[Raphael Rowe] On the banks of the Dniester River,
in the Republic of Moldova, lies Rezina Prison,
Penitentiary Number 17.
A crumbling old Soviet maximum security prison.
The environment is starting to close in on me.
I can't stop my heart pounding. [exhales]
It houses Moldova's most dangerous criminals.
[in Romanian] The girl was strangled.
-[in English] Why did you do it, Lilian? -[barking]
One-third of inmates are in for life, with no hope of release.
How long have you been in this prison?
[in Romanian] For 26 years.
The question is, what is the actual goal of the criminal punishment?
Just for the person to die in prison?
[Rowe in English] They live in a harsh Soviet-style regime.
Thirty-two steps. That's what I'm doing.
Every time I walk up and down here, I'm doing 32 steps.
When was the last time you went outside on the ground?
Uh, I cannot remember.
At the moment, they're just looking down the abyss. There is no hope.
[in Romanian] Just thrown in jail, and that's it! That's it!
[in Russian] That's it.
[in English] My name is Raphael Rowe,
and I was convicted in the UK of a murder I did not commit
and sentenced to life without parole.
It took me 12 long years to clear my name.
Now I'm traveling the globe to discover what life is really like…
[barks]
…inside some of the world's toughest prisons.
[lock clicks]
-Moldova, Eastern Europe. -[chattering]
A former Soviet state, Moldova is the poorest country in Europe.
The average person earns just $12 a day.
Life is tough,
and the murder rate is one of the highest in Europe.
The state comes down hard on criminals.
Prison sentences here are a staggering seven times longer
than the European average.
And those found guilty of murder serve a minimum of 30 years.
[siren wailing]
These lifers are sent to the remote max security Rezina Prison,
Penitentiary 17,
and that is where I'm heading.
[siren wailing]
I'm now on my way to Penitentiary Number 17 here in Moldova.
Now, I'm told that this prison is a place
where many of the guys that I'm gonna be sharing my time with
are serving very, very long prison sentences
without any hope of ever being released.
Officially, a life sentence in Moldova means you serve 30 years.
In reality, no lifer has ever been let out.
Some of these guys would never have seen society
as it is today in this country, the Western way of life.
I don't know how they're gonna take to me, and that is why I'm here.
Rezina Prison has a daunting reputation.
Built under Joseph Stalin, it's home to over 300 criminals.
A hundred and six are lifers,
and that's who I'll be spending the next week with.
[barking]
-[officer] Raphael. -[Rowe] Yes.
[officer in Romanian] Year of birth?
[Rowe in English] 1968.
[officer] Let's go.
[Rowe in English] Being here feels like going back in time.
Torture and abuse of human rights may be a thing of the past,
but how much else has really changed since the Soviet era?
[crowd chattering and laughing]
[Rowe] The environment is starting to close in on me.
I can't stop my heart pounding. [exhales]
Before being put into a cell…
[officer 1 in Romanian] Come in here.
[Rowe in English] …I'm ordered in for a medical.
[officer 2 in Romanian] Show me your legs and face.
The year this happened?
[Rowe in English] 1988.
My face was cut.
Every scar I bear is carefully documented.
[officer 2 in Romanian] Fifteen centimeters.
What is this injury?
[Rowe in English] A stab wound.
I don't want word to get around that I'm some sort of tough guy,
or someone might wanna take me on.
When you have such a distinctive scar coming down the side of your face,
it's gonna follow me around the prison.
[doors and locks clanking shut]
[officer 3 in Romanian] Vasea, you open it. Run.
-Go to the boss. -[officer 1] Go upstairs.
[Rowe in English] Next stop is a one-to-one with a security officer.
He'll decide who I'll be sharing a tiny cell with for the next week.
[officer 4 in Romanian] You will be placed in a cell
where there are two more prisoners
with life sentences.
[Rowe in English] Do I need to be fearful of my cellmates?
[officer 4 in Romanian] Don't ask any questions
and don't start any arguments.
[Rowe in English] This prison, like many from the Soviet era,
is ruled by a prison gang.
The gang hierarchy is violently enforced
against any inmates who step out of line.
I'll be sharing a cell with two men
who have chosen to live outside gang rule
in a separate part of the prison with other gang refusers.
