think about crime and they automatically conjure up in their head, a Black person.

(ominous rumbling music continues) With this mapping on of the narrative about these superpredator Black children, we find that Black children are significantly overrepresented in these severe sentences.

- This superpredator trope I found to be racist, and it was put on the district at a time when crime was beginning to fall.

- It really hurt young people and it made it easier for lawmakers to pass laws that would allow juveniles to not only be prosecuted as adults, but be sentenced at the age of 15, 14, for life in prison.

(ominous rumbling music continues) - It is not just juveniles.

The US has by far the most draconian sentences in the advanced industrialized world.

We give out life sentences like it's candy.

I mean, there's hundreds of thousands of people with life sentences.

- It may feel good to punish somebody like that, but we're not safer as a result as a society.

We're spending millions locking up people who are no longer a threat to the public, and that comes with a cost.

The biggest cost is paid in human suffering.

(ominous instrumental music) - [Anthony] I wound up doing the first three years in solitary.

When you're in a cell, you don't have nothing to do.

You don't have no TV.

You don't have nothing.

(ominous instrumental music continues) - Incarcerating children as adults is absolutely one of the worst things that we can do, on so many levels.

(somber instrumental music) These adolescent years are some of the most critical years.

- I just had to do certain things to survive.

The abnormal became normal to me.

(somber instrumental music continues) A 16-year-old or a 17-year-old or a 15-year-old kid growing up in a prison system in that environment, your brain is like a sponge, so you soaking up everything that you know.

And now I'm stabbing people, busting people on the head.

So violence comes to us easy 'cause this is all you know.

(ominous instrumental music) - Yeah, I always felt like I would never make it out.

- I knew I couldn't survive out here in society with that same mindset, so I had to make a transition within myself.

My sister, my mother and my grandmother, them three women, they did everything for me when nobody was there for me.

They helped give me the confidence to say, "Man, yeah, you can change."

I read, I went to school, I went to programs, I got certifications.

I believe anybody deserves a second chance 'cause anyone canchange.

- Come on.

Come on.

Come on.

(people cheering) (upbeat instrumental music) - When Pete came out of jail, he came to live with me.

We had to rearrange the whole house.

(upbeat instrumental music continues) And his room was a cell for a while.

He used to be like, "I'm going to sleep in the cell."

I said, "I have no cells in my house."

So it took him a while to get used to calling it a bedroom and not a cell.

He used to just sit out on the porch and just look.

Just to be able to go out, like he can just get up and go.

At first, he would just go out and peep out and do a little bit.

But then he started sitting out there.

Then he started doing his Zooms outside and I was like, "Yeah, you free.

You free."

(upbeat instrumental music continues) - Although it took a lot of people to get this work done, I'm credited for being the impetus behind the IRAA legislation, often referred to as Second Look legislation.

(upbeat dance music) My brother, James, was arrested in April of 1996 and at that time he was 17.

James was convicted of homicide.

From the time his sentence was handed down, I immediately knew that I had to do everything in my power to make sure that he did not live out a 57 to life sentence.

The Supreme Court began to come out with rulings that said that you had to treat children differently, so you cannot send juveniles to die in prison.

- There had been research done in the field that young people's brains were not fully developed and they didn't have the same level of impulse control or decision-making ability that adults have.

- And so the brain study consensus emerged in a way that even a conservative United States Supreme Court appreciates it.

- [Crystal] With that shift, James and I saw opportunity to work with the campaign for the Fair Sentencing of Youth in order to get something done legislatively.

– The time is now 10: 05 a.m.

and I'm calling to order this hearing.

- I was nervous at the hearing, right.

You have a few minutes to tell a short, your story, right, and you hope that people are listening in way to make changes, and there was a lot on the line.

When I tell people about the community I grew up in, it may come as no surprise that my brother, whom is only three years older than I am, has served his entire adult life in prison.

Over the past 20 years, I have watched my brother grow up, both physically and mentally, within the confines of a prison wall.

