1 00:00:15,599 --> 00:00:23,719 Speaker 1: I walk straight line, shackle change, Oh someome gird. 2 00:00:25,879 --> 00:00:31,960 Speaker 2: It's calling by the name. There is no Mercy and. 3 00:00:32,079 --> 00:00:38,119 Speaker 1: It's been a tentery juice as the huge stream game 4 00:00:39,320 --> 00:00:43,280 Rango the three, I'm. 5 00:00:43,159 --> 00:00:43,600 Speaker 3: Here be. 6 00:00:46,039 --> 00:00:56,280 Speaker 2: By Meda dies inside these walls, inside the Wild and 7 00:00:56,600 --> 00:01:00,240 went the girl as I'm. 8 00:01:31,959 --> 00:01:36,000 Speaker 3: Hey everyone, and welcome back to Bloody Angola, a podcast 9 00:01:36,159 --> 00:01:38,359 one d and forty two years in the making, the 10 00:01:38,560 --> 00:01:44,359 complete story of America's bloodiest prison. Jim Chapman and if 11 00:01:44,359 --> 00:01:47,599 you listen to Real Life, Real Crime Daily this week, 12 00:01:47,640 --> 00:01:51,280 I'm recording this on a Monday and what are you 13 00:01:51,280 --> 00:01:55,959 Everton unfortunately could not be with us today. He had 14 00:01:55,959 --> 00:01:58,239 some sort of family issue he had to deal with. 15 00:01:58,319 --> 00:02:01,879 So we're gonna move right on and look with this 16 00:02:02,040 --> 00:02:05,200 episode of Bloody and Goalie, y'all, I have a backstory 17 00:02:05,239 --> 00:02:07,319 on this I want to tell you, and it brings 18 00:02:07,400 --> 00:02:10,560 me all the way back to one of our first 19 00:02:10,680 --> 00:02:13,039 few seasons of Bloody and Golin. 20 00:02:13,199 --> 00:02:14,719 Speaker 4: We had a guest on. 21 00:02:14,719 --> 00:02:18,439 Speaker 3: A couple of episodes on those early releases and his 22 00:02:18,759 --> 00:02:23,919 name was Andrew Hundley and he was actually the first 23 00:02:24,280 --> 00:02:30,280 juvenile lifer released when Louisiana changed the law regarding inmates 24 00:02:30,280 --> 00:02:33,360 who were sentenced as juveniles to life in prison, and 25 00:02:33,639 --> 00:02:36,759 it offered them the opportunity to at least have a 26 00:02:36,800 --> 00:02:41,280 shot at parole. You weren't guaranteed to get your life 27 00:02:41,319 --> 00:02:46,319 sentence committed, but you had a shot at it. Before that, 28 00:02:46,840 --> 00:02:50,360 you had no parole opportunity, even as a juvenile. So 29 00:02:50,400 --> 00:02:54,240 he came on the show, and as he was leaving, 30 00:02:54,360 --> 00:02:59,319 we were discussing just ideas for future episodes. Obviously, with 31 00:03:00,080 --> 00:03:03,439 him being in Louisiana State Penitentiary, he had a lot 32 00:03:03,439 --> 00:03:06,120 of contacts and people that we may or may not 33 00:03:06,199 --> 00:03:08,919 want to talk to, and we were just discussing those 34 00:03:08,960 --> 00:03:11,680 ideas and he mentioned we ought to do one on 35 00:03:11,759 --> 00:03:14,960 the Ten six Lifers. And I looked at him with 36 00:03:15,080 --> 00:03:18,479 a really confused look, and I said, I've never heard 37 00:03:18,520 --> 00:03:22,360 of him. And y'all, I am a research freak. Y'all 38 00:03:22,400 --> 00:03:24,560 know that it's what I love to do. And I 39 00:03:24,680 --> 00:03:29,400 thought I knew everything there was to know about Louisiana 40 00:03:29,520 --> 00:03:33,759 State Penitentiary and in Gola, but I didn't know this story. 41 00:03:34,360 --> 00:03:36,560 I didn't know anything about. 42 00:03:36,159 --> 00:03:40,000 Speaker 4: The Ten six Lifers. So what did I do? Well? 43 00:03:40,120 --> 00:03:43,759 Speaker 3: I start digging, of course, and to my surprise, there 44 00:03:43,840 --> 00:03:48,120 was not much online regarding the Ten six Lifers and 45 00:03:48,159 --> 00:03:51,080 it kind of went in my back pocket, and as 46 00:03:51,159 --> 00:03:56,120 I was researching another episode, I came across what I 47 00:03:56,159 --> 00:04:01,039 think is probably one of the best article I've ever 48 00:04:01,120 --> 00:04:05,159 come across on any subject as it relates to prison. 49 00:04:05,919 --> 00:04:11,080 And surprisingly enough, it is on the Ten six Lifers. 50 00:04:11,319 --> 00:04:14,159 So I'm going to tell you all about them today. 51 00:04:14,599 --> 00:04:17,399 And what I'm gonna do is I'm going to reference 52 00:04:17,839 --> 00:04:21,600 that article. And it was put out by Jessica Sholberg 53 00:04:21,800 --> 00:04:27,319 of The Huffington Post on December thirtieth of twenty twenty one, 54 00:04:27,360 --> 00:04:30,439 and I promise you, when I'm done with this story, 55 00:04:30,519 --> 00:04:35,319 it is going to blow your mind. So here's how 56 00:04:35,319 --> 00:04:38,319 it reads. Lee Ry Grippin thought he was going to 57 00:04:38,399 --> 00:04:41,519 prison for ten years and six months. That's what his 58 00:04:41,600 --> 00:04:44,519 lawyer told him. And that's how it went. When you 59 00:04:44,560 --> 00:04:47,920 were sentenced to life in Louisiana, it didn't really mean 60 00:04:48,319 --> 00:04:52,399 life in prison with good behavior. Life sentences were almost 61 00:04:52,439 --> 00:04:56,800 always commuted after ten years in six months. Besides, it's 62 00:04:56,800 --> 00:04:59,319 not as if Griffin had much of a choice. It 63 00:04:59,360 --> 00:05:02,680 was nineteen seventy and as a young man facing charges 64 00:05:02,759 --> 00:05:05,800 of arm robbery and aggravated rape. In the South, he 65 00:05:05,879 --> 00:05:09,360 would almost certainly deal with a jury. 66 00:05:08,959 --> 00:05:11,240 Speaker 4: That could convict him and sentence him to. 67 00:05:11,240 --> 00:05:16,199 Speaker 3: Death by electrocution. So Grippin, who had just turned twenty three, 68 00:05:16,360 --> 00:05:19,040 did what his lawyer told him to do. He took 69 00:05:19,079 --> 00:05:22,879 a plea deal, and he went to Louisiana State Penitentiary, 70 00:05:22,920 --> 00:05:26,639 better known as Angola. There he started counting down the 71 00:05:26,759 --> 00:05:30,279 days until he expected to walk free sometime in the 72 00:05:30,319 --> 00:05:35,480 summer of nineteen eighty one. That day didn't come until 73 00:05:35,600 --> 00:05:39,000 October fifth of twenty twenty one. By then, he was 74 00:05:39,079 --> 00:05:43,000 seventy three and spent nearly seventy percent of his life 75 00:05:43,079 --> 00:05:46,439 in prison. By the time the summer of nineteen eighty 76 00:05:46,439 --> 00:05:50,680 one rolled around, Louisiana had changed the rules. The understanding 77 00:05:50,720 --> 00:05:54,000 that people wouldn't really spend their life in prison, which 78 00:05:54,199 --> 00:05:57,560 was common in many states at that time, had been 79 00:05:57,600 --> 00:06:02,560 supplanted by new tough on crime laws. Grippin was abandoned 80 00:06:02,560 --> 00:06:05,800 in prison, forgotten, along with the rest of the so 81 00:06:05,920 --> 00:06:09,879 called Ten six lifers. There's no record of how many 82 00:06:10,040 --> 00:06:14,800 Ten six lifers died in prison. Now, after spending decades 83 00:06:15,199 --> 00:06:17,680 longer in prison than they were told to do, some 84 00:06:17,759 --> 00:06:21,759 of them are finally getting out. Coming home from prison 85 00:06:21,839 --> 00:06:25,399 is supposed to be a joyous celebration. What's your first 86 00:06:25,439 --> 00:06:26,160 meal going to be? 87 00:06:26,319 --> 00:06:26,399 Speaker 1: Like? 88 00:06:26,639 --> 00:06:29,920 Speaker 3: People ask what are you most excited for? Wasn't it 89 00:06:30,040 --> 00:06:33,560 nice to sleep in a bed in your own room? 90 00:06:33,959 --> 00:06:36,199 Grippin was happy to be out of prison, and he 91 00:06:36,319 --> 00:06:38,720 was grateful to the people that made it happen. He 92 00:06:38,759 --> 00:06:41,600 had started to give up hope of ever leaving in. 93 00:06:41,720 --> 00:06:46,480 Goal In even contemplated suicide, but he didn't exactly feel 94 00:06:46,519 --> 00:06:51,360 free either. The family members he was close to before 95 00:06:51,399 --> 00:06:54,360 he got locked up are now dead. He has no 96 00:06:54,560 --> 00:06:57,519 friends except for those he made in prison, and after 97 00:06:57,560 --> 00:07:01,199 getting out, Grippin was supprise to learn that he was 98 00:07:01,279 --> 00:07:05,759 required to register as a sex offender. Louisiana's sex offender 99 00:07:05,839 --> 00:07:09,759 registry didn't exist when he was arrested. This was yet 100 00:07:09,800 --> 00:07:13,920 another punishment tacked onto his sentence years later. I still 101 00:07:13,959 --> 00:07:14,759 feel like they. 102 00:07:14,639 --> 00:07:15,639 Speaker 4: Got me locked down. 103 00:07:15,720 --> 00:07:18,480 Speaker 3: Grippin, one of the six ten six lifers I met 104 00:07:18,519 --> 00:07:21,480 with in Louisiana this fall. I ain't no I was 105 00:07:21,560 --> 00:07:24,800 gonna feel this way, but I do. I feel sometimes 106 00:07:24,839 --> 00:07:27,279 like I'm in a world all by myself. I don't 107 00:07:27,319 --> 00:07:30,560 know nobody, I don't know where to go. The practice 108 00:07:30,600 --> 00:07:33,959 of releasing people with life sentences after ten years was 109 00:07:34,000 --> 00:07:38,680 implemented informally by him Refuquaw and Golah's warden from nineteen 110 00:07:38,759 --> 00:07:42,279 sixteen to nineteen twenty four, who went on to become 111 00:07:42,319 --> 00:07:44,959 the state's governor. It was a way to save money, 112 00:07:45,000 --> 00:07:48,879 but his idea was that this kind of a contract, 113 00:07:49,160 --> 00:07:53,240 that good behavior and following what's expected of you should 114 00:07:53,279 --> 00:07:57,600 result in release. A historian Raik o' hillier, who was 115 00:07:57,639 --> 00:08:00,360 writing a book about the prison system has become more 116 00:08:00,480 --> 00:08:04,279 harsh over time. Louisiana's ten and a half year minimum 117 00:08:04,319 --> 00:08:08,040 for life sentences, which was enshrined into law in nineteen 118 00:08:08,079 --> 00:08:12,079 twenty six, wasn't uniquely lenient. It was common in every state, 119 00:08:12,160 --> 00:08:15,639 including the federal system, that people who were sentenced to 120 00:08:15,759 --> 00:08:19,639 life wouldn't serve more than fifteen years. According to a historian, 121 00:08:19,959 --> 00:08:23,759 everyone was aware of it. It was routine, said Hilton Butler, 122 00:08:23,879 --> 00:08:28,240 an associate warden. He told the prison newspaper The Ngolite 123 00:08:28,360 --> 00:08:31,399 in nineteen eighty if a lifer kept his nose clean, 124 00:08:31,519 --> 00:08:34,120 he got out of prison after ten and a half years. 