I'm glad they're not part of the gang,
but both my cellmates have been convicted
of the most serious offenses.
Here we go.
[chuckles]
-[all] Hello. -[chuckling]
[Rowe] Hello. English? Any English?
Yes, I speak a little English.
-[Rowe] Oh, you speak a little English. -But he don't understand.
[Rowe] He don't understand. So you're gonna translate.
-Sit here. -[Rowe] Thank you.
Um, let me introduce myself. My name is Raphael.
-My name is Max. -Max.
[man] Lilian.
[Rowe] Lilian. Nice to meet you both.
[men chattering and laughing]
This is your space, and you've made me feel welcome almost immediately.
-Just by your smile. Just by smiling. -[laughing]
[Rowe] You know, it put me at ease,
you know, because when I was outside that door,
you know, my heart's racing.
Who are these guys? What do they look like?
You know, how old are they?
-You know, are they gonna accept me? -Uh-huh.
Are they gonna welcome me, you know?
How do you feel about me coming into your space?
It is important for us if you are, uh, like us.
We, um, spend a lot of time, uh, in the room.
Twenty-two hours.
And we have only two hours to go outside.
And it's very important to, um, have a good relation between inmates.
It's a big deal for us. [chuckles]
What is the first thing I need to know in order for me to…
to cope, to survive?
[in Romanian] I'd advise him
to be just the way he is.
Tell him.
[Max in English] Be as you are in your life.
Uh, we will try to guide you.
-And you've been here from… -[Max] From '05.
-'05. So, you've been in prison 16 years? -Yeah.
Yes. He is a little more.
Something like 17.
[Rowe] When-- when does your day end?
[Max] The door is, uh, permanently closed,
and when they need, they open.
[officer] Raphael!
[Rowe] It's a relief that lifers Maxim and Lilian
are making me feel comfortable.
[Max] Oh, let me help.
[Rowe] In prison, respecting your cellmates is key,
especially when you're locked up together for 22 hours a day.
I'll need them to guide me through the hidden rules of this prison.
-Can you hold that bit, that corner? -[Max] Yes, okay.
[Rowe] But the first thing I need help with is my bedding.
[Lilian in Romanian] Look, this goes here! Can't you manage it?
-[Max in English] Three big men cannot. -[laughing]
[Rowe] That's one corner, right?
And this is the other corner. That's it.
[Lilian in Romanian] Tell him this is what respect looks like.
[Rowe in English] A little help don't harm. That's it now.
And that goes up there.
[in Romanian] Somehow, the sheets are too white, even for his first night.
[laughing]
[Max in English] It's too good!
[Rowe] I'm gonna test the bed. The mattress.
-[Max] Yeah, try it. -Quite hard.
-[Max] Good morning. -Good morning.
[Max and Lilian laughing]
-[Rowe snoring] Do you snore? -No, no.
Lilian sometimes.
-[Rowe chuckling] -Sometimes. I, no.
-[Rowe] You don't snore. -No.
[Rowe] It's the end of my first day in Rezina Prison,
and time to use the cell's en suite facilities.
The only provisions they've given me is this bar of soap,
and any man will know that this is not the greatest shaver in the world.
Women may know that too.
They give you a toothbrush.
Bristles are not bad.
Sensitive toothpaste, which is a good thing,
and it's a good tub.
Um, and then a roll of toilet roll.
My preference is white, but I'll do with the brown.
[chuckles]
This is not just a bathroom.
It's a space of privacy,
because there is nowhere else you can find privacy in this prison.
Think about that.
[Rowe] The thing about this prison, it's oppressive.
It's so small. It's so tight.
It's so contained that you begin to tighten up.
Watch carefully when you look at Max.
He's a big guy, but he's crouched.
And for me, that's about prison.
That's about him trying to fit into this environment, which is,
and I can't stress, really, really small.
The water's freezing.
My first morning on the lifer's wing of Rezina Prison.
Max has told me that we'll be stuck in our tiny cell
from the moment we wake up until 1:00 p.m.
Then we'll be let out
for two precious hours of exercise and association.
Lilian is not eating, uh, in the morning.
He is drinking coffee and smoke a cigarette.
-[Rowe] That's his breakfast. -[Max] And I am eating a little.