He is the reason why I sit before you today.

He is the reason why I stayed on honor roll throughout high school.

He is the reason why I went to and graduated from one of the top colleges in the nation.

The man he is today is in no way the child he was 20 years ago.

(upbeat dance music) (family and friends shrieking) (upbeat dance music continues) (birds chirping) (pensive instrumental music) - God is in control.

God knows what's gonna happen before we even do.

See how close we getting?

Let's pray.

(upbeat instrumental music) This is when Gene was incarcerated, but this his most recent picture.

That's my brother.

- [Gene] Well, I was 19 when I come to prison.

I have served 21 years in the federal penitentiary.

(upbeat instrumental music continues) - Yeah, coming across the TV, that's how I found out.

I was shocked.

Yeah, so then I had to call around and find out what's going on, and then that's when I heard the story.

- Gene was convicted of aiding and abetting in a murder, in addition to armed kidnapping and robbery.

- [Reporter] Police would like to talk to this man.

They say he is seen on bank camera surveillance tape using murder victim Vidalina Semino's bank card moments after her murder.

(somber instrumental music) - Gene was sentenced to life in prison.

He does not claim innocence and he has shown the deepest remorse for his crime.

(somber instrumental music continues) Prison is not a place that is designed to help people.

The things Gene has done, despite the horrors of the prison environment, are really extraordinary.

So he got his GED.

He started tutoring.

He is a member of the Free Minds Book Club.

I have seen a ton of Gene's poetry.

It shows thoughtfulness and reflection.

- Because I'm in prison, it wasn't always easy to maintain that positive energy when you are surrounded by so much negative energy.

- He started turning himself around almost immediately because his daughter was born.

(vehicle engines humming) - My name is Elijah Connor and I'm Gene's daughter.

When my father had got locked up, I wasn't born yet.

'Cause our bond over the phone and through letters and everything is really strong.

Yeah, he's gonna teach me a lot of things.

Yeah, then I'm gonna have to teach him 'cause he missed a whole bunch, a lot of stuff out here, so yeah.

We're gonna see each other in person and everything.

It is gonna be cool.

- I don't know, I could go on and on and on talking about my daughter, so I don't know.

(Gene chuckling) Oh my God, I prayed so hard that I can actually get out there and be with her.

She's a part of every plan.

(upbeat instrumental music) - [Gene] When the Second Look Amendment Act happened, I was like, "This is it."

(upbeat instrumental music) - [Judge Voiceover] Tell me what you'd like me to know about you?

This is your open mic.

- [Gene Voiceover] This is a long time coming.

Obviously, I've committed some very heinous and senseless crimes.

I am so very, so very remorseful and regretful.

I am definitely not the same person that I was back then.

- [Judge Voiceover] I've got a burning question, though.

That fateful day when you and three others did the unspeakable, do you understand that you're all equally complicit?

You all, working together, took the life of another human being.

Do you understand that concept?

- [Gene Voiceover] Not only do I understand that, I take on full responsibility.

I know that had my presence not been there, had I not participated in one thing, none of it would've happened.

- [Judge Voiceover] I appreciate that Mr.

Downing, more than you know.

- The judge called it a remarkable transformation and she seemed really impressed by what he's done and who he's become.

I don't see how this could.

(Rebecca laughing) I'm not gonna jinx it.

(upbeat instrumental music) - [Guard] All right, he's all set.

- Thank you so much.

- [Guard] You're so welcome.

- What's up, Sis?

- Hey.

How you doing?

- Great.

That's your office?

- Yeah, this is one of the conference rooms.

- My name is Colie Levar Long.

I've been incarcerated going on 26 years now.

God willing, I'll get out on the Second Look Act.

(upbeat instrumental music continues) You told me 10 o'clock.

- I know.

I'm sorry.

It's my fault.

Do you forgive me?

(Colie chuckling) I forgive you.

- Okay.

Thank you.