125 00:08:34,559 --> 00:08:37,639 I'd say, amos, ninety nine percent of all the lifers 126 00:08:37,720 --> 00:08:41,440 got out but in nineteen seventy two, the US Supreme 127 00:08:41,480 --> 00:08:45,960 Court temporarily halted the death penalty. No longer able to 128 00:08:46,000 --> 00:08:49,799 sendence people to death, Louisiana decided life sentences need to 129 00:08:49,799 --> 00:08:54,440 be more punitive. In nineteen seventy three, the state legislature 130 00:08:54,559 --> 00:08:57,919 required life sentences for murder to carry a twenty year 131 00:08:58,000 --> 00:09:03,879 minimum before parole eligibility. In nineteen seventy six, a legislature 132 00:09:04,000 --> 00:09:07,840 amended the minimum to forty years, and in nineteen seventy nine, 133 00:09:07,960 --> 00:09:12,919 lawmakers abolish parole eligibility for anyone with a life sentence, 134 00:09:13,120 --> 00:09:16,679 with the minimum sentences for life terms being lengthened and 135 00:09:16,799 --> 00:09:20,559 then eliminated. The culture became more punitive, and commissions for 136 00:09:20,639 --> 00:09:24,559 the Ten six lifers abruptly vanished. Some were even asked 137 00:09:24,559 --> 00:09:27,360 to hand over their old rap sheets, which noted the 138 00:09:27,480 --> 00:09:30,559 exact date at which they would have completed ten years 139 00:09:30,600 --> 00:09:34,919 in six months becoming eligible for release, in exchange for 140 00:09:35,000 --> 00:09:38,240 a modified sheet. As release dates for the Ten six 141 00:09:38,320 --> 00:09:42,000 Lifers faded away, most of these individuals were forgotten by 142 00:09:42,000 --> 00:09:45,320 an outside world until a recent push to free them. 143 00:09:45,559 --> 00:09:50,080 Many of Louisiana's judges, lawyers, and criminal justice reform advocates 144 00:09:50,120 --> 00:09:52,759 were not aware of the state's broken promise to those 145 00:09:52,799 --> 00:09:56,120 that were sentenced to life before nineteen seventy three. By 146 00:09:56,159 --> 00:09:59,960 the time Gripping got to Angola, observers were describing condition 147 00:10:00,320 --> 00:10:03,960 that shocked the conscious of any right thinking person and 148 00:10:04,039 --> 00:10:09,320 flagrantly violate basic constitutional requirements. As one district judge wrote 149 00:10:09,320 --> 00:10:12,879 in nineteen seventy five, it was a dangerous place to 150 00:10:12,919 --> 00:10:16,519 be incarcerated. In the early nineteen seventies, a ten to 151 00:10:16,639 --> 00:10:19,720 six lifer named James Preston was sent to work in 152 00:10:19,720 --> 00:10:24,080 the fields with his co defendant Larry. Shortly after they arrived, 153 00:10:24,279 --> 00:10:27,840 Larry was run over by a tractor and killed. Preston 154 00:10:27,879 --> 00:10:31,399 told his lawyer years later, because so many courts were 155 00:10:31,440 --> 00:10:36,159 destroyed during Hurricane Katrina. Preston told his lawyer this years later, 156 00:10:36,360 --> 00:10:39,360 and y'all, they don't have Larry's last name because court 157 00:10:39,440 --> 00:10:43,639 records were destroyed during Hurricane Katrina, and Preston's lawyers were 158 00:10:43,759 --> 00:10:47,600 unable to confirm Larry's last name. One of the many 159 00:10:47,639 --> 00:10:50,919 men president in Gola during this time was Lewis Mitchell. 160 00:10:51,200 --> 00:10:54,279 In the summer of nineteen sixty six, police stopped the 161 00:10:54,360 --> 00:10:56,799 nineteen year old black man on his way home in 162 00:10:56,840 --> 00:11:00,399 New Orleans. They claim there have been a burglary nearby 163 00:11:00,639 --> 00:11:03,000 and that he looked familiar. They took him to the 164 00:11:03,039 --> 00:11:07,080 fifth Precinct and asked if he knew a woman named Cynthia. Yeah, 165 00:11:07,240 --> 00:11:10,200 that's the girl I go with. He said, we don't 166 00:11:10,240 --> 00:11:13,840 allow and they used the N word to go to 167 00:11:13,919 --> 00:11:18,159 know white girl in Louisiana, Mitchell recalls him telling him. 168 00:11:18,679 --> 00:11:23,440 Mitchell was beaten, arrested, and accused of raping Cynthia. He 169 00:11:23,519 --> 00:11:27,080 was also charged with raping Linda, a sixty six year 170 00:11:27,120 --> 00:11:30,440 old white female. Mitchell said he didn't know from Adam 171 00:11:30,480 --> 00:11:33,600 and Eve. The evidence against Mitchell was weak. A medical 172 00:11:33,639 --> 00:11:36,759 examination of Cynthia on the day the police said she 173 00:11:36,919 --> 00:11:40,480 was raped did not reveal any evidence of recent trauma. 174 00:11:41,000 --> 00:11:44,519 The second women did not identify Mitchell as her assailant 175 00:11:44,639 --> 00:11:47,759 in a lineup, even when the police specifically asked her 176 00:11:47,799 --> 00:11:50,879 if he was the perpetrator. Mitchell didn't know any of 177 00:11:50,919 --> 00:11:53,720 that at the time. What he eventually learned, he said, 178 00:11:53,840 --> 00:11:56,840 was that Cynthia's mother disapproved of her daughter dating a 179 00:11:56,840 --> 00:12:00,279 black man, and that she had connections in the police department. 180 00:12:01,039 --> 00:12:04,200 Mitchell wanted to fight the charges but quickly realized doing 181 00:12:04,240 --> 00:12:07,559 so could cost him his life. Prosecutors told his lawyers 182 00:12:07,559 --> 00:12:10,559 that the best option year client has is to enter 183 00:12:10,600 --> 00:12:13,840 a guilty police because if he fights, he's gonna get 184 00:12:13,879 --> 00:12:17,879 the death penalty. Mitchell's ten to sixth release date was 185 00:12:17,960 --> 00:12:21,440 August seventeenth of nineteen seventy seven, and he still has 186 00:12:21,480 --> 00:12:24,360 a copy of his rap sheet to prove it. As 187 00:12:24,360 --> 00:12:28,360 the prospect of life outside Angola faded, Mitchell channeled his 188 00:12:28,480 --> 00:12:31,919 frustration into physical activity. He boxed some of the best 189 00:12:31,919 --> 00:12:34,759 fighters in the prison. He lifted weights, and he was 190 00:12:34,840 --> 00:12:38,480 crowned Mister Angola. He won fifty dollars competing in the 191 00:12:38,519 --> 00:12:42,080 Angola Radio, an activity that cost him one of his teeth. 192 00:12:42,360 --> 00:12:45,360 It didn't bother him, he said he was numb to pain. 193 00:12:45,960 --> 00:12:49,519 Gripping got to Angola shortly after Mitchell, but he mostly 194 00:12:49,600 --> 00:12:53,159 kept to himself. Tall and gaunt, Gripping spoke in a soft, 195 00:12:53,320 --> 00:12:57,279 deep voice. He described even his most horrific experiences in 196 00:12:57,320 --> 00:13:00,679 an even steady tone. I was scared when I first 197 00:13:00,759 --> 00:13:03,679 got there, Gripping said, I seen a lot of people 198 00:13:03,759 --> 00:13:07,000 get killed. One time, Grippin said he had to jump 199 00:13:07,080 --> 00:13:10,440 in the toilet to avoid being burned when someone started 200 00:13:10,480 --> 00:13:13,759 a fire in his cell. When Grippin was a kid, 201 00:13:13,840 --> 00:13:16,480 the woman who raised him sat down and told him 202 00:13:16,519 --> 00:13:20,039 she wasn't his biological mother. She took him in, she said, 203 00:13:20,120 --> 00:13:23,840 because his biological mother didn't want him. They were real, 204 00:13:24,360 --> 00:13:27,960 real poor, and sometimes he stole food so they had 205 00:13:28,000 --> 00:13:30,320 something to eat. He struggled in school and was in 206 00:13:30,399 --> 00:13:34,679 and out of juvenile detention. Grippin's only sister was killed 207 00:13:34,679 --> 00:13:37,639 by an abusive boyfriend, he said, and before she died, 208 00:13:37,759 --> 00:13:40,200 she encouraged him to get to New Orleans because she 209 00:13:40,279 --> 00:13:43,919 knew he liked jazz. He followed her guidance, but he 210 00:13:44,000 --> 00:13:47,559 was arrested shortly after he got there. He claimed he 211 00:13:47,679 --> 00:13:52,600 never raped anyone, but that he pleaded guilty to avoid execution. 