-[Rowe] Okay. -We eat everything our parents send us.
We don't eat, uh, prison food because it's not so good.
Can you give me a little tour of your cell?
Talk me through where we are and what we're seeing.
This is my bed, yes, for whole life. [chuckles]
This is my television. I have books.
[Rowe] What are the documents?
Is that your case documents or your study documents?
[Max] Study, case, about work,
our letters to president, to prime minister,
other ministers, everything.
[Rowe] What, arguing for improvements in your conditions?
-Yes, yes. -[Rowe] Okay.
Maxim took part in an armed robbery, in which a police officer was shot dead.
He claims he didn't fire the gun,
but he was convicted of murder and given a life sentence.
He's been here for 16 years, and during that time,
he's become Rezina's leading campaigner for prison reform.
One of his successes was winning the right for prisoners
to have computers in their cells.
For this device, we fight for 14 years,
and the judge decided to let us have this
without Internet connection.
[Rowe] Next was permission for fridges in cells
so inmates could keep their precious food fresh.
After this, everyone, 6,000--
6,000 inmates were possible to have not only fridge
but other things like this.
[Rowe] The kettle.
-Like players, MP3, other things. -[Rowe] Right. Yeah.
Naturally, the inmates have to buy these luxuries themselves.
In fact, pretty much everything in this cell
has been built by Max and Lilian and paid for by their families.
This particular area here.
[Max] We build it.
-What, the whole cell? -Yes.
Okay. Lilian, am I gonna get my coffee?
-I'm kind of-- -[Max] Lilian.
I'm desperate for my coffee.
[Max in Romanian] Lilian, make coffee.
-[Lilian] There's no room. -[Max] I'll make some room.
[Max in English] I'm going because…
Okay, okay. There's not enough space for the three of us. Okay.
I'm so impressed.
They're doing natural life, never to be released,
and so they've taken it upon themselves to make the cell
where they're gonna spend the rest of their life more habitable.
They've tiled the floor. They've put lino down.
They've plastered the walls and painted it.
They've installed electricity.
They've built a little kitchenette. I've never seen anything like it.
Max and Lilian have shared this tiny cell for years.
So, your specialty, Lilian, is making coffee.
[in Romanian] Yes.
[Rowe in English] So, what's my job then? Am I gonna have to do the washing up?
Because you're making the coffee and Maxim has made the porridge.
[Lilian in Romanian] After we eat, I clear the table, sweep,
and Maxim washes the dishes.
That's how we do it
[chuckles] That's how we get along. That's how we've always done it.
[Rowe in English] At 1:00 p.m. on the dot, the guard opens up.
We're escorted to the prison roof,
where Max introduces me to the small group of prisoners
who have also chosen to live outside the prison gang rule.
-Hello, people! -Hello.
[Rowe] Kept away from the general prison population,
this group are the only other inmates
Max and Lilian ever come into contact with.
-Let's go. -Max.
-We are walking here. We are walking. -[Rowe] This is your exercise?
-[prisoner] No bars. -[Rowe] This is the only space you got?
Yes, this is our only space.
[Rowe] It's hard to believe inmates spend 22 hours a day in their cells
and get just this small covered corridor for their daily exercise.
[Rowe] To deprive you of seeing the sky, of touching the grass.
That is cruel and inhumane.
When was the last time you went outside on the ground?
[Max] Uh, I cannot remember.
We try to walk, permanently walking.
Right, 'cause this is the only chance you get to stretch your legs.
How long have you been here?
[in Romanian] Twenty-seven.
[in English] Twenty-seven years, he's-- he's here.
[prisoner] Made in USSR.
[all laughing]
I've counted the steps. We can do 32 steps.
That's what I'm doing. Every time I walk up and down here, I'm doing 32 steps.
So, when you next walk out of your front door, take 32 steps,
and that's what these guys have been doing for years and years and years.
Thirty-two steps. Think about that.
Twenty-seven years, man.
[in Russian] I almost went crazy.
But thank God, I kept my sanity.
[Rowe in English] Being barred from going into the open air
is part of the price this group pays
for rejecting the prison's gang rules.
[in Russian] We are trying to live by the official rules of the prison.
And follow the Bible.
We don't support gangs, or anything like that.