I'm gonna go through another round of edits and then my goal is to file it probably tomorrow.

(Destiny chuckling) So you're good?

Do you have any questions for me?

- No, I just thank God, the universe that our paths have crossed.

This is the first time that I've really had an attorney that I've been on the same wave length, and I really feel like this is my moment.

You are a part of my family.

(Destiny cooing) I thank you.

For real, I appreciate that.

- [Destiny] Thanks, Colie.

I appreciate it.

(relaxing instrumental music) - Colie is an intelligent, charismatic, motivated, hyper individual.

He has been in prison for over 25 years.

He was arrested four months after his 18th birthday for the murder of a 14-year-old boy.

He was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.

- [Colie] And when I was young I hated my father.

My father used to beat me like he really hated me.

The actions of my father caused me to start running away when I was 14.

- He moved into a one bedroom apartment with several boys right before his 18th birthday.

The boys would just kind of play video games all day, sell drugs.

And there was a dispute between the victim in this case and his co-defendant and Colie a few weeks before, and Colie played a large role in the death of the victim in this case.

(somber instrumental music) - I'm very remorseful but the facts still remain, I am not that same person that I was when I was 18.

(somber instrumental music continues) In 2003 to 2005 I was locked down in solitary confinement.

Man, it is torture.

You could see people walk past your cell every now and then.

Your only interaction with humans is through a CO.

He brings you your food or if you get mail.

It's psychological torture.

- I met Colie Levar Long teaching a class on African religion and spirituality at the D.C.

Jail.

In one of your beautiful essays, you told us a story about the moment you decide, "This will not break me."

- It was like three o'clock in the morning and I heard somebody screaming.

I mean, it was like a blood-curdling scream, like things you would see or hear in a horror movie.

I seen it with this individual named, Strong.

He had feces on his beard, eyes are bloodshot red.

He was in a catatonic state at this moment 'cause he wasn't yelling but he looked like a zombie.

(somber instrumental music continues) When I went back to my cell, man, you know what?

I have a life without parole sentence.

That's my fate.

I could be that person.

I gotta kill the person that I was, that caught me into this prison system in the first place, and that was the moment for me.

That was the catalyst for my change.

(somber instrumental music continues) I dedicated myself to being the best version of myself so I can bring out the best out of others.

Once I embraced that ideology, I found the freedom that could never be taken away from me.

- So, I know Colie Long, and I call him Shaka, his nickname.

He's been a student in several of my classes at the D.C.

Jail.

When you hear about his childhood and where he grew up and how he was surrounded by violence, by death, by drugs, by guns, it really makes you wonder if there ever was a first chance.

(vocalists harmonizing) - Not a single envelope comes through that mill without her writing, "God's in control."

(vocalist harmonizing) And it's almost like it's not coming from her, it's coming from God.

(vocalist harmonizing continues) (train clackety-clacking on rails) (vocalist harmonizing continues) - Hey, do you see him?

- Right there, man.

Oh, man.

Oh, man.

(indistinct) - Yeah.

Damn.

- What's up, boy?

- This is unreal.

Not surreal, it's even further than that.

- In the flesh.

Oh God, Jesus.

Yes.

- Yeah.

- You home.

(people laughing) - This is a lot right here, man.

This is a lot.

And I kept telling people, "I knew it wasn't gonna set in, (Gene whimpering) I knew it wasn't gonna set in until I got right here, man."

I thought I'd never see y'all, man.

I thought I would never see y'all, man.

But I will always say, "I gotta get outta here man.

I gotta get outta here, man."

(people shrieking) (people laughing) (pensive instrumental music) - What's up.

What's up?

- Man.

Lisa's right there.

- Yeah.

(indistinct) - Oh my God, man.

Oh my God.

This is too much, man.

This is too much.

(Gene chuckling) (Lisa whaling) This is too much, man.

I don't even know.

I don't even know, man.

(Lisa screaming) (Lisa sobbing) (indistinct) Y'all do not know how many times I called this woman right here and she told me, "You coming home.