212 00:13:53,399 --> 00:13:57,039 After twenty years, Grippin was convinced he'd never get out 213 00:13:57,039 --> 00:13:59,600 of prison. He resolved to get in shape and try 214 00:13:59,600 --> 00:14:02,720 to escape eight their fences in Gola, but the real 215 00:14:02,840 --> 00:14:06,200 barriers of the lakes and the dense trees that surround 216 00:14:06,200 --> 00:14:09,720 the prison. Grippin wanted to make an attempt anyway, What 217 00:14:09,759 --> 00:14:12,120 did he have to lose. If they catch me and 218 00:14:12,240 --> 00:14:15,039 kill me, they just kill me. If they don't kill me, 219 00:14:15,120 --> 00:14:17,240 I get away. I might get away, Am I not? 220 00:14:17,679 --> 00:14:18,240 Speaker 4: He thought? 221 00:14:18,559 --> 00:14:21,360 Speaker 3: A friend eventually talked him out of it, urging him 222 00:14:21,399 --> 00:14:25,039 instead to seek release through the courts, and Grippin agreed 223 00:14:25,080 --> 00:14:28,440 to try the path out of prison for gripping in 224 00:14:28,519 --> 00:14:30,879 some of the other Ten six Lifers began in a 225 00:14:30,919 --> 00:14:35,320 surprising place inside in Gola itself in nineteen ninety nine, 226 00:14:35,440 --> 00:14:38,559 Andrew Hundley and that's the guy we had on letting 227 00:14:38,559 --> 00:14:40,799 in Gola that I was referencing at the beginning of 228 00:14:40,840 --> 00:14:45,039 this episode. Andrew Hunley was sentenced to life in prison 229 00:14:45,120 --> 00:14:48,559 for a homicide he committed when he was fifteen. Faced 230 00:14:48,559 --> 00:14:51,039 with the prospect of spending the rest of his natural 231 00:14:51,080 --> 00:14:53,919 life behind bars at such a young age, Hunley began 232 00:14:54,039 --> 00:14:57,399 studying the history of life sentences. Learning about the Ten 233 00:14:57,480 --> 00:15:01,919 six Lifers was a devastating revelationation if even those who 234 00:15:02,000 --> 00:15:05,279 weren't supposed to spend their lives in prison had wound 235 00:15:05,360 --> 00:15:08,320 up doing so, he was certain he would never go home. 236 00:15:08,519 --> 00:15:11,559 Hunley was transferred to a goal in twenty fourteen and 237 00:15:11,600 --> 00:15:15,240 assigned to Camp F, the same dorm as Mitchell. Hunley 238 00:15:15,320 --> 00:15:18,559 slept in the bunk bed above another Ten six lifer 239 00:15:18,639 --> 00:15:21,440 named Lester Pearson, who had got to prison in nineteen 240 00:15:21,519 --> 00:15:25,519 sixty five, more than sixteen years before Hunley was born. 241 00:15:26,480 --> 00:15:29,799 Hunley grew particularly friendly with a lifer by the name 242 00:15:29,840 --> 00:15:33,960 of Kenneth Womack. Hunley played basketball, and he was often 243 00:15:34,039 --> 00:15:37,039 the only white guy on the court. Womack, who was 244 00:15:37,120 --> 00:15:41,799 also white, liked watching him play, cheering Larry Bird whenever 245 00:15:41,919 --> 00:15:45,559 Hunley would score. The court system proved useless for most 246 00:15:45,600 --> 00:15:50,200 ten six lifers. Few lawyers knew they existed, so they 247 00:15:50,200 --> 00:15:53,480 were left to file litigation on their own, and even 248 00:15:53,559 --> 00:15:56,240 when ten six lifers got their cases in front of 249 00:15:56,279 --> 00:16:01,360 sympathetic judges, there was not an obvious legal fix. They 250 00:16:01,360 --> 00:16:04,559 were never guaranteed release after ten years and six months, 251 00:16:04,559 --> 00:16:09,519 so it wasn't explicitly illegal to stop granting it. When 252 00:16:09,720 --> 00:16:13,879 Judge Nandy Campbell of the Orleans Parish Criminal District Court 253 00:16:13,960 --> 00:16:17,039 took office in January of twenty twenty one, she used 254 00:16:17,039 --> 00:16:20,240 the pandemic related pause in jury trials to catch up 255 00:16:20,279 --> 00:16:24,720 on post conviction applications. Grippin's application, which he filed without 256 00:16:24,759 --> 00:16:26,600 the help of a lawyer, was one of the first 257 00:16:26,639 --> 00:16:30,320 she read. He asked the judge to withdraw his guilty plea, 258 00:16:30,519 --> 00:16:33,080 arguing the state had not held up its end of 259 00:16:33,120 --> 00:16:37,159 the deal. Campbell was stunned by the order. Grippin described 260 00:16:37,799 --> 00:16:41,200 during all her years as a practicing defense lawyer, she 261 00:16:41,240 --> 00:16:43,440 had never heard of this kind of situation. 262 00:16:44,120 --> 00:16:45,120 Speaker 4: The nation these. 263 00:16:45,000 --> 00:16:48,879 Speaker 3: Men were forgotten is really real, Campbell said in an interview. 264 00:16:49,320 --> 00:16:52,679 She denied the request, believing she didn't have the authority 265 00:16:52,720 --> 00:16:54,879 to change his sentence, but she held on to his 266 00:16:54,960 --> 00:17:00,519 application because there was something about it that was haunting me, said. 267 00:17:01,039 --> 00:17:03,879 There was a small subset of ten six lifers for 268 00:17:03,919 --> 00:17:08,000 whom the court offered a glimmer of hope. In twenty twelve, 269 00:17:08,039 --> 00:17:11,720 the U. S. Supreme Court prohibited mandatory life without parole 270 00:17:11,799 --> 00:17:14,720 for people who had committed the crime before they were eighteen. 271 00:17:15,079 --> 00:17:18,400 The court cited research showing how parts of the brain 272 00:17:18,519 --> 00:17:22,319 responsible for impulse control and risk avoidance are not yet 273 00:17:22,400 --> 00:17:26,759 fully developed in adolescents, making them less deserving of the 274 00:17:26,799 --> 00:17:31,480 most extreme punishments. Weeks later, a ten six lifer named 275 00:17:31,519 --> 00:17:35,400 Henry Montgomery filed a motion to correct his sentence, which 276 00:17:35,440 --> 00:17:38,319 he argued was illegal in light of the Supreme Court's 277 00:17:38,359 --> 00:17:42,480 decision in nineteen sixty three, when Montgomery was seventeen, he 278 00:17:42,599 --> 00:17:46,000 was arrested for killing Charles Hurt, a white plain Closed 279 00:17:46,000 --> 00:17:48,960 sheriff's deputy in East Baton Rouge. News coverage at the 280 00:17:49,000 --> 00:17:53,559 time described Montgomery as a Negro student known as the Wolfman. 281 00:17:54,440 --> 00:17:58,480 Montgomery was convicted and sentenced to death. The Louisiana Supreme 282 00:17:58,519 --> 00:18:03,079 Court later overturned the conviction, citing racial prejudice. The trial 283 00:18:03,279 --> 00:18:06,880 had started on the newly created Charles Hurt Day, and 284 00:18:06,920 --> 00:18:10,359 there had been KKK activity ahead of the court proceedings. 285 00:18:10,519 --> 00:18:14,960 The Louisiana Supreme Court noted in its decision Montgomery was 286 00:18:15,039 --> 00:18:18,359 retried and sentenced to life. If life sentence is commuted 287 00:18:18,400 --> 00:18:21,480 by the governor to ten years and six months, subjects 288 00:18:21,559 --> 00:18:25,000 discharged date will be nine nineteen seventy nine. An old 289 00:18:25,079 --> 00:18:30,160 copy of Montgomery's rap sheet read. But by nineteen seventy 290 00:18:30,240 --> 00:18:33,240 nine the ten six law was gone and Montgomery was 291 00:18:33,319 --> 00:18:37,079 facing the rest of his life behind bars. Even without 292 00:18:37,079 --> 00:18:39,799 a pathway to freedom, Montgomery tried to make the most 293 00:18:39,839 --> 00:18:42,720 of his time at Angola. He wrote letters for men 294 00:18:42,759 --> 00:18:46,240 who were illiterate, and he helped start an education program 295 00:18:46,319 --> 00:18:49,799 for those with less than an eighth grade education. He 296 00:18:49,839 --> 00:18:54,519 created the Angola Amateur Boxing Association, judging matches and training 297 00:18:54,559 --> 00:18:57,640 others to box. He went to church and worked for 298 00:18:57,960 --> 00:19:02,400 years in the prison's silkscreas shop. Both the District Court 299 00:19:02,480 --> 00:19:06,559 and the Louisiana Supreme Court denied Montgomery's request to correct 300 00:19:06,599 --> 00:19:10,440 his sentence, claiming that the US Supreme Court's prohibition on 301 00:19:10,519 --> 00:19:15,880 mandatory life without parole for juveniles did not apply retroactively. 302 00:19:16,119 --> 00:19:18,920 Henry was kind of heartbroken when he first got denied, 303 00:19:19,079 --> 00:19:22,640 said Preston, the ten six lifer whose codefendant was killed 304 00:19:22,680 --> 00:19:25,920 shortly after he got to Angola. Remember he got ran 305 00:19:25,960 --> 00:19:29,440 over by the tractor. Preston, who was arrested at sixteen, 306 00:19:29,559 --> 00:19:32,599 went on to work at the prison's law library and 307 00:19:32,640 --> 00:19:36,839 followed Montgomery's case closely. Henry, this is not the end, 308 00:19:36,920 --> 00:19:40,039 Preston told Montgomery at the time. You got a chance. 309 00:19:40,119 --> 00:19:41,920 All you got to do is just hang in there. 310 00:19:42,519 --> 00:19:45,279 Montgomery challenged his sentence all the way up to the 311 00:19:45,359 --> 00:19:49,799 US Supreme Court, and in twenty sixteen he won. The 312 00:19:49,839 --> 00:19:53,240 court ruled that its prior ban on mandatory life without 313 00:19:53,240 --> 00:19:58,160 parole for juveniles applied retroactively. I can't even explain to 314 00:19:58,200 --> 00:20:01,200 you how happy a lot lot of cats was when 315 00:20:01,240 --> 00:20:05,559 they found out this case was retroactive, said Preston, I 316 00:20:05,720 --> 00:20:09,640 must jumped through the ceiling. Montgomery Supreme Court victory didn't 317 00:20:09,680 --> 00:20:12,480 guarantee his release, but it did mean that he, in 318 00:20:12,559 --> 00:20:15,720 thousands of others who had expected to die in prison, 319 00:20:15,759 --> 00:20:18,720 would get the chance to go before the parole board. 