[Max in English] It's a real possibility that they can beat us,
because we don't want to be with them.
So you don't want to think like them anymore.
[Max] And if we were in there,
I have no possibility to write and to fight for my rights.
-[Rowe] Unless the boss said you could. -Yeah.
[Rowe] Such is the power of the crime bosses inside the prison
that Max's group had to beg the authorities
to let them live outside gang rule.
[Max] When we write an application
that we don't want to have a part of this group…
-[Rowe] Mm-hmm. -[Max] "Please help us."
What the director of, um, prison did,
he, uh, placed us separately.
-Right. Okay. -Not them.
-No. For your safety and protection. -Not them. Yeah.
And now, uh, we ask them why we cannot go outside
and play football, volleyball and other things.
He told me, "We-- we cannot, uh, protect you there."
[Rowe] Max and the other lifers don't want to be corrupted.
They also want to do certain things like work, educate themself.
But they're telling me that you can't do that.
And these organized crime bosses, who are extremely wealthy,
and I'm told they're paying for some of the facilities in this prison,
have huge control and influence.
And Max and the guys don't wanna be a part of that.
And because of that,
they're being almost doubly punished in prison and segregated.
[men chattering]
[Rowe] Max's group of gang refusers
spend longer in their cells than other lifers.
The hours staring at the same four walls
takes me back to my own time in prison
and the endless despair I felt.
It's my third day in Rezina Prison.
Once again, the morning hours creep by
as the clock approaches lunchtime.
[men chattering]
[Rowe] The food the prison provides is pretty disgusting,
and my cellmates rarely eat it, but Max has a lifeline.
Just sitting in the cell, waiting for Max to come back.
Um, he's just gone to pick up a parcel.
In places like this, where they lack resources,
family members sending you stuff is-- is really important.
[Max] Oh, I bring some food.
[Rowe] Lots of goodies.
[Lilian in Romanian, chuckles] Surprises, surprises!
[in English] I received some food from my parents.
-Uh… -[Rowe] That come today?
Or do they keep it over there for a few days?
No, they send me a parcel through the post office.
And they usually send me, uh, on Monday,
and I can receive on Tuesday.
[Rowe] Okay. Do you tell them what to send?
[Max] For a long time, yeah, but, uh, they just know what I need.
[Rowe] Can the parcels be as big or as small as you want?
You can receive such a-- this parcel and like this.
[Rowe] Okay.
[Max] We can receive per week only one from one person.
Okay, so, Mom, sister could send you something separately.
Yeah.
-Jeez, I'm feeling really spoiled. -[Max] Yeah, my--
My parents are old.
My father is 81, and my mother's 71.
[Rowe] So they're retired. They're not working or--
Yeah, but they help me as-- as they can.
[Rowe] Lifers like Max are banned from doing paid work in the prison,
so they all depend on family for basic provisions.
His latest campaign is to be allowed to work
so he can still afford decent food
when his parents are no longer able to support him.
After just a few days at Rezina Prison,
I'm already feeling the pressure of spending so long in a confined space.
Our group of prisoners can't go to the yard to play football.
But when the prison allows us, there is an indoor sport we can play.
So I've just been taken out of my cell to go to the recreational area,
where I'm told I'm gonna be allowed to play some table tennis
with some of the other prisoners.
-[lock clanking] -Just look around you.
I mean, this is the corridor of some of the lifers,
which is where they stay.
That's what we're talking about. That's the width of this corridor.
[chattering]
-[prisoner] Hello. -Oh, how are you doing?
I didn't recognize you without your hat and stuff.
He is a hero in, uh, table tennis.
-[in Russian] Play him first. -[in Romanian] Let's go.
-[Max in English] He's waiting for you. -He's waiting.
My ambition is to get three from the 11.
He's been playing table tennis for 27 years.
I played it in when I was in prison. Twelve years.
He's got 27 years, so let's see if I can get three points.
[in Romanian] England. Moldova. Concede defeat!
-[Rowe in English] I see. I see. -[laughing]
[Rowe] Can't beat us in the football.
[huffs]
Looks like I've been matched against the local champion.
[Max in Russian] Have mercy! Have mercy on him!
[laughing]
[Rowe in English] That was aggressive.
So, how often can you come and play table tennis?