You coming home."

It was in the moment, "You coming home."

She sent me a letter and the letter said, "God's in control."

She told me every day, "God's in control."

(Lisa whimpering) (pensive instrumental music continues) I love you.

(Lisa cheering) Oh my God.

So I need to get out of these clothes.

I haven't seen that baby yet, man.

I haven't seen that baby yet, man.

I haven't seen that babe yet.

(Elijah chuckling) (Gene laughing) Oh my God.

- You gonna make me cry.

(Elijah chuckling) You gonna make me cry.

(indistinct) - I can't believe that you're standing right here.

Oh my God.

I love you so much.

- I love you too.

- You know I love you.

Look at your hair.

I've been gone her whole life and she turned out perfect.

(upbeat instrumental music) - [Lisa] This is 8th and H.

- This is 8th and H?

- [Lisa] Yep.

- Look at that, man.

That look like something off of one of them movies, man.

Look at the bus.

The bus orange, man.

I'm proud of this city, man.

(Lisa chuckling) (upbeat instrumental music continues) Look at that.

That's Good Hope right there.

That's where I was born and raised at, man.

(upbeat instrumental music continues) (fingers clicking in tandem) (electric razor buzzing) The last time I had my hair done was right before I was released, but it's the difference when you getting your haird done like this or when you getting your head done from a guy who just got done lifting a thousand pounds of weight.

And at the end when it's finished, yeah, it might look nice, but yet, it hurt like hell.

(Gene chuckling) (upbeat instrumental music continues) - Ever since my dad got back, I don't even know how to explain it how I feel.

I mean, I'm happy.

I'm excited and everything like that but it's like I'm just under his wing.

I'm everywhere he at and I just feel good.

It just feel great and that's what I always wanted.

(upbeat instrumental music continues) - [Gene] There's is one word that can sum up how I feel, and it's surreal, that's it.

Because I was literally just a few days ago sitting in the cell wondering when I would hear whether or not I would get released.

That's the last piece of cake?

- That's your cake.

- It said, "Welcome home, Gene."

Now they just say, "Ge."

But that's how I was feeling that day.

By the end of the night I was so tired, I felt like Ge.

So I guess it's appropriate.

I'm gonna take a bite.

It's still soft too.

This one of them Tupperware jaunts mom used to have back in the day?

You remember when Ma used to have Tupperware parties?

- [Lisa] 'Cause Ma had so much Tupperware.

That stuff would drive me crazy.

- [Lisa] Damn.

- I don't even like Tupperware.

(upbeat instrumental music continues) (upbeat instrumental music continues) These are the boxes that I sent home ahead of me.

This is my baby as a baby.

Yeah.

So when I got this picture and any other picture, yeah, I just knew that I made a mistake.

(upbeat instrumental music continues) Being surrounded by my family and knowing that I'm safe around my family feels wonderful.

(people laughing) - Remember this handsome devil?

- Nah, I bet you you don't remember this chump, though.

Right now I live with my sister, her husband, and my niece and nephew.

But I just got approved for my apartment, own apartment.

I'm supposed to move in Tuesday.

(upbeat dance music) It's gonna be my first place I ever had on my own.

It's like responsibility 101.

It's gonna feel good when I walk in there, and this is mine so I could set it up any way I want.

If I wanna eat jelly beans, I could do that if I want.

I got 30 years of a setback, but I also got a future ahead of me that I perceive as being bright.

(Anthony laughing) I'm laughing because when I put my blinds up, I just get naked and I just walk around.

I listen to my music, you know what I'm saying?

And that's what I do.

I just like.

It is freedom.

It's just so free.

Don't think that freedom from a physical prison is going to end all your challenges.

There will be new challenges.

(ominous instrumental music) - Yeah, I get flashbacks a lot.

(ominous instrumental music continues) It is kinda hard for me to sleep.

I'm still getting used to sleeping.