320 00:20:19,000 --> 00:20:22,400 In June of twenty sixteen, Hunley became the first juvenile 321 00:20:22,519 --> 00:20:25,920 lifer in Louisiana to be released as a result of 322 00:20:25,960 --> 00:20:29,200 the Montgomery decision. I got a break for a lack 323 00:20:29,240 --> 00:20:31,960 of a better term, he said. He applied for parole 324 00:20:32,000 --> 00:20:35,559 with the help of a skilled parole lawyer, almost immediately 325 00:20:35,680 --> 00:20:40,519 after the Supreme Court news. The Parole board unanimously voted 326 00:20:40,519 --> 00:20:43,119 to release him, and he walked out of Angola after 327 00:20:43,240 --> 00:20:47,039 nineteen years in prison. The following year, the state passed 328 00:20:47,079 --> 00:20:50,319 a law creating a twenty five year minimum before any 329 00:20:50,400 --> 00:20:54,160 juvenile lifer could go before the parole board. Once released, 330 00:20:54,240 --> 00:20:57,359 Hunley was free to leave Angola behind and never return, 331 00:20:57,720 --> 00:21:01,240 but he thought of Pierson, his former bunkman. Certainly he 332 00:21:01,319 --> 00:21:03,960 watched me go home and had to wonder to himself, 333 00:21:04,400 --> 00:21:06,640 how is this guy going home and I'm still here. 334 00:21:07,519 --> 00:21:10,319 So he made it his job to go back for 335 00:21:10,400 --> 00:21:14,240 those he left behind. Hunley is the first to point 336 00:21:14,279 --> 00:21:17,400 out the unfairness of him getting out before others who 337 00:21:17,400 --> 00:21:19,680 have been locked up for much longer, and I concur 338 00:21:19,759 --> 00:21:22,759 with that. He said that on our show he has 339 00:21:23,200 --> 00:21:28,200 a very guilty conscious about He just can't make sense 340 00:21:28,200 --> 00:21:29,799 of the fact that he was the first one to 341 00:21:29,799 --> 00:21:33,400 get out of there Moss. After his release, he helped 342 00:21:33,440 --> 00:21:37,279 start the Louisiana Parole Project, a nonprofit that works to 343 00:21:37,359 --> 00:21:40,359 free people who have been incarcerated for twenty plus years 344 00:21:40,759 --> 00:21:45,240 and have demonstrated their rehabilitation. In the past five years, 345 00:21:45,319 --> 00:21:47,960 the nonprofit has helped get more than two hundred and 346 00:21:48,000 --> 00:21:51,680 thirty people out of prison in parole hearings. Hunley commits 347 00:21:51,759 --> 00:21:55,839 to providing long term support to anyone granted release by 348 00:21:55,839 --> 00:22:00,440 the Parole Board. Hunley's post prison life makes this case 349 00:22:00,480 --> 00:22:04,400 for second chances. Since his release, he earned his bachelor's 350 00:22:04,400 --> 00:22:08,519 degree and master's degree, helped start a nonprofit, got married, 351 00:22:08,559 --> 00:22:11,240 and bought a house. He and his wife have two 352 00:22:11,319 --> 00:22:15,119 pugs and are expecting their first child. He speaks fast 353 00:22:15,200 --> 00:22:18,799 and works long hours as if making up for lost time. 354 00:22:18,839 --> 00:22:22,480 And y'all, that's a total fact that guy has sat 355 00:22:22,519 --> 00:22:25,119 across from me where I'm recording right now, and I 356 00:22:25,160 --> 00:22:28,720 will tell you, you would never know that guy spent 357 00:22:28,960 --> 00:22:32,079 twenty years in prison, one of the sharpest individuals I've 358 00:22:32,079 --> 00:22:37,839 probably ever met, and looks like a bank executive. You 359 00:22:37,920 --> 00:22:42,319 would never know. The Parole Board is mostly staffed by 360 00:22:42,359 --> 00:22:45,279 people who have been incarcerated. Several of them are the 361 00:22:45,319 --> 00:22:49,720 group's of former clients. Then in firsthand the unexpected challenges 362 00:22:49,759 --> 00:22:52,640 of re entering society after a long stint in prison, 363 00:22:53,279 --> 00:22:55,640 and they applied those lessons to their work. One of 364 00:22:55,640 --> 00:22:59,279 the first things the Parole Project staffers do after picking 365 00:22:59,319 --> 00:23:03,519 someone up from Angola is take them shopping for clothing groceries. 366 00:23:03,960 --> 00:23:07,000 The idea is to make sure they have the basic necessities, 367 00:23:07,119 --> 00:23:11,000 but also to help them get comfortable with being around others, 368 00:23:11,559 --> 00:23:17,319 choosing between infinite brands of toothpaste, and navigating the checkout process. 369 00:23:17,920 --> 00:23:21,680 The Parole Project owns eight properties that can provide free 370 00:23:21,680 --> 00:23:25,559 transitional housing to twenty seven people. It also has nine 371 00:23:25,759 --> 00:23:28,480 one bedroom condos that it rents to people who can 372 00:23:28,519 --> 00:23:31,319 afford housing but struggle to find a landlord who will 373 00:23:31,359 --> 00:23:35,480 rent to someone with felony convictions. The group offers classes 374 00:23:35,519 --> 00:23:38,680 on life skills their clients may have missed by spending 375 00:23:38,720 --> 00:23:42,519 so long in prisent financial literacy, social norms, how to 376 00:23:42,519 --> 00:23:44,480 get a job, how to use the cell phone, and 377 00:23:44,559 --> 00:23:48,440 how to avoid online scams. There's also a class on 378 00:23:48,559 --> 00:23:53,160 how to interact with the police. For many formerly incarceorted people, 379 00:23:53,640 --> 00:23:57,720 their last experience with the police wasn't that good. And 380 00:23:57,839 --> 00:24:01,279 let me say this, y'all, a very important program. Look, 381 00:24:01,319 --> 00:24:04,559 these people, you know, people get out of prison. The 382 00:24:04,640 --> 00:24:08,359 recidivism rate is much lower when they know how to 383 00:24:08,440 --> 00:24:11,279 deal with life on the outside. And that is what 384 00:24:11,720 --> 00:24:15,519 the Louisiana Parole Project figured out. And they're just they're 385 00:24:15,559 --> 00:24:20,279 just basically teaching them how to acclimate back into society. 386 00:24:20,839 --> 00:24:24,240 And let me tell you, the recidivism rate for someone 387 00:24:24,279 --> 00:24:29,079 that goes through the Parole Project is like two percent. 388 00:24:29,200 --> 00:24:33,200 It's extremely low. And there's a reason for that. It's 389 00:24:33,240 --> 00:24:38,000 because these people help them assimilate back into society. But 390 00:24:38,079 --> 00:24:41,119 even as the Parole Project has helped hundreds of people 391 00:24:41,119 --> 00:24:43,599 get out of prison, most of the ten six lifers 392 00:24:43,720 --> 00:24:47,319 remain out of reach. The only ones eligible for parole 393 00:24:47,400 --> 00:24:50,079 were a handful who were younger than eighteen at the 394 00:24:50,119 --> 00:24:53,880 time of the offense. Even Montgomery, whose landmark Supreme Court 395 00:24:53,920 --> 00:24:58,000 case provided second chances to so many others, was repeatedly 396 00:24:58,279 --> 00:25:02,599 denied parole. But in December of twenty twenty, Jason Williams 397 00:25:02,640 --> 00:25:06,240 won the Orleans Parish District Attorney race with a decisive 398 00:25:06,319 --> 00:25:11,079 fifteen percentage point lead. Williams, a former criminal defense lawyer 399 00:25:11,119 --> 00:25:14,599 and city councilman, ran as a progressive prosecutor and promised 400 00:25:14,640 --> 00:25:18,519 to create civil rights divisions to review old cases involving 401 00:25:18,559 --> 00:25:23,920 misconduct over harsh sentences. He recruited his longtime friend Emily 402 00:25:24,079 --> 00:25:27,240 mal from the Innocence Project in New Orleans to head 403 00:25:27,279 --> 00:25:31,039 that division. Maul agreed to it on the condition that 404 00:25:31,119 --> 00:25:33,920 she would have the resources and encouragement to look in 405 00:25:34,079 --> 00:25:37,400 every vestige of the astrocities and harms that were caused 406 00:25:37,440 --> 00:25:39,680 by the DA's office to the people of the city. 407 00:25:39,880 --> 00:25:42,519 Williams said in an interview, it wouldn't be enough to 408 00:25:42,599 --> 00:25:45,839 promise to do better going forward. They needed to be 409 00:25:46,279 --> 00:25:50,319 thorough reckoning with the sins of the past. Williams wasn't 410 00:25:50,359 --> 00:25:53,640 familiar with the ten six Lifers when he was first elected, 411 00:25:53,880 --> 00:25:57,200 but Mall was. Back in two thousand and six, Innocence 412 00:25:57,240 --> 00:26:00,400 Project New Orleans helped to exonerate a black ten six 413 00:26:00,599 --> 00:26:04,240 lifer who was wrongfully convicted of raping a white teenager 414 00:26:04,319 --> 00:26:06,519 when he was also a teen It's the kind of 415 00:26:06,519 --> 00:26:09,519 thing that when you learn about it in the context 416 00:26:09,519 --> 00:26:12,920 of somebody telling you I was promised this thing and 417 00:26:12,960 --> 00:26:16,559 then they changed it, it forever affected me, Maul said 418 00:26:16,759 --> 00:26:19,359 in an interview. Hunley was selected to be part of 419 00:26:19,400 --> 00:26:23,319 a transition Team working group for the incoming DA. We 420 00:26:23,440 --> 00:26:28,039 can't have a conversation in Louisiana about mass incarceration without 421 00:26:28,079 --> 00:26:30,920 talking about the ten six lifers, he said. During the 422 00:26:31,000 --> 00:26:35,119 first meeting, everyone said, what's a ten six lifer? Hunley 423 00:26:35,400 --> 00:26:38,720 later recalled, y'all I was one of those people, right. 