[dark atmospheric music]
- How you doing, man?
My name Jovan.
I just spent three years in Grafton Correctional,
and now I'm free.
Yo, I'll be back later.
- Though we was going to talk for a while?
I know I don't know Jovan,
except through a friend of mine.
I want this roommate situation with Jovan to work out.
- Darquavion was a patient of mine.
I saw that Darquavion didn't have a safe place to go,
so I just said maybe you should come here.
- Outta there, boy!
Outta there, huh, boy?
- Woo!
It feels good.
I been waiting for this moment a long time.
- [Henry] All right man, you ready to go, DQ?
- You have to figure out what is your path,
and find out how to stay on it.
- But I wanna be able to do what I wanna do.
I gotta experience life.
He's white, we're black, you know?
He's a doctor.
- Nick was charged with possession
of a controlled substance.
I made the choice to bring Nick here to help,
because I knew his father, who passed away.
Nick doesn't have a strong household to go to.
He got caught up with a bad drug habit.
- And this is the person you are welcoming into our home?
- One mix-up, and he's out. That's it.
- I know Kyle likes to try to give people
the benefit of the doubt, but I've done that before,
and I've been burned before.
- I only know Bill through a prison pen pal program.
Welcome home!
- Hello?
- That's Mark.
- [Mark] Very nice to meet you, Bill.
- I was just released from prison
after serving 18 years for burglary, grand theft.
- We do have your list of rules.
- A little extreme.
I'm a Christian, I'm not as, probably,
as strict as they are.
I feel like I'm being pranked.
- As of today, I'm 50-50 on taking an ex-con
that we've never met into our home.
I feel it's likely that things may not work out.
[cell doors slamming] [dark dramatic music]
[tense exciting music]
- We need all the fresh fruit we can get, right?
You haven't had that in a while.
- Yeah, you're not kidding.
[soft music]
Waking up this morning, and a new house,
a beautiful house, for the first time
out of prison for 18 years,
was a surreal experience.
It was so peaceful.
I slept beautifully on a comfortable bed.
No noise, screaming, yelling, doors, count.
I'm looking forward to my breakfast.
My first breakfast as a free man.
Wow. - Is it good?
- Yes.
Man is that good.
- All right, well I'll say grace real quick.
Heavenly father, we are thankful for Bill,
his newfound freedom.
I've been very unsure this whole time
of whether or not this will work out
in the long run with Bill.
Just seems to be so much of a past that he has
that certainly things will pop up
where we will have some problems.
His ability to join us,
we ask a blessing on this food, on this breakfast.
We ask in Jesus' name, amen.
- Amen. - Amen.
I thought we were baking bacon.
What happened to the bacon?
- [Mark] Oh, no bacon here, buddy.
- I did sausage,
did a little sausages today.
- Okay. They smell good.
I know there's an aversion to meat in this household.
But I'll tell you what.
I brought back some pepperoni from the prison,
and if I have to go in the backyard and eat it,
or under my covers, I'm eating some pepperoni.
- Now that you've had some sleep overnight,
what are you thinking about the house rules?
[tense music]
- I saw the rules, and lights out at 10,
no gluttony, no R-rated movies, no pornography.
Are any of those rules negotiable?
- If Bill doesn't seem like he wants to follow the rules
and make changes he needs to to better himself,
we're just gonna have to take him to the Bible,
sit in council with him, pray with him.
- I can understand all the concerns,
and most people in the world would think
someone's coming out of prison,
right away, getting high and having five women
in the bedroom, but I don't live like that.
- Mark and I definitely by example
want to be an inspiration to him to do what is right.
- Considering these rules, I was thinking about this,
not that I'm into it or anything,
but I was wondering why it's so strict
on the pornography and the X-rated movies,
if they're not illegal.
I mean, if I was into that, I'm an adult guy.
- In the Bible, Jesus said that if one lusts after woman,
it is the same as if he had committed adultery.
- [Bill] Okay.
- Unfortunately, it's thrown at us these days
through the internet, you know?
- I heard about that.
I've never been on the internet but one time.
Mark and Sharna are very trusting in God.