When you seeing people getting killed and left in their cells and stuff, as soon as your door opens you automatically gonna be up.

(upbeat instrumental music) Even though I've been through all the trauma I just told you about, I wanna be defined as a person who came out here, trying to help stop some of the violence that's going on out here in society.

How you doing over there?

And I'm telling you, Slim, when you get out here, man, you gonna love it, man.

You gonna love it, Slim.

- Inshallah.

- I love you, man.

And inshallah, man, I'll catch up with you, all right.

- [Colie] All right, man.

Be safe.

I'm proud of you.

(birds chirping) (relaxing instrumental music) Currently, I'm the head mentor at YME.

It stands for Young Men Emerging.

YME is where more experienced incarcerated individuals work with younger guys that's currently in the criminal justice system.

Being educated is the main tool that a person should use to resist the prison culture, period.

And once you free your mind, you can never be incarcerated.

Because of the Second Look Act, I'm now able to have a real possibility of not just serving a life sentence, but living a life of substance.

(relaxing instrumental music continues) - Colie has always struggled with not having contact, as much contact as he wants, with the community, with his mother, his grandmother.

In 2018, he was charged with having a cellphone in an institution and it's a felony.

My hope is just that we do not see the judge or the government kind of mischaracterizing what this incident really was.

(pensive instrumental music) So, the good news is, I don't think in the last year and a half, Judge Leibovitz has ever denied an IRAA motion, right.

And that being said, the hurdle that we have to overcome with your hearing is that in the last three years you have gotten a shot.

While you and I both get that cellphones is just a problem in jails and prisons all across the US, she's a prosecutor.

- I'm not trying to ameliorate or soften the offense that I committed on, but I think it needs to be placed in the context of the situation.

Like I said, an abnormal response to an abnormal situation is normal behavior.

I understand, I had to follow the rules.

- Yeah.

- I understand that.

And you don't want me to mention the slavery thing.

- No.

(Colie chuckling) - Yeah, but that's true though.

That's my mindset.

I have no other option but to be successful.

- [Destiny] Yeah.

- That's how I'm looking at it, so I don't really have too much anxieties about that.

It's just the uncertainty, just knowing if I get a yes, I get a no.

(pensive instrumental music) - [Destiny Voiceover] While Mr.

Long knows that there is no excuse for breaking the rules of the institution, there is no evidence whatsoever that he ever used the phone for any other purpose than contacting family and friends.

That behavior is pro-social at its core.

- [Judge Voiceover] Pro-social.

We're now making persistent rule-breaking while pending sentencing pro-social?

- It was rushed.

They brought him up late so he didn't get to change into civilian clothing, which was something that was really important to him.

But aside from kind of the rushing, I think the witnesses did a great job.

Colie did a great job.

And so, there were hurdles that we always knew would be hurdles, but we did our best to address those.

- You know the judges are gonna focus on things like institutional records that we know don't really represent someone's kind of full humanity.

You do the best you can and you try to kind of find satisfaction in that, but also, you worry.

- I'm done.

(Destiny sniffing) Thanks.

- All right.

(birds chirping) (helicopter blades chuffing) - Judge Leibovitz denied my IRAA petition.

I did make a mistake in prison.

On the cellphone, I used that cellphone 'cause it was my only lifeline.

Those sacred stolen minutes I had talking to my family, being able to say, "Ma, I love you."

Hearing that, I'm reminded of somebody's son.

That's all I had.

My whole thing is that I really want people to see that there are people on the inside that's worthy of second chances.

I know the purpose of life now, you know.

(pensive instrumental music continues) (pensive instrumental music continues) Honestly, I know there's no realistic chance of me making parole.

However, just seeing you sitting right here, seeing it, that's the triumph in itself for me.

- [Whitmore] How are you assuring the commission that you're not gonna go back out there and commit more crimes?

- [Colie] Because the simple fact is that I don't live my life for myself no more.