424 00:26:39,640 --> 00:26:43,160 Hunley explained the history and talked about the ten six lifers. 425 00:26:43,200 --> 00:26:47,640 He knew Williams had jurisdiction over only about eighteen of 426 00:26:47,680 --> 00:26:51,319 those who had been sentenced in that system in New Orleans, 427 00:26:51,960 --> 00:26:55,759 but by early twenty twenty one, his office has committed 428 00:26:55,839 --> 00:26:59,240 to taking a look at each of those cases. Grippin 429 00:26:59,279 --> 00:27:01,839 didn't know about the new DA's plans, and he was 430 00:27:01,960 --> 00:27:05,480 losing hope. He prayed every night and sometimes during the 431 00:27:05,519 --> 00:27:09,599 day too, for a way out of Angola. The things 432 00:27:09,640 --> 00:27:12,440 I've seen over the years, it spooped me, he said. 433 00:27:12,680 --> 00:27:15,759 I had nightmares about it, hollering in my sleep, waking 434 00:27:15,759 --> 00:27:20,319 people up in the dorms, but they understood why. Last spring, 435 00:27:20,359 --> 00:27:22,319 a staffer at the prison told him to go to 436 00:27:22,359 --> 00:27:25,400 the office because he had a phone call. Griffin was 437 00:27:25,440 --> 00:27:28,960 taken Aback. I got a phone call. I ain't know 438 00:27:29,160 --> 00:27:32,640 I was that popular, he said, wondering who could possibly 439 00:27:32,680 --> 00:27:35,519 be trying to reach him. When he picked up the phone, 440 00:27:35,680 --> 00:27:39,720 Hunley was waiting on the other end of the line. Leroy, 441 00:27:39,839 --> 00:27:42,640 I know you don't know me, Hunley said, but I 442 00:27:42,720 --> 00:27:46,039 want to help you. Soon after that call, Hunley and 443 00:27:46,160 --> 00:27:48,839 several of his colleagues went to Angola to meet with 444 00:27:48,880 --> 00:27:51,680 about a dozen of the ten six lifers who were 445 00:27:51,680 --> 00:27:56,640 convicted in Orleans Parish and were under Williams's jurisdiction. They 446 00:27:56,680 --> 00:27:59,359 met at the prison chapel, where the ten six lifers 447 00:27:59,400 --> 00:28:02,400 filled the pees and Hunley stood at the pulpit. There 448 00:28:02,440 --> 00:28:05,440 was a new district attorney, Hunley explained, and he was 449 00:28:05,519 --> 00:28:10,440 interested in reviewing their sentences. Hunley spoke deliberately, being careful 450 00:28:10,480 --> 00:28:14,319 not to overpromise. Nothing was guaranteed. He said, there would 451 00:28:14,359 --> 00:28:17,319 be victim outreach and a judge would have to sign 452 00:28:17,319 --> 00:28:21,119 off on any resentencing agreements. But for the first time 453 00:28:21,200 --> 00:28:24,559 in decades, there was cause for hope to gripping. This 454 00:28:24,720 --> 00:28:28,279 news was nothing short of divine intervention. Out of all 455 00:28:28,400 --> 00:28:30,680 the people in the prison, they found his name and 456 00:28:30,759 --> 00:28:34,240 chose to help. God went to them to come to me, 457 00:28:34,640 --> 00:28:38,319 he said. I appreciate it from my heart, he told 458 00:28:38,319 --> 00:28:41,400 the staff at the Parole Project, because if it wasn't 459 00:28:41,440 --> 00:28:44,480 for y'all, if I didn't run away from here, I 460 00:28:44,519 --> 00:28:47,400 would have committed suicide. I would have hung myself. The 461 00:28:47,480 --> 00:28:51,559 process for freeing ten six lifers was straightforward. Their lawyer 462 00:28:51,599 --> 00:28:54,839 at the Parole Project and the DA's office would sign 463 00:28:54,880 --> 00:28:57,839 on to a joint post conviction plea agreement asking you 464 00:28:57,960 --> 00:29:00,960 judge to vacate the existing life's sentence and replace it 465 00:29:01,000 --> 00:29:04,119 with the Senate shorter than the amount of time already served. 466 00:29:04,160 --> 00:29:06,920 Grippin will be the first test case of this process, 467 00:29:07,119 --> 00:29:09,400 along with Mitchell, who was still hanging on to his 468 00:29:09,440 --> 00:29:12,440 old rap sheet with that original promise from the state 469 00:29:12,640 --> 00:29:16,640 for an orderly release. Days before the hearing, Hunley ran 470 00:29:16,839 --> 00:29:20,640 into an unexpected hurdle. Staff and in Gola couldn't find 471 00:29:20,839 --> 00:29:25,279 a birth certificate for Leroy Griffin or any indication that 472 00:29:25,359 --> 00:29:29,400 he existed before he was arrested. When Hunley called to 473 00:29:29,440 --> 00:29:34,599 talk about it, Griffin offered a matter of fact explanation, Oh, well, 474 00:29:35,240 --> 00:29:38,599 my name is not Leroy Grippin. My name is Willie Ingram. 475 00:29:38,839 --> 00:29:42,359 As it turned out, when he was arrested in nineteen seventy, 476 00:29:42,400 --> 00:29:46,440 he gave the cops a fake name, Leroy Griffin, hoping 477 00:29:46,480 --> 00:29:49,839 they wouldn't find his record of stealing in Florida, where 478 00:29:49,880 --> 00:29:50,440 he grew up. 479 00:29:50,480 --> 00:29:50,759 Speaker 2: Poor. 480 00:29:51,519 --> 00:29:56,279 Speaker 3: The cops mishurt him and wrote Leroy Griffin that name 481 00:29:56,440 --> 00:29:59,960 following him through the courts and into Angola. 482 00:30:00,039 --> 00:30:01,720 Speaker 4: That is absolutely crazy, y'all. 483 00:30:02,559 --> 00:30:05,839 Speaker 3: On a Tuesday morning in early October, about a dozen 484 00:30:05,880 --> 00:30:09,319 of Mitchell's family members filed into the New Orleans courtroom. 485 00:30:09,680 --> 00:30:13,640 Because of COVID nineteen restrictions, Mitchell would participate by a 486 00:30:13,720 --> 00:30:16,880 video conference, but his family still wanted to come to 487 00:30:17,000 --> 00:30:20,359 court as a show of support. One of the relatives 488 00:30:20,519 --> 00:30:24,160 in the courtroom was Mitchell's niece, Lucille Johnson, who was 489 00:30:24,200 --> 00:30:28,079 a toddler when he was arrested. She had no memories 490 00:30:28,119 --> 00:30:30,759 of her uncle outside of prison, but she doesn't remember 491 00:30:30,799 --> 00:30:34,079 the day of his arrest, specifically how hard it was 492 00:30:34,119 --> 00:30:37,119 to see her mother in so much pain. Growing up. 493 00:30:37,240 --> 00:30:41,400 Johnson's mom and grandmother held a community supper fundraiser to 494 00:30:41,480 --> 00:30:44,680 hire a lawyer, but nothing in the lawyers did work. 495 00:30:45,000 --> 00:30:48,440 In a joint plea agreement, Mitchell's lawyer, Jane Hogan and 496 00:30:48,559 --> 00:30:52,519 assistant da Buildish Sarma, asked Campbell to resent it to 497 00:30:52,559 --> 00:30:55,200 him to forty years. It was less time than he 498 00:30:55,240 --> 00:30:57,440 had already served, so he would be able to get 499 00:30:57,480 --> 00:31:01,160 out immediately, but under the condemnt that he forfeited his 500 00:31:01,279 --> 00:31:04,680 right to seek additional relief In court, they cited the 501 00:31:04,680 --> 00:31:08,359 state's betrayal of the ten six promise and Mitchell's good 502 00:31:08,400 --> 00:31:12,960 conduct while incarcerated, his comprehensive reentry plan. Studies showed that 503 00:31:13,000 --> 00:31:16,319 people typically age out of crime, and the cost of 504 00:31:16,359 --> 00:31:21,720 imprisoning someone his age more than seventy seven thousand. 505 00:31:21,200 --> 00:31:22,039 Speaker 4: Dollars a year. 506 00:31:23,000 --> 00:31:25,880 Speaker 3: It had taken Mitchell decades just to get someone in 507 00:31:26,000 --> 00:31:29,519 a position of power to recognize his existence. Now Here, 508 00:31:29,559 --> 00:31:33,160 in court, a prosecutor was arguing for his freedom and 509 00:31:33,240 --> 00:31:35,920 a judge was tearing up listening to what he had 510 00:31:35,960 --> 00:31:40,319 been through. Then the judge ruled Campbell agreed to the 511 00:31:40,359 --> 00:31:44,559 plea agreement, and he was free. The hearing was mostly procedural, 512 00:31:44,920 --> 00:31:47,359 and the whole event took about a half an hour, 513 00:31:47,960 --> 00:31:51,880 but for Mitchell, the experience was profound. It seemed to 514 00:31:51,920 --> 00:31:56,240 me like she seen my innocence. Mitchell said, I feel 515 00:31:56,279 --> 00:31:59,799 like she knew it was Joyfully said, I never thought 516 00:32:00,160 --> 00:32:04,720 nobody gonna see my innocence. Ingram, whose resentencing paperwork still 517 00:32:04,839 --> 00:32:09,240 named him as Leroy Grippin, went next. The courtroom emptied 518 00:32:09,240 --> 00:32:12,640 out except for the Parole Project's staff. It went from 519 00:32:12,680 --> 00:32:16,480 a celebration to this more I don't want to say somber, 520 00:32:16,559 --> 00:32:18,480 but it was sort of matter of fact, and then 521 00:32:18,519 --> 00:32:22,880 it was over. Hunley said. Ingram was free too. Hunley 522 00:32:22,920 --> 00:32:26,559 in the Parole Project Deputy director Carrie Myers picked Mitchell 523 00:32:26,599 --> 00:32:29,359 and Ingram up that afternoon took them to Baton Ridge, 524 00:32:29,400 --> 00:32:33,400 where they would live in one of the Parole Project's townhomes. 