I respect that.
When I found Christ, I don't think I was
as serious about trying to change my life,
but kind of in a different space now.
- I think the first temptation comes in your mind,
a temptation of lust after a woman,
as a Christian, it's gonna be a dangerous path.
- The Bible does say it's not good for a man to be alone.
[Bill laughing]
I've been locked up over 18 years.
When I left, it was CDs and DVDs.
Now every movie's on some streaming service.
I don't understand fully what any of that actually means.
I'm definitely looking forward to getting up to speed
on those technology, and getting acclimated
to things that I've been denied.
[dark tense music]
- I really don't want you breaking the rules.
- Well, I'm looking forward to getting on the internet.
[upbeat casual music]
- [Henry] Here it is. - [Maliek] Home sweet home!
- Let's get you out and get you unpacked.
- Great place, man!
- I know, right?
Ready to be free.
I told my brother and my uncle
that I was gonna move in with Henry,
and they was like, "Um, you sure?"
- Darquavion?
It's your new home.
[tense music]
just because I'm still adjusting
from being locked up for seven and a half years.
It's a lot that come with that.
- Just open that,
and in you come
to what was the dining room
before I turned it into a work place.
Now it's the main office.
Now, the next segment that we're going into
is a little messy.
And so just try to deal with the fact
that it's messy, because it's changing.
- What the hell is this?
- It's kind of a mess.
There's only one room that's not really a mess right now.
They're all getting cleaned out.
We got something to work on.
- He is a hoarder.
- One of the rooms isn't a mess.
- He's a hoarder.
I've never known that he was a hoarder like this at all.
This house is trashy as hell.
- You might as well come in and see this one room.
Am I comfortable with the clutter?
Well, back in the days when I was
making a lot more money, I just hired people
to keep it cleaned up.
And I'm not doing that now.
But we're in a big change, and it's gonna happen.
So.
I hope. [chuckling]
You know whose room this is?
- This is my room.
It say welcome, Darquavion.
You know, a home is a home.
He opened his doors for me,
so I was really grateful for that, though.
All right, Darquavion, if any of these clothes work for you,
they are yours.
[chuckles] If so.
- [Maliek] Aunt Cole said welcome home.
- Try to open that up.
See what you see.
[Darquavion chuckling] [tense music]
With Darquavion, there's a big difference
between being in prison, and being on parole.
Well now he's got options all over the place,
and he's gotta be careful he doesn't choose bad options.
What does that say?
It's a giant gift pile.
- Thank you very much.
- Yeah, yeah, yeah.
You can get settled in,
you can put your stuff where you need to put it,
and then lie down and go to sleep,
and just have a very nice, restful night.
- Actually, I'm about to go to Kalamazoo
and turn up with my brothers.
I ain't tired right now.
- You're gonna go to your brother's
and not stay here?
- [Darquavion] No.
- Can you go to Kalamazoo
with your parole and all that?
- Yeah, I can go.
I just can't go out of state unless I ask my parole.
- Okay, well that's,
so you'll be back in the morning?
- Yes, sir.
- Got an idea about what time?
- Yeah, about 10:30, 11:00
- I see.
So you gotta make choices.
- [Darquavion] Absolutely.
- Yeah, okay.
Job interview is around 1:30.
- Okay.
- I set up Darquavion going on this interview
for a job with my friend.
He's a real estate guy.
And I certainly don't want him to screw it up.
- I'm gonna be back here first thing tomorrow.
11:15, but 12,
I'll be back around 12 if I'm pushing it.
- [Henry] See you guys.
Drive safe. - [Maliek] Later, man.
- [Henry] Yeah.
[tense music]
- At the end of the day, he's an adult,
he has to make his own choices.
- If Nick is getting high again, I will leave.
- We talk everyday,
and then I don't hear from you for two days.
- I was busy.
- I think you're full of [beep], for real.
- Oh my god.
You full of [beep]
for you to have an attitude with me.
I'm not wrong.
- Yes, you was.
You was wrong.
[casual downtempo music]
- I'll have the tropical Red Bull and Tito's vodka
with a lime.