So, I know that I took on responsibility for my actions, and I know the consequences of my actions has not just affect me but affects my family.

- [Whitmore] You seem sincere to me when you tell me that you're a changed person and I believe you.

I hope that you're gonna do the right thing.

- Colie did something that is historically really difficult to do.

He was granted parole on his first time up.

(pensive instrumental music continues) (cellphone vibrating) - [Annalisa] How is your unit now?

Do you feel safe?

- A riot?

- Yeah.

- You don't need the tablet.

Don't get close to situation.

(Colie chuckling) Please don't do that.

- No, I know.

(upbeat hip-hop music) (Gene knocking on door) - [Gene] You okay, man?

(people cheering) (people applauding) - It's so good to see you.

(indistinct) (upbeat jazz music) - I'm telling you this poem, Gene, unbelievable response.

It really moves audiences.

So would you mind reading it to us?

We've been dreaming of this, Gene.

- So you want me to just read it?

I'm just nervous.

(people chuckling) "8:46.

8 minutes and 46 seconds.

Handcuffed and no weapon.

Your fellow officer not helping instead opts for looking out while onlookers record the death of George Floyd.

Pleads for his life but null and void.

Eight minutes and 46 seconds it took me to write this poem.

Rest in peace, George Floyd.

I wrote this for him."

Thank you.

(people cooing) (people applauding) That was crazy.

- That's powerful.

That's powerful.

- Because that was literally the first time I've ever read this poem aloud like this.

- Reunited.

(indistinct) - It feels so good.

- Make sure to get the copy of that, Tara.

- We've been waiting for this day, Gene.

I am still currently looking for a place of my own.

This is it, though?

- This is it.

- This is small.

There's no bedroom.

- So it's a studio apartment.

- Right?

I understand.

It's just this space.

- Right.

- This would be my first.

This is me.

This is mine.

No one else has to be here but me.

I would definitely like to live in a neighborhood that's quiet, where I can lay my head or come out of my place or go in my place without worrying about any drama or stray bullets.

(pensive instrumental music) (birds chirping) It just seems that so much has been expected of me.

I have friends who expect certain things and I have family who expect certain things.

So it's like I have to take whoosah, a breather, because if I don't then we'll all be disappointed.

(Gene chuckling) (pensive instrumental music continues) (birds chirping) But I get that running, I get a chance to think, plan my day in my head.

I'm not complaining.

I always make sure, I want people to know I am not complaining.

It's the best time of my life because I'm free.

(pensive instrumental music continues) (birds chirping) (relaxing piano music) - Twice a day I help with the Safe Passage.

Safe Passage is, you help parents and the kids navigate the traffic, making sure if there's any type of incidents or anything, we are right there to try to quell it.

But we also work with the youth and the schools, get to know them a little more.

Every time crime starts to rise, there's this impulse to return to these tough on crime policies that we tried in the 90s of locking everybody up.

[Pete] Why you look so mad?

Today's Friday.

[Kevin Ring] But at this point, we've seen so many people come home successfully [Xavier] I met Pete during a group session because we had got in trouble for some things.

I feel like I learned a lot from it.

I stopped doing a lot of stuff.

He's a good role model for me, and a good mentor.

(pensive instrumental music) (people laughing) - How you doing?

(Colie's mom laughing) - I made it.

- You made it.

- I made it.

- You made it.

You made it.

- I made it.

- Granny.

Granny.

Granny.

(upbeat instrumental music continues) Just stepping out, no handcuffs.

I was just trying to process it.

This lady stood by me 26 years so I'm living for her.

What's a Frappuccino.

- [Destiny] It's cold, it's like a milkshake coffee.

- No, I don't want that.

- [Destiny] Maybe like a latte.

- A latte, that's hot?

- Mm-hmm.

- Yeah, I'm doing you.

What milk you drink?

- You want oat milk?

- Oat milk?

(Colie chuckling) - [Destiny] Oat milk is really good.