525 00:32:35,119 --> 00:32:38,200 This is just something you can't describe in words. Words 526 00:32:38,240 --> 00:32:41,200 can't fit it, Mitchell said during a fun interview in 527 00:32:41,279 --> 00:32:43,960 the car that day. You look back at so many 528 00:32:44,119 --> 00:32:46,960 that deserve an opportunity like this and can't get it, 529 00:32:47,319 --> 00:32:51,079 so you got bittersweet and happiness all together. So you're 530 00:32:51,079 --> 00:32:55,599 only sitting in a conglomeration of feelings. They've done a 531 00:32:55,640 --> 00:32:58,519 wonderful job getting me out of Angola. I'm not going 532 00:32:58,599 --> 00:33:02,160 to mess up their reputation through stupidity. If anything, I'm 533 00:33:02,200 --> 00:33:05,720 going to help their cause. Even after watching Mitchell and 534 00:33:05,920 --> 00:33:09,200 Ingram leave Angola, Lester Pearson didn't think his day would 535 00:33:09,240 --> 00:33:12,400 ever come. He knew better than to get his hopes up. 536 00:33:12,480 --> 00:33:15,519 Spending that many years in prison had taught him the 537 00:33:15,559 --> 00:33:19,799 precariousness of things that were supposed to be near certain. 538 00:33:20,279 --> 00:33:23,559 His life had been dictated by the whims and inclinations 539 00:33:23,559 --> 00:33:26,640 of people more powerful than him, who were motivated by 540 00:33:26,680 --> 00:33:32,240 factors outside of his control. On Tuesday, October nineteenth, that 541 00:33:32,319 --> 00:33:36,880 person was Robin Pittman, the Orleans Parish Criminal District judge 542 00:33:36,920 --> 00:33:41,440 presiding over his resentencing hearing. Pearson, who was eighty four, 543 00:33:41,920 --> 00:33:45,599 participated in the hearing through a video conference from Angola. 544 00:33:45,839 --> 00:33:50,680 He had been in prison for nearly fifty seven years. Hogan, 545 00:33:50,720 --> 00:33:53,599 the Parole Project lawyer, had briefed him on the joint 546 00:33:53,599 --> 00:33:56,559 Plea agreement, so he knew what to expect, but he 547 00:33:56,599 --> 00:33:59,799 couldn't make out every word. In the hearing, Pittman announced 548 00:33:59,839 --> 00:34:03,279 her decision to vacate Pearson's life sentence and then resentenced 549 00:34:03,319 --> 00:34:06,400 him to fifty five years, which was two years fewer 550 00:34:06,400 --> 00:34:10,280 than he had already completed. She wished him good luck 551 00:34:10,280 --> 00:34:12,760 and encouraged him to make use of what he learned 552 00:34:12,800 --> 00:34:17,199 during his time in prison. Yes, ma'am, Pearson responded, thank you, ma'am. 553 00:34:17,920 --> 00:34:21,840 As a formality, she asked Pierson to raise his right 554 00:34:21,880 --> 00:34:24,760 hand and confirm he understood the terms of the agreement. 555 00:34:25,360 --> 00:34:29,199 At one point, Pearson said he wasn't following, so Pittman 556 00:34:29,320 --> 00:34:32,440 repeated the terms of the agreement. The judge asked him 557 00:34:32,440 --> 00:34:35,760 if he understood, Yes, ma'am. He said, I understood some 558 00:34:35,920 --> 00:34:40,159 of it. Hogan interjected, explaining to him that he had 559 00:34:40,239 --> 00:34:47,000 to agree he wouldn't file anything in court. No, Pearson exclaimed, 560 00:34:47,280 --> 00:34:50,960 I understand. How many years did I give you? Pittman asked, 561 00:34:51,679 --> 00:34:55,239 I believe you said forty, Pierson said, citing the number 562 00:34:55,280 --> 00:34:58,320 Hogan and Sarma had proposed in the joint plea agreement 563 00:34:58,760 --> 00:35:02,159 he had reviewed a the hearing. He wasn't positive what 564 00:35:02,360 --> 00:35:04,719 number the judge landed on. He just knew it was 565 00:35:04,840 --> 00:35:08,639 less than the time he had already done. Pittman told 566 00:35:08,719 --> 00:35:11,400 him she didn't say anything close to forty and then 567 00:35:11,480 --> 00:35:14,920 she didn't like to repeat herself. I'm getting frustrated, she said, 568 00:35:14,960 --> 00:35:17,840 and suggested they push the hearing to the next day. 569 00:35:18,719 --> 00:35:22,559 Hugan told the judge she believed her client understood the 570 00:35:22,679 --> 00:35:25,039 terms of the deal. He was just having a hard 571 00:35:25,039 --> 00:35:29,199 time hearing. But Pittman wasn't obligated to ensure that Pearson 572 00:35:29,360 --> 00:35:32,280 was aware of what he was green to, and she 573 00:35:32,480 --> 00:35:37,159 was losing patience At that moment. It seemed to Pearson, 574 00:35:37,239 --> 00:35:40,280 who had refused to get his hopes up, he would 575 00:35:40,280 --> 00:35:44,960 not be leaving Angola that day after all. Hugan requested 576 00:35:45,000 --> 00:35:49,079 a moment for a private call with Pearson. When they returned, 577 00:35:49,199 --> 00:35:52,679 Pierson carefully recited the terms of the plea deal. Well, 578 00:35:52,920 --> 00:35:57,159 Pittman said, I guess that's it. Peerson would walk free 579 00:35:57,559 --> 00:36:01,719 later that day. The week before Thanksgiving, the five ten 580 00:36:01,800 --> 00:36:04,199 six lifers who had got out of prison agreed to 581 00:36:04,199 --> 00:36:07,800 meet with me. They were staying in Baton Rouge and 582 00:36:07,920 --> 00:36:10,880 y'all way. When I say me, I mean the person 583 00:36:10,920 --> 00:36:13,480 that wrote this article that I referenced at the beginning, 584 00:36:14,199 --> 00:36:17,000 they were staying in Baton Roudge in two townhomes owned 585 00:36:17,039 --> 00:36:19,840 by the Parole Project about a half mile from each other. 586 00:36:20,400 --> 00:36:23,800 There are weekly house meetings where they were debriefed by 587 00:36:23,880 --> 00:36:27,800 adjusting to their new situation. They were welcome to stay 588 00:36:27,840 --> 00:36:30,480 in the townhomes for as long as they wanted, Hunley 589 00:36:30,559 --> 00:36:33,159 told them, but some were eager to move on and 590 00:36:33,199 --> 00:36:36,920 settled down closer to their families. The ease of their 591 00:36:36,960 --> 00:36:41,199 transitions varied depending on their ties to the outside world. 592 00:36:42,079 --> 00:36:45,079 Womac was already part of a tight knit church community, 593 00:36:45,760 --> 00:36:48,400 and during his first several weeks in freedom, members of 594 00:36:48,400 --> 00:36:51,000 the church took him fishing into shop for a suit 595 00:36:51,119 --> 00:36:54,679 and dress clothes. They offered to host him for Thanksgiving dinner. 596 00:36:54,760 --> 00:36:57,599 He was looking forward to moving into the spare room 597 00:36:57,719 --> 00:37:01,280 in his brother's house in Tennessee. The speed of modern 598 00:37:01,360 --> 00:37:04,760 vehicles scared Womack, though, and he was still figuring out 599 00:37:04,840 --> 00:37:08,199 how to use a smartphone, but overall things were good. 600 00:37:08,920 --> 00:37:12,360 It's sensational, Womack set of being out of prison. Every day, 601 00:37:12,400 --> 00:37:16,000 I'm overjoyed and really taking it in and enjoying it. 602 00:37:16,719 --> 00:37:21,360 For Mitchell, every weekend was a family rein after everything 603 00:37:21,400 --> 00:37:24,800 he still smiled easily and was quick to crack a joke. 604 00:37:25,599 --> 00:37:28,639 In November, his family rented a banquet halt and threw 605 00:37:28,679 --> 00:37:32,639 a surprise birthday party. For his seventy fifth birthday, they 606 00:37:32,679 --> 00:37:35,599 pinned cash through the lapel of his suit jacket, a 607 00:37:35,599 --> 00:37:41,000 New Orleans tradition, and surprised him with a car. My family, 608 00:37:41,239 --> 00:37:43,199 I didn't know they had so much love for me, 609 00:37:43,360 --> 00:37:46,480 Mitchell said. It's like the time they wanted to see me, 610 00:37:46,719 --> 00:37:49,719 they couldn't see me, and they see me now they're 611 00:37:49,800 --> 00:37:53,320 pouring it all on me. They're throwing me all the 612 00:37:53,400 --> 00:37:56,920 love they had pin up on me. Things were harder 613 00:37:56,920 --> 00:37:59,519 for Ingram. When he walked out of Ingola, he had 614 00:37:59,559 --> 00:38:02,800 no offense record of existence. It had been more than 615 00:38:02,840 --> 00:38:05,960 a month since his release, and the Parole Project staffer 616 00:38:06,079 --> 00:38:10,159 still hadn't been able to track down any identifying documentation. 617 00:38:10,559 --> 00:38:13,679 They had applied for birth certificate records in Louisiana and 618 00:38:13,679 --> 00:38:17,280 Florida under different variations of the name Willie Ingram, but 619 00:38:17,400 --> 00:38:20,559 hadn't been able to get a response. It's like screaming 620 00:38:20,599 --> 00:38:25,679 into outer space, Hundley said. It seemed possible that after 621 00:38:25,800 --> 00:38:29,519 experiencing so much trauma in living under a false name 622 00:38:29,559 --> 00:38:32,440 for so long in his life, Ingram might not actually 623 00:38:32,480 --> 00:38:35,559 know his birth name. Without a birth certificate, Ingram couldn't 624 00:38:35,559 --> 00:38:38,440 get an ID card a security number, which meant he 625 00:38:38,440 --> 00:38:41,559 couldn't apply for food stamps or housing assistance. He even 626 00:38:41,639 --> 00:38:43,920 risk being turned away at a pharmacy if he went 627 00:38:44,000 --> 00:38:47,280 to pick up medication. He tried to stay busy to 628 00:38:47,360 --> 00:38:49,920 keep his mind from wandering, but he felt limited in 629 00:38:50,039 --> 00:38:52,360 what he could do. He wanted to go see a movie. 