[Max] Two times per week.
-[Rowe] Okay. -[Max] For three hours.
This is so painful.
-[Rowe cheers] -[laughing]
[Max] One! One point!
This table is not so good.
-[Rowe] No. That-- that's why I'm losing. -[laughing]
-[shouts] -[laughing]
[playing ping-pong]
Do you know the one thing
beyond the-- the table tennis
is the fact that they have smiles on their face,
and this is not a place where you can smile very often.
That's for sure.
It's a bit of, um, escapism, isn't it?
It's a moment where they can forget their-- their surroundings.
This is what they do to exert that energy,
release that frustration, that stress.
The lifers of Rezina know that under Moldova's legal system,
it's unlikely they'll ever be set free, whether they've reformed or not.
Max's biggest challenge yet is to change the sentencing rules.
He introduces me to Sergei,
who's already been locked up for 20 years.
How old was you when you came into prison?
[in Russian] Nineteen years.
[in English] And the life sentence is for murder?
-Yes. -[Rowe] Yes.
[Sergei in Romanian] I didn't participate directly in the murder.
[Max in English] He participate in crime.
There are three guys, and he was driver.
-[Rowe] He was the driver? -He was the driver. Yes.
But he didn't, um, participate directly in the murder.
So the-- the judges and the politicians, they don't say to you,
"Sergei, you've got to serve 25 years
before you can even be considered for release?"
-Or 20 years? -[Max] No. No.
-[Rowe] No? -[Max] Only 30 years for all of us.
-So, life means 30 years minimum? -[Max] Yeah.
-[chattering] -[Max] Minimum, yeah.
There are no lifers in our history that were released.
[Rowe] A few years ago, these lifers thought they'd been thrown a lifeline.
In, uh, 2016,
our politicians, uh, released European law
uh, which have a possibility for teenagers,
yes, who, uh, committed crimes between 18 and 21,
to lower the sentence.
-This law was for everyone. -Okay.
And the judge said all to us, for him, for me personal,
"But you are lifers, and this law cannot be applied to you."
-[Sergei] It's very strange. -For everyone is applied, but for us, no.
[Sergei in Romanian] The question is,
what is the goal of the criminal punishment?
Just for the person to die in the prison?
Very weird.
[Rowe in English] Max and Sergei have challenged their life sentences,
but so far, their appeals have been rejected,
so they face the prospect of spending the rest of their lives at Rezina,
locked up 22 hours a day.
After ping-pong, we pass the only window
where the lifers on my wing can see the outside world.
[Rowe] It's so close, yet it's so far. I mean, there is freedom.
[Max] The first years when I was here, yeah, it was maybe a pain for me.
But when I know when I am a lifer,
I… I understand it.
[Rowe] What do you mean?
[Max] Because, uh, when you have years, years, for example,
you know it's a real possibility to be there.
But when you're a lifer, you have no chance.
Our chance is, uh, so little.
[chuckles] And I cannot say it is chance for real.
[Rowe] When you look these guys in the eyes, you can see there is no hope.
And I know what that feeling's like,
when you never know if you're ever gonna be released from prison.
No man or woman on earth should live without hope,
and they have no hope.
They need to be given something
that says, "One day you may be released."
At the moment, they're just looking down the abyss. There is no hope.
Max's campaign has given his life purpose.
And today, I'm meeting two enterprising lifers
who live inside the gang-controlled zone who have also found a way to survive.
As with all lifers, they're not allowed to earn money doing official work.
But using their own equipment and resources,
they've built a carpentry workshop from scratch.
From here, I can just see the yard,
where these prisoners who follow gang rules can play football.
Anatol.
-Raphael. Anatol. -Anatol.
[in Romanian] Yes.
-[in English] And this is? -Dema.
-Dema. Dema. -Dema.
[in Romanian] With this tool, we shape the wood.
With this one, we cut.
[in English] I'm terrified that the tool's just gonna fly up
and hit me or him in the face.
Got no protective gear on, so he obviously trusts his own ability.
The prison really doesn't provide these facilities,
and so these guys
have really taken the initiative
to put together a workshop
where they can come and escape from their cells.
[Anatol] We are making a jewelry box.
[in English] Yeah, show me what to do. I will-- I will have a go.
