Toe Tag Parole: To Live and Die on Yard A (DVD)

Toe Tag Parole: To Live and Die on Yard A explores one prison's handling of the nation's extreme sentencing policy: life without the possibility of parole. Faced with the largest population of men serving life sentences, the California Department of Corrections developed an experimental, racially integrated program for lifers. Under the program, inmates at the California State Prison in LA County are given the opportunity to earn certain privileges by committing to uphold an integrated environment that is free of the violence and illegal drugs that dominate prison life. Directed by Oscar -winning documentarians Alan and Susan Raymond and filmed entirely on Yard A, also known by inmates as "The Honor Yard ," Toe Tag Parole examines the only such program in the United States, which offers access to education courses, art and music therapy, and peer groups focusing on such issues as anger management. Participation in this program gives these men a chance to accept the severity of their crimes and the pain they inflicted upon their victims, while still being granted the possibility of creating a positive life for themselves, even knowing that in all likelihood they will never return to society.

• documentary