630 00:38:52,400 --> 00:38:54,559 He wanted to go to a restaurant, but he didn't 631 00:38:54,559 --> 00:38:57,519 have any money. He got lost trying to go for 632 00:38:57,559 --> 00:39:00,000 a run, and he didn't know how to use it 633 00:39:00,199 --> 00:39:03,559 navigation app on his phone. He ended up walking into 634 00:39:03,599 --> 00:39:06,360 a restaurant, explaining that he just got out of prison 635 00:39:06,480 --> 00:39:07,760 and needed to find. 636 00:39:07,480 --> 00:39:09,360 Speaker 4: His way home. Oh my gosh. 637 00:39:09,639 --> 00:39:12,639 Speaker 3: He wanted a friend, someone he didn't know from prison, 638 00:39:12,719 --> 00:39:14,719 but he doesn't know how to meet one. He wants 639 00:39:14,760 --> 00:39:16,840 to get his high school diploma and maybe even go 640 00:39:16,960 --> 00:39:19,199 to college, but he doesn't know where to start as 641 00:39:19,239 --> 00:39:22,039 a registered sex offender. He's worried he might get in 642 00:39:22,199 --> 00:39:24,039 trouble if he goes to the library. 643 00:39:24,559 --> 00:39:25,320 Speaker 4: What can I do? 644 00:39:26,360 --> 00:39:30,039 Speaker 3: What do they want from me? Mitchell also had to 645 00:39:30,079 --> 00:39:33,199 register as a sex offender, a painful reminder that although 646 00:39:33,239 --> 00:39:36,679 he was no longer in prison, he was not officially vindicated. 647 00:39:37,119 --> 00:39:39,960 The only way for him to attain formal recognition of 648 00:39:40,000 --> 00:39:43,519 his innocence would be through an executive pardon. It's like 649 00:39:43,719 --> 00:39:47,000 kidnapping me, Mitchell said of the registry. I'm free one way, 650 00:39:47,239 --> 00:39:50,960 but I'm not really free. Hunley usually commutes between the 651 00:39:51,000 --> 00:39:53,840 Parole Project office in Baton Rege and his home in 652 00:39:53,880 --> 00:39:57,159 New Orleans, but on November sixteenth, he spent the night 653 00:39:57,280 --> 00:39:59,679 in a vacant room in one of the Parole Projects 654 00:39:59,719 --> 00:40:03,239 trans positional houses in Baton Ridge. The next day was 655 00:40:03,239 --> 00:40:05,760 an important one and he couldn't rest a traffic jam 656 00:40:05,920 --> 00:40:08,480 making him late. By then, he had helped get five 657 00:40:08,679 --> 00:40:11,880 ten six lifers out of prison and had assurances that 658 00:40:12,039 --> 00:40:15,599 more were on the way home. But Montgomery, the man 659 00:40:15,639 --> 00:40:18,800 who made huntleyes for it impossible, was still at Angola. 660 00:40:19,400 --> 00:40:23,159 Because he was convicted in East Batonrige Parish, Williams couldn't 661 00:40:23,239 --> 00:40:27,800 touch his case since his Supreme Court victory. Montgomery had 662 00:40:27,800 --> 00:40:31,400 gone before the three member Parole Board twice to request 663 00:40:31,440 --> 00:40:34,599 a second chance, but failed to get the required unanimous 664 00:40:34,679 --> 00:40:38,599 vote both times. The first time in twenty eighteen, one 665 00:40:38,639 --> 00:40:41,760 board member voted in his favor, but two others claimed 666 00:40:42,199 --> 00:40:46,800 he hadn't taken enough classes to deserve release. This was 667 00:40:46,880 --> 00:40:52,519 a nonsensical rationale. Montgomery had completed the requisite one hundred 668 00:40:52,559 --> 00:40:55,800 hours of programming, even though Angola didn't offer classes for 669 00:40:55,840 --> 00:40:59,760 the first thirty years of imprisonment. Still, Montgomery looked for 670 00:40:59,760 --> 00:41:02,320 more classes to take and stay out of trouble. But 671 00:41:02,440 --> 00:41:05,880 in twenty nineteen, the Parole Board denied him a second time, 672 00:41:06,000 --> 00:41:09,519 this time with only one descenting vote. He still hadn't 673 00:41:09,559 --> 00:41:13,760 taken enough classes, claimed Brennan Kelsey, the lone no vote. 674 00:41:13,920 --> 00:41:17,400 I think that's a lack of maturity, Kelsey told Montgomery, 675 00:41:17,400 --> 00:41:23,199 who was then seventy two. Montgomery's third parole Board hearing 676 00:41:23,280 --> 00:41:26,079 was on November seventeenth, and this time Hunley had a 677 00:41:26,079 --> 00:41:29,639 good feeling about it. Montgomery had completed more classes and 678 00:41:29,760 --> 00:41:33,280 the optics of continuing to imprison this aging man were 679 00:41:33,320 --> 00:41:38,440 becoming increasingly untenable. By then, roughly eight hundred juvenile lifers 680 00:41:38,440 --> 00:41:41,000 had been released from prison as the result of the 681 00:41:41,000 --> 00:41:45,239 Montgomery decision. Hunley had spoken at hundreds of parole hearings, 682 00:41:45,639 --> 00:41:49,239 but still he stayed up until two am preparing for Montgomery's. 683 00:41:50,079 --> 00:41:52,639 Just before nine am, Hunley sat down in front of 684 00:41:52,639 --> 00:41:55,880 his laptop at a granite table in the Parole Project 685 00:41:55,920 --> 00:41:59,079 conference room, wearing a gray suit and a purple tie. 686 00:41:59,239 --> 00:42:03,119 The walls are decked created with portraits of formerly incarcerated 687 00:42:03,159 --> 00:42:06,119 Parole Project clients and a hand painted sign by the 688 00:42:06,119 --> 00:42:11,199 New Orleans Artists that said believe in Second Chances. Behind 689 00:42:11,280 --> 00:42:15,079 Hunley sat several former juvenile lifers who were also free 690 00:42:15,280 --> 00:42:19,440 by Montgomery's case. This was so deeply personal for all 691 00:42:19,480 --> 00:42:22,679 of them. Hunley joined the video call for the hearing, 692 00:42:22,800 --> 00:42:25,840 and the room fell silent, with all eyes locked on 693 00:42:25,880 --> 00:42:30,440 the laptop screen. Montgomery, who participated from Angola, is hard 694 00:42:30,440 --> 00:42:33,119 of hearing, and at times he appeared to struggle to 695 00:42:33,199 --> 00:42:37,320 follow the discussion that would determine his freedom. Asked if 696 00:42:37,320 --> 00:42:40,199 he had changed in the year since his crime, Montgomery 697 00:42:40,199 --> 00:42:43,000 said he had learned about helping others in the importance 698 00:42:43,039 --> 00:42:46,920 of thinking ahead. He apologized to the Hurts he had 699 00:42:46,960 --> 00:42:49,719 destroyed their family. He said, something he would carry with 700 00:42:49,840 --> 00:42:52,199 him for the rest of his life. When it was 701 00:42:52,280 --> 00:42:55,800 Hunley's turn to speak, he began by acknowledging the depth 702 00:42:56,000 --> 00:42:59,440 of the loss experienced by the Hurt family. We are 703 00:42:59,480 --> 00:43:04,199 not here to defend Henry's actions from fifty seven years ago. Rather, 704 00:43:04,239 --> 00:43:08,000 we're here to speak about who Henry is today, Huntley started. 705 00:43:08,119 --> 00:43:10,360 The day I was born, Henry had already been in 706 00:43:10,400 --> 00:43:13,880 prison eighteen years. I came home from Angola five and 707 00:43:13,920 --> 00:43:17,880 a half years ago, and Henry is still there, Hunley said. 708 00:43:18,360 --> 00:43:18,760 Speaker 4: Today. 709 00:43:18,800 --> 00:43:21,360 Speaker 3: There are about twelve of us in this very room 710 00:43:21,360 --> 00:43:24,320 who benefited from a court ruling that bears Henry's name, 711 00:43:24,519 --> 00:43:26,920 and we submit to you that Henry is no less 712 00:43:26,920 --> 00:43:30,119 worthy of this opportunity than any of us who came 713 00:43:30,199 --> 00:43:33,800 home before him. The family of Charles Hurt appeared at 714 00:43:33,840 --> 00:43:38,280 each of Montgomery's parole hearings to oppose his release. At 715 00:43:38,280 --> 00:43:41,599 this third meeting, Linda hurt Wood, the daughter of Charles Hurt, 716 00:43:41,920 --> 00:43:45,719 suggested that Montgomery was feinning his self problems releasing him, 717 00:43:45,719 --> 00:43:48,320 which showed great disrespect to law enforcement. 