[Anatol in Romanian] Like this.
[Rowe in English] All right, okay. That's how you make the center.
Okay.
[grunts]
Okay.
[in Romanian] Like this. Like this. Like this. Put your hand here. Like this.
[Rowe in English] Okay.
You gotta put your muscle in it as well, because this is really hard. [chuckles]
Then what do you do with these once you've finished?
[in Romanian] Before the pandemic,
the prison auctioned them for us.
They gave us 50% of the money and put it in our prison accounts.
No, no. From here. Like this. You should do it like this.
[in English] Ah, see.
[in Romanian] Make it the same as this.
[in English] Oh, so it's like that. Okay.
What do you do with the 50% that you get?
[Anatol in Romanian] Paying our electricity bill here
and buying things from the market.
Here we need money.
-[in English] My hands are-- -[both laughing]
-It's gone-- This one's red. -[chattering]
[Rowe] It's hard. Your hands are tough, man.
Dema was convicted of a double murder as a young man.
How long have you been in prison?
[in Romanian] For 26 years.
[in English] You've been in prison for 26 years.
[in Romanian] And 20 years here in Rezina.
I am here five days a week.
You are free in your own mind.
You are one-on-one with the tool and with what you do.
This is pleasure.
Whether we are in detention or in freedom, we must work.
That's why we're men.
[Rowe in English] It's great to see that even under this tough prison regime,
there is, for some, enterprise and creativity.
Every lifer needs something to get them through.
I studied law when I was inside.
Back in the cell, Lilian shows me how he's dealing with his sentence.
[Lilian in Romanian] I have whole notebooks.
I write about my life. I write about my past.
I write about my present. I write about my future.
Everything.
[Rowe in English] And are these like a diary?
[Lilian in Romanian] I put my soul into this and my heart.
Each word is written with a tear of blood, because
for me, the thought of my family is all.
I like music a lot.
[Rowe in English] Lilian has even become a songwriter.
Oh, so that's what you keep under the bed, the musical device.
[Max] Yes. He's using when he want to sing.
[Rowe] Do you ever join him and do a duo?
No, no, I'm not singing at all.
-I don't have voice. -[laughing]
Can you believe this is actually happening inside a lifers' wing
with a lifer who's actually never gonna be released?
[upbeat music playing]
[Lilian] I don't want to disturb other inmates,
so I've turned it down a bit.
[muffled music playing]
♪ There is a voice brought by the wind ♪
♪ It's like your voice, honey Whispering ♪
♪ You left me a long time ago ♪
♪ My wounded and sorrowful soul ♪
♪ You left me a long time ago… ♪
[in English] I'm impressed.
I wanna join in, you know? [chuckles]
[in Romanian] ♪ There is a voice Brought by the wind ♪
♪ It's like your voice, honey Whispering ♪
[in English] ♪ I hear Your love by the wind ♪
♪ It's like your voice whispering… ♪
Oh, it's great! [laughs]
[in Romanian] ♪ My tears are now dry ♪
♪ The tears of love once flowed ♪
[Rowe in English] Lilian, does that help you escape?
[sighs, in Romanian] I don't know if anything really helps.
I've been living with this for 18 years.
This is my inner pain.
My torment.
And that's what I live with. My only hope is with God.
[Rowe in English] In my time behind bars,
I met both inmates who are tormented by their crimes
and some who show just no remorse at all.
So far, I haven't asked Lilian about what he did
and what he feels about it now.
[scraping]
[scraping continues]
[Rowe] Today, my task is to help Lilian prepare dinner.
[Rowe] You're giving me the harder stuff to do.
[in Romanian] Yes? This is the easiest job I can offer you.
[Rowe in English] You want me to cut this the same way you cut yours.
Lilian is keen to make sure I don't waste a single mouthful.
[Rowe] You like my technique?
[Lilian in Romanian] A little smaller!
My question is, why are you ruining this food?
[Rowe in English] Will you share with me why-- why you're in prison?
I really want to know.
[inhales]
[in Romanian] I killed a woman and her niece.
I would plow for them. I would bring them wood, help them.
The cause of all this was alcohol.
[in English] How old were they?
[in Romanian] Oh, the niece was
17 or 18 years old.