- I will do a Budweiser and a shot of Rumple Minze.
- Is bottle okay? - Yeah.
- All right.
- [Sandra] Stuff's about to be a lot different
around the house.
- Tomorrow's the big day.
We pick Nick up.
Nick was charged with possession of a controlled substance,
and he's been incarcerated for the last two and a half years
because of it.
[pensive music]
I know his dad was concerned with the path
Nick was going down.
Out of respect for his dad, I thought it would be
a good idea that I could help him
by allowing him a safe place to stay.
If he's coming into the house,
he's gonna have to help with cleaning,
and keeping the bathroom straight.
- I mean, like with him living in our house,
I don't want our lifestyle to--
- Be hindered because of him?
- Yeah, like I'm not in trouble. - And I understand that.
- I didn't do anything wrong.
If I wanna let loose on the weekends
and party a little bit.
- And I agree.
I mean, hell, I'm having myself a drink right now.
- On the weekends when we wanna have people over
to drink, like that's probably gonna make him wanna drink,
and then once you're an addict like that,
you don't get the luxury of just getting to drink,
because that one drink might make you
wanna go get high again.
- But at the end of the day, he's an adult,
he has to make his own choices.
- I don't know if Kyle fully understands
how hard it is for a drug addict to stay sober.
I don't really know Nick,
so I don't know if he's gonna use in a week,
I don't know if it's gonna be a month.
I don't know if it's gonna be ever.
It's really all in his actions once he gets out.
I've dealt with people who've used in the past,
and I know what it sounds like,
I know what it looks like.
I can see that from a mile away,
because you know, I used to date somebody
who had a drug problem,
and he's now dead because he couldn't quit using.
[exhaling]
Um, yeah.
Somebody I loved, somebody I cared very much about,
he always swore he was gonna do better,
[soft guitar music]
and he promised himself that he wasn't gonna
go hang out with the same people,
and inevitably, he did.
And he's dead now.
And that's, it's sad.
And I don't want to see that happen to Nick.
So I just need you to really hear me out
if I'm telling you that I think he's getting high,
I need you to listen to me.
- All right, I promise I will.
I will be more open-minded to listen to you,
and trust your judgment more.
- If he [beep] up, I am done.
- [Kyle] I understand.
- And if you're not done with it, I will leave.
- [Kyle] Okay.
- Me and Kyle are on the same page
with what the house rules are.
I don't want Nick bringing traffic
in and out of our house.
I don't want him to bring any drugs into our home.
- He needs to get a job right away.
He's going to pay rent while he's here.
I'm bending over backwards trying to help him,
and if he can't follow my rules, that's it.
This is a no strike policy here.
If you mess up once, you're out.
I'm not letting this play into ruining our relationship.
[soft tense music]
- I'm opening my house to Jovan,
and I expect him to be appreciative,
and communicate with me.
Well, let's get this rolling.
My fear is that Jovan will go back out in the streets.
I'm hoping he won't, but that's my fear,
because he's been doing it so long.
[knocking at door]
Well look what the wind blew in.
- Why you say that?
- 'Cause, where you been?
I ain't hear from you in two days.
- I've been with my family.
- [scoffs] You could have called me.
[tense music]
My house isn't a flop house.
I was trying to give him a stable place,
you know, so he could have a roof over his head,
and sit down, and work on everything you talked about
when he was in prison.
But now you don't show up for a couple of days,
makes me think you was bull[beep].
We talked every day, couple times a day this past year,
and then I don't hear from you for two days.
- I was kind of busy, and I didn't have a phone.
I just got a phone yesterday.
- Well you ain't call me yesterday.
- I was busy.
[tense dramatic music]
I don't want to be having to tell Artie,
hey I need to go here today,
I need to do this today,
all that type of [beep].
That would be just like prison all over again.
- Hey, I don't know what to tell you, man.
That's it.
- I think you full of [beep], for real.
- Oh my god.
You full of [beep],
for you to have an attitude with me
about me going to see my family.
- [Artie] Mm-mm.
- Like, what's wrong with you man?
- I ain't trippin'.
- [Jovan] You are. - No I'm not.