718 00:43:48,480 --> 00:43:49,159 Speaker 4: She said. 719 00:43:49,440 --> 00:43:52,559 Speaker 3: One by one, each of the three Parole Board panel 720 00:43:52,800 --> 00:43:56,480 members voted to grant Montgomery's release. The crowd and the 721 00:43:56,519 --> 00:43:59,920 Parole Project office burst into applause, jumping out of their 722 00:44:00,079 --> 00:44:04,719 seats for a group embrace. They continued celebrating in another room, 723 00:44:04,760 --> 00:44:08,400 but Hunley stayed behind. He still had two more juvenile 724 00:44:08,440 --> 00:44:11,880 life or parole hearings to speak at. One was granted, 725 00:44:12,119 --> 00:44:16,079 the other denied. Around eleven am, Hunley got a call 726 00:44:16,119 --> 00:44:20,159 from Angola. Montgomery was ready to be picked up. As 727 00:44:20,159 --> 00:44:22,639 he made the familiar drive to prison, he filled it 728 00:44:22,719 --> 00:44:26,639 the near constant calls and texts from other clients. If 729 00:44:26,719 --> 00:44:31,679 juggling the bureaucratic and logistical challenge of multiple cases that 730 00:44:31,760 --> 00:44:35,440 once frazled him, it didn't show. Everyone has their talents 731 00:44:35,480 --> 00:44:38,440 and Hunley, he told me, is that he knows how 732 00:44:38,480 --> 00:44:42,920 to get things done. Louisiana's Highway sixty six, the road 733 00:44:42,960 --> 00:44:46,239 that takes you the last twenty miles to Angola, is scenic, 734 00:44:46,800 --> 00:44:50,320 lined with lush, green trees, but to anyone who's spent 735 00:44:50,360 --> 00:44:53,159 time in Angola, the trees are part of the prison, 736 00:44:53,239 --> 00:44:56,599 a key part of the barrier that separates the incarcerated 737 00:44:57,079 --> 00:45:02,199 from the rest of society. Just before twelve thirty pm, 738 00:45:02,280 --> 00:45:05,519 Montgomery walks through the gates at Ngola, carrying a small 739 00:45:05,639 --> 00:45:09,039 sack with a few belongings. He and Hunley hugged off 740 00:45:09,079 --> 00:45:12,239 to the side before facing the reporters and camera crews 741 00:45:12,239 --> 00:45:15,679 that had come to document the high profile release. Seeing 742 00:45:15,679 --> 00:45:18,559 Montgomery in person, it was clear that he had a 743 00:45:18,599 --> 00:45:22,360 hard time following the parole hearing. His hearing aids consisted 744 00:45:22,360 --> 00:45:24,800 of over the year headphones that wrapped around the back 745 00:45:24,880 --> 00:45:27,039 of his head and hooked up to a small box 746 00:45:27,119 --> 00:45:30,159 with a microphone that dangled around his neck from a lanyard. 747 00:45:31,039 --> 00:45:35,119 We're gonna get you better, ones, Hunley promised. After answering 748 00:45:35,159 --> 00:45:38,880 a few questions from reporters, Montgomery climbed into the front 749 00:45:38,880 --> 00:45:41,760 seat of Hunley's suv and headed home to Batonury, a 750 00:45:41,800 --> 00:45:46,679 city he hadn't seen in nearly sixty years. Here, let 751 00:45:46,719 --> 00:45:50,480 me do something, Henry Hunley said, leaning over to buckle 752 00:45:50,679 --> 00:45:53,920 montgomery seat belt, a practice that wasn't yet mandatory the 753 00:45:54,000 --> 00:45:57,239 last time Montgomery was a free man. Seven of the 754 00:45:57,320 --> 00:46:00,079 ten six lifers have now been freed from ingald Well. 755 00:46:00,119 --> 00:46:03,119 What Williams has committed to try to bring home the 756 00:46:03,199 --> 00:46:07,000 remaining twelve who were convicted in Orleans Parish. That leaves 757 00:46:07,119 --> 00:46:11,079 dozens of others. Mitchell is friends with one of them, 758 00:46:11,119 --> 00:46:14,360 and he's hanging on to his old friend's rap sheet. 759 00:46:14,800 --> 00:46:17,000 It shows that he was supposed to be eligible for 760 00:46:17,079 --> 00:46:20,920 release in nineteen eighty three. Wo Mac didn't end up 761 00:46:20,960 --> 00:46:24,119 moving in with his brother in Tennessee. After a brief visit, 762 00:46:24,239 --> 00:46:27,079 his brother's wife told him she didn't want him to 763 00:46:27,280 --> 00:46:31,079 live with them. After all. It wasn't personal, she said, 764 00:46:31,159 --> 00:46:34,280 she just wasn't used to living with other people. What 765 00:46:34,440 --> 00:46:37,800 Mac understood. But he's still trying to figure out what's next. 766 00:46:38,119 --> 00:46:41,079 The guys who knew Ingram and Angola still call him Grippin, 767 00:46:41,599 --> 00:46:45,039 but he's getting closer to having proof of his real identity. 768 00:46:45,519 --> 00:46:48,760 After he got out of Angola, the Parole Project asked 769 00:46:48,880 --> 00:46:53,440 the al Chehua County Public Schools to search for Ingram's record. 770 00:46:53,480 --> 00:46:56,400 There are port cards they found for William Willie Ingram 771 00:46:56,480 --> 00:46:59,039 shows a boy who struggled in school and who teachers 772 00:46:59,119 --> 00:47:03,360 judged him harshly. He has made very little progress, several 773 00:47:03,400 --> 00:47:07,760 teachers wrote in the comments. But there it was, finally 774 00:47:07,800 --> 00:47:12,559 on paper, Willie Ingram is a real person. Shortly after 775 00:47:12,639 --> 00:47:15,639 Hunley updated me about the progress on Ingram's case, he 776 00:47:15,719 --> 00:47:18,280 mentioned there had been a similar issue with another client. 777 00:47:18,880 --> 00:47:21,480 The record's staff and Angola had been unable to find 778 00:47:21,519 --> 00:47:24,559 a birth certificate for Henry Montgomery, a name that has 779 00:47:24,599 --> 00:47:28,800 been synonymous with juvenile justice reform in the United States. 780 00:47:29,000 --> 00:47:33,159 Using Montgomery's mother's name, record staffers eventually were able to 781 00:47:33,199 --> 00:47:37,039 locate his birth certificate, and it revealed that his first 782 00:47:37,159 --> 00:47:40,800 name is not Henry and his last name is not Montgomery. 783 00:47:41,719 --> 00:47:45,320 Hunley asked that Montgomery's legal name be kept private to 784 00:47:45,400 --> 00:47:50,079 afford him some level of animinity, but best guest at 785 00:47:50,159 --> 00:47:53,400 the reason for his name discrepancy is that Montgomery assumed 786 00:47:53,400 --> 00:47:56,400 his last name of his grandparents when he moved in 787 00:47:56,719 --> 00:47:59,119 with them as a boy. The first and middle names 788 00:47:59,119 --> 00:48:02,079 of his birth certificate could appear with an unusual spelling, 789 00:48:02,239 --> 00:48:05,000 suggesting that his mother may have been illiterate or was 790 00:48:05,079 --> 00:48:08,920 misunderstood by the person who wrote down the name. Either way, 791 00:48:09,159 --> 00:48:12,480 the man whose name bears a landmark Supreme Court case 792 00:48:12,559 --> 00:48:15,679 plans to keep going by Henry Montgomery, even. 793 00:48:15,519 --> 00:48:17,360 Speaker 4: If his ID card says otherwise. 794 00:48:18,239 --> 00:48:20,440 Speaker 3: In mid December, he got a call from a New 795 00:48:20,519 --> 00:48:24,000 Orleans number he didn't recognize. You know who this is, 796 00:48:24,559 --> 00:48:28,840 A familiar voice, asked his grant apparent, even through the phone. 797 00:48:29,039 --> 00:48:32,440 Is this Lewis? I asked, Yes, it is, he said, 798 00:48:32,599 --> 00:48:35,519 with a laugh. In the weeks since I had visited, 799 00:48:35,599 --> 00:48:38,760 Mitchell had moved out of his transitional housing in Baton 800 00:48:38,840 --> 00:48:41,719 Ridge and into his niece's home in a town outside 801 00:48:41,800 --> 00:48:45,679 New Orleans. They were still having family reunions each weekend, 802 00:48:45,679 --> 00:48:48,920 he said, and he was invited to multiple Christmas parties. 803 00:48:49,320 --> 00:48:51,519 He was still in touch with his roommates from Baton 804 00:48:51,559 --> 00:48:55,519 Ridge and planned to visit them soon. Campbell, the judge 805 00:48:55,519 --> 00:48:59,880 from his resentencing hearing, teaches criminal law seminars at Loyola 806 00:49:00,639 --> 00:49:04,320 University School of Law, and she invited Mitchell and Ingram 807 00:49:04,360 --> 00:49:09,199 to speak at her students end of semester dinner. It 808 00:49:09,360 --> 00:49:12,960 was the most emotional, powerful evening that I've ever had 809 00:49:13,000 --> 00:49:16,559 since I started practicing law, Campbell said. There wasn't a 810 00:49:16,639 --> 00:49:20,159 dry eye in the house. One person at the dinner 811 00:49:20,239 --> 00:49:22,440 asked Mitchell if he was mad about what he had 812 00:49:22,480 --> 00:49:26,840 been through. No, he said, I felt that Once upon 813 00:49:26,880 --> 00:49:28,760 a time I used to lay in bed and cry. 814 00:49:29,440 --> 00:49:33,280 Why am I here? I've been hurt too long to cry. 815 00:49:33,639 --> 00:49:36,719 The pain got me numb, he said. When I talk 816 00:49:36,760 --> 00:49:39,880 about it, you will cry, but I won't feel a 817 00:49:39,920 --> 00:49:45,440 thing because I'm numb from crying. I'm numb from hurting 818 00:49:45,519 --> 00:49:50,679 and y'all. That is the story of the ten six 819 00:49:51,039 --> 00:49:52,719 Lifers of Angola. 820 00:49:54,039 --> 00:49:56,639 Speaker 4: Crazy stuff. 821 00:49:57,440 --> 00:50:01,920 Speaker 3: I'll tell you what hard to research, but what a 822 00:50:02,199 --> 00:50:05,280 well written article. And I want to credit her again, 823 00:50:05,480 --> 00:50:12,519 Jessica Scholberg of the Huffington Post for that. And I 824 00:50:12,559 --> 00:50:16,079 hope you enjoyed that, a little bit of history into 825 00:50:16,239 --> 00:50:21,440 the ten six Lifers. And until next time, I'm Jim 826 00:50:21,519 --> 00:50:24,280 Chapman for what do you Everton, We are your host 827 00:50:24,360 --> 00:50:28,000 of Bloody Angola, a podcast one hundred and forty two 828 00:50:28,079 --> 00:50:32,119 years in the making, the complete story of America's bloodies. 829 00:50:32,199 --> 00:50:49,840 Present peace, a. 830 00:50:50,039 --> 00:50:54,079 Speaker 1: Wall Street line, shackle. 831 00:50:54,320 --> 00:51:06,119 Speaker 2: Chains, it's calling my name, there is no mercy and 832 00:51:06,280 --> 00:51:12,320 this being a tentery juice as the huge stream game 833 00:51:13,519 --> 00:51:25,400 Rango three, I'm here by me to die inside these walls, 834 00:51:27,119 --> 00:51:35,039 inside the wild and when mores I know it's a 835 00:51:40,480 --> 00:51:49,360 bloody anglebody angle. 836 00:52:00,840 --> 00:52:01,280 Speaker 1: A p. 837 00:52:01,599 --> 00:52:02,079 Speaker 4: Don B.