Inspiring Prison Programs

Now that Erik and Lyle Menendez are eligible for parole — Menendez Miracle #6 — it no longer seems pointless to think about what they might do when they get out of prison.

Rehabilitation

The brothers have said that they’d like to continue the work they started in prison.

From Lyle’s resentencing statement:

I have worked hard to be a better person. I have taken on roles in inmate government, learning to help others solve problems, and in doing so, I began to develop greater self-worth and compassion. I have participated in self-help groups…built strong, healthy relationships with correctional staff, therapists and fellow inmates. I have learned to access professionals for support…I have learned to process anger instead of burying it…I have learned to ask for help when I need it.

If afforded an opportunity for another chapter of life beyond the prison walls, I plan to continue working with the sex abuse survivor community to spread awareness. I also plan to continue to serve the incarcerated population through community building to change the culture of corrections.

From Erik’s resentencing statement:

I was given the opportunity to serve others. I began caring for the elderly, the disabled, and the terminally ill. It may seem small, but that act of service changed everything for me. I mattered to others. I had purpose. I created the Life Care & Hospice program, and through that work, I discovered a new way of seeing life. I started focusing on living with purpose. I began to understand what it means to form a real connection — even in here. To be part of a community. To show up as a husband and a father, even from behind these walls. I began getting involved in self-help programs. I started educating myself, and then I began leading and encouraging others.

It’s this same sort of self-improvement and rehabilitation that Lyle and Erik hope to continue engendering in other inmates through special programs. The fact that they were mentoring other inmates while they, until now, had no hope of parole for themselves, speaks volumes about their characters.

 

Why Special Inmate Programs?

I’ve learned that while the United States has 5% of the world’s population, it has 25% of its prisoners. The cost to taxpayers is $80 billion per year. The recidivism, or relapse, rate is 75%.

Meanwhile, the prison system in Norway has a recidivism rate of only 20%. This is inspiring and is known to have inspired the Menendez brothers, too.

Here’s a quote from the Halden Prison video I’ve linked to in the next section of this post:

It’s basically inserting humanity into the prison system…The punishment should be loss of freedom, not loss of dignity.

At the end of the day this is not just good for the prisoners and the prison, but society as a whole… the hope is to prepare inmates for life after they get out. Moving away from managing prisoners to creating good neighbors.

 

Prison Documentary Rabbit Hole

I’ve watched several documentaries recently about programs designed to humanize and rehabilitate inmates. In addition to benefitting the prisoners themselves, the programs have a positive impact on the prison system, the inmates’ families, and the nearby communities who either directly, or indirectly, benefit from the improved condition of inmates who are released.

Documentaries I’ve seen:

• Unleashing Hope: The Power of Service Dogs for Children with Autism — Hulu trailer on YouTube — Dogs are trained by Guide Dogs of America and inmates at Richard J Donovan Correctional Facility where Lyle and Erik are living.
• The Quilters — Netflix trailer on YouTube — Inmates make quilts for local foster children.
• EP 1 | PRISON CAT, GALILEO | THE CATS THAT RULE THE WORLD | SHEBA® — YouTube (20 min.) — A program in which inmates partner with the Humane Society to care for cats and get them adopted.
• Women inmates find hope with safe choir — YouTube (6 min. news segment)
• World’s Most Luxurious Prison | Halden Prison: Vacation For Murderers? — YouTube (45 min.) — I watched this one because Lyle and Erik have talked about being inspired by the Norwegian prison system.

Related:

• Sing Sing — HBO Max trailer on YouTube — A film about the true story of a group of incarcerated men at ‘Sing Sing’ prison who participate in a theater program.
• Seeds of Change — PBS trailer on film’s website — An organic farmer in Maine sets out to transform the prison food system. (Since I haven’t seen it, it could be more about the farmer than the prisoners, but either way, I like the title.)
• 6 Inspirational Prison Reform Documentaries You Need to Watch (article with embedded videos) — I saw the first one a while back and recommend it.
• Six Norwegian Prisons 1850 to 2020 (website) — Ideas, Spaces, Experiences

 

Musical Interlude:

Neema – Narok Prison Choir (song)

Zimbabwe Prison Choir (song)

X-Raided – Sins of the Father (official lyric video)

(keep reading for more on X-Raided)

What I’d Like to See

These documentaries and websites are great, and many of them are only 20-30 min long. But they’re spread out all over the streaming platforms. And I’d like to see more.

What I propose (not that I have the connections to make it happen) is a series that brings them all together in one place, including some of the films that have already been made and adding as many new ones as are worthwhile and feasible. Here are my suggestions for new episodes of this fantasy series:

• Erik Menendez’s programs established under the Helping Without Prejudice Foundation: Life Care & Hospice, Insight Meditation, VIVE (Victim Impact and Victim Empathy), and 12-Step Recovery with Insight Meditation.
• Lyle Menendez’s Green Space project: Rehabilitation Through Beautification: The Green Space Project (Lyle Menendez founder, Erik Menendez lead mural painter). Short video clip: How Lyle Menendez Wants to Totally REIMAGINE Correctional Facilities. This clip is from a very worthwhile 2 Angry Men podcast episode featuring both brothers who called in from prison. (P.S. The “2 Angry Men” are hosts Harvey Levin and Mark Geragos, not Lyle and Erik.)
• An episode about rapper Anerae Brown (X-Raided), including the recording studio he created at Richard J Donovan Correctional Facility, where he was incarcerated and became friends with Lyle and Erik. He credits them with mentoring him and helping him to get paroled after 26 years in prison. Watch this Surviving the Survivor podcast episode with guests Robert Rand and Anerae, who arrives @37 minutes in but is worth the wait.)
• Echo Yard, a special section of the Richard J Donovan Correctional Facility that allowed Lyle and Erik to create programs to help rehabilitate themselves and their fellow prisoners. (Article about Echo Yard)
• Additional episodes about other prisons and programs that benefit local communities.

 

What’s more inspirational than someone who has turned their life around?

And the people who help make that happen?

 

Have you seen any of these documentaries?

Which others have you seen and recommend?

What episodes or programs would you like to see?

Please share with us in the comments below!

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• Hazel Thornton is an author, genealogist, and retired home and office organizer.
  
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