(upbeat instrumental music continues) (pensive instrumental music) - I always dreamed about seeing the sunrise again.

God is good, man.

I don't care what religion you in.

(pensive instrumental music continues) And I'm so appreciative and that's why I'm sitting and my eyes kind of get watery 'cause I know, man, there's thousands of dudes that can't see this right here.

(pensive instrumental music continues) (train clackety-clacking on rails) - Shaka.

- Big homie.

- Big homie.

(hands clapping) - It's good to see you.

- Oh man, it's good to see you.

- [Marc] Welcome into our suite right now.

- [Colie] Okay.

Wow.

- You're gonna get to meet our team.

- Working with Georgetown is like a dream come true.

I'm actually working with the Prison Justice Initiative.

Being in a space where I can help others, just bring everything full circle.

(people laughing) (indistinct) All right.

(birds chirping) (upbeat instrumental music) - Hey, Slim.

Yeah.

What's up, man?

Oh, man.

The love, man.

- Yeah.

- What's up, Slim?

(Anthony shrieking) You look good, man.

- This big brother right here, man.

This is big brother.

- That's my man.

I'm glad, boy.

Glad to see you about.

- Looking good, man.

Yeah, babe.

- Glad to see you about.

- D.C.

government badge.

Working hard.

- [Anthony] Yeah, that's all you do.

(upbeat instrumental music continues) A lot of the stuff that a lot of us doing out here, you already been doing it so it gonna be easy to you.

Once you get out here, and I say, I give you like two months at the most, you know what I'm saying?

You gonna be good.

- Yeah.

- [Anthony] You gonna be good.

- Thank you, man.

- Thank you.

- Thank you, Miss Berry.

Thank you.

Thank you.

- You serious?

- Hey.

(Colie chuckling) I had to get one.

- A strawberry?

- A strawberry on top.

I had to get it.

- With a cherry on top.

- This is living, right here.

- Yeah, that's what it is all about Slim.

- This is living, man.

(Anthony chuckling) (Colie exclaiming) (indistinct) - Okay.

- Thank you.

- Thank you.

- I know.

- Yeah.

- There you go.

- Thank you.

- The last time I had this was 1995.

- Wow, so I hope it tastes the same.

- Yes.

- Yeah.

- Let us know.

- I appreciate it.

Oh my God.

- We got the brains, you know what I'm saying?

But when we was younger we didn't know we had all these things.

They didn't think we was gonna come out here and do what we doing now.

They didn't know what to expect.

You home now.

You don't got to eat everything.

- No.

(Colie chuckling) - You don't gotta eat everything, Slim.

You can put some stuff down, you know.

- I just came home out the box.

I will eat this wrapper, for real.

If the camera wasn't watching, I would eat the wrapper, for real.

(upbeat instrumental music continues) - Damn, Slim.

(Anthony chuckling) Look how hot it is.

- It's hot.

But we're free.

- We're free.

You see what I'm saying?

That's the thing, we could walk here, we could walk here.

We could go wherever we wanna go.

- [Colie] Yeah.

- That's the beautiful part about it, Slim.

- Man, it's beautiful.

(upbeat instrumental music) (upbeat instrumental music) (clapping in tandem) (upbeat instrumental music continues) (upbeat instrumental music continues) - [Gene] I am (light switch clicking) home.

The nest is empty.

- No, it's not empty.

(indistinct) - She lie.

- It ain't like I ain't gonna ever be here.

I'm already trying to see all my parking spaces.

- Two years ago I'm still in the penitentiary with a life sentence.

And then when the Second Look Amendment Act happened, it was just a conversation when I first heard of it.

I stayed the course, and I think I did a tremendous job at that and I'm here.

I can definitely get used to this.

(upbeat instrumental music) <font color=#000000FF>This program was made possible in part by</font> <font color=#000000FF>Village of Promise.</font> <font color=#000000FF>Transforming lives, one child, one family</font> <font color=#000000FF>and one neighborhood at a time.</font>