But Grandma,
60 or 55, something like that. I don't remember.
[Rowe in English] And, um, I know you were drunk at the time,
but how did you kill them?
What happened?
[in Romanian] The girl was strangled,
and the grandmother was hit on the head with stone.
That's how.
[in English] Why? Why-- why did you do it, Lilian? You-- you--
In the days that I've met you, you don't seem the kind of guy
that would do something so horrific.
[in Romanian] I still can't explain to myself why it happened!
I had everything, you know?
Alcohol!
Alcohol causes the biggest problems on earth!
[men chattering and laughing]
[Rowe in English] I asked the guard to release me from the cell for a moment.
I wasn't expecting that.
I don't know whether it shocked or surprised me.
He's killed two people, an old woman and a young girl.
Um, and there's that classic saying,
"Don't judge a book by its cover."
And-- and that's what I've tried to do.
I've met these guys, didn't know anything about their crimes,
and over the period of a few days, we've got to know each other.
We've had giggles.
We've had intense conversations about the conditions here.
And then the bombshell's dropped.
He's in here for two murders, and-- and they weren't just any murders.
They were quite savage. Two defenseless women.
And I can't help but admit that it changes my view of Lilian.
You-- you know, I can't pretend that I wasn't affected
by what he had to say,
the description of the crime that he committed
and how he committed those crimes.
It makes me question my own judgment
about whether they should or shouldn't be doing 30 years or natural life.
With dinner ready, I head back into the cell.
Me here?
[in Romanian] Sit there. I need another chair.
I don't know where the little one is.
[Rowe] Ah!
[Lilian laughs] This is spare, like for guests.
-[laughing] -[Rowe] Mmm!
-[in English] Mmm. Well done. -Mm-hmm.
-Mmm! -[chattering]
[Lilian in Romanian] You heard what I told you.
What I ask you is,
do I deserve life imprisonment or not?
[in English] When I came into your cell,
I knew nothing about you.
All I knew that you were serving a life sentence,
and that you were in this cell condemned for many, many years.
I believe everyone deserves a second chance.
That's the most important thing.
[Lilian in Romanian] You know--
[in English] I haven't finished yet.
I'm shocked by the crimes you committed,
but I was lucky to meet you before you told me what you did,
because that's the man I got to know
and not the man who committed the crimes.
[Lilian in Romanian] Years have passed.
Years!
Nobody assesses whether I've changed.
Just thrown in jail, and that's it.
[in Russian] That's it!
[men chattering]
[Rowe in English] My time at Rezina Prison is nearly over.
It's time to say goodbye to Lilian and Max.
You've shown me, in the conversations we've had
and the people that I've met,
that even with having to live
with maybe never being released from prison,
you two and the other lifers
all have this very small fire inside which I would describe as hope.
And somehow, even under these extreme conditions, you keep it alight.
You know, it could quite easily go out, couldn't it?
[Rowe] But you've decided that
there is a future for you.
When that comes, nobody knows.
You don't know. Hopefully things will change.
We call it some-- some kind of big fight
for-- for our, um, possibility to be released,
or to demonstrate that we are also humans
and we can have a chance, second chance.
[in Romanian] The most important thing about hope is that it does die last.
Just don't forget, for me, the torment and suffering go on.
[Rowe in English] Look, I need to go.
-Because if I don't go, I'll never go. -Okay.
-[Max] You, friend. We're your friends. -[Lilian] Friend. Friends.
-[Max and Lilian] Friend. -[Rowe chuckles] Friend.
[Max] You see how you're fast, uh, released.
[Lilian in Romanian, laughs] The law is functioning as it should.
[Max in English] Law is working.
I'm getting out, so there is hope. There is hope.
You gotta keep that fire alive.
We hope to meet you outside.
One day.
[Max] One day. Bye.
[Lilian] Bye-bye.
[Rowe] For me, these prisoners do deserve a genuine chance
of being freed one day.
Things are beginning to change in Moldova,
but inside Rezina,
it feels like the wheels are turning painfully slowly.
[exhales]
This is a harsh, run-down prison that's oppressive and claustrophobic.
Many people here are serving long sentences,
making for a tough prison experience.
The criminal code makes it even tougher for many here,
who, under the current law, may never see the outside world again.
[theme music playing]