- [Jovan] I'm not wrong. - You was wrong.
- No, I'm not. - Yes, you was.
You was wrong.
- Artie.
I really don't wanna talk about it no more.
Because it's gonna piss me off now.
- I ain't gonna argue.
I'm saying what I got to say.
- [Jovan] I'm here now.
- You could have gave me five minutes in 48 hours.
Five minutes, for real Jovan?
- [Jovan] I'm sorry I didn't give you five minutes.
- Okay, okay.
Don't let that [beep] happen again.
I'm done.
You hungry?
- [Jovan] Yeah.
[tense music]
- I can understand what Jovan's going through,
because I've been there.
You get out of prison, and it's like
you wanna catch up with everyone,
and everything that you've missed out on,
and the whole point of me offering him
to be my roommate is so that I can hold him
accountable for his actions.
But the stuff he's doing,
I'm not really sure he's ready to change.
- It wasn't like I was, you know what I'm saying,
messing around, doing anything.
I was-- - You stuttering.
- [Jovan] With my family.
- Whatever.
- Listen, man.
- I'ma give him a chance and see what happens,
but I still think this is some bull [beep].
- I'll probably be down in about a half hour,
20 minutes or something like that.
- [Artie] All right.
- I just want a little time to myself.
- [Artie] All right.
- [beep].
[Jovan sighs]
I feel bad, but it's a two-way street.
Her attitude is what I'm not feeling right now,
and I hope she don't keep that type of attitude,
because if she do,
I don't think this is gonna work.
And if it don't work, I don't know what I'm gonna do.
[beep], man.
[tense music]
- I appreciate you letting me use your vehicle
to try to practice today.
- Yeah, not a problem.
I'm sure you'll do fine.
- I'm sure I will, too.
It's like riding a bike or sex.
You don't really forget.
[playful music]
- Bill was released from prison yesterday,
and although I'm not 100% onboard with him
living in our house, I do want him to succeed,
and getting his license will be a big part of that.
- Last time I drove a car was about 18 years ago,
and it was probably a stolen car situation.
- So right here is your reverse, neutral, drive,
emergency break, yeah.
Flashers.
- Mark is acting like he needs to show me
what everything in the car does.
I was one of the top getaway drivers in the country
before I got locked up.
Well Mark, you know I've done a lot of high speed chases.
One of the instances that stands out
is when I played chicken with the police,
accelerated to about 100 miles an hour,
playing chicken with them.
They all pulled on the shoulder of the road
and let me pass.
Completely gave up the chase.
- Oh, man.
[exciting rock music]
[Bill laughs]
Whoa!
[engine revving]
- When I was younger, we used to steal
a lot of cars in New York,
and for example, if I stole a Cadillac,
or whatever we were stealing at the time,
I'd have a few days of fun with them.
- What are you doing?
- I might race it through the snow
at 40 miles an hour, spin out in the snow,
and learn how to handle on really dangerous situations,
and I just became a very good driver
by learning how to drive under dangerous circumstances.
- [Mark] All right, brake, brake, brake.
- Okay.
I was hoping we'd find a bigger lot
where I could really just open it up a little bit.
- No, this is all you can handle for sure.
[tense music]
Bill was driving like a maniac.
This feels more like a joy ride in a stolen car.
This is enough.
I don't think I'm ever gonna let Bill
behind the wheel of my car again.
The problem is you're driving way too fast,
erratically, irresponsibly, and we're out of here.
- I think that Sharna and him need to lighten up,
and Mark needs to, after that trip,
probably wash his underwear.
[tense music]
- [Jovan] What you cooking?
- Frying some chicken, I got some macaroni and cheese.
- What? - I got some corn.
- [Jovan] Man, that sounds good.
- [Artie] Mm-hmm.
- Artie's important to me,
because I got a lot to lose.
I'm gonna have to figure this out,
because it is her house,
and it is very important for me not to go back to prison.
Oh man, that's real chicken.
- [Artie] Yeah.
- Before I turned 12 years old,
I was never thinking about selling drugs
or anything like that.
I'm figuring like, I'm gonna go to school,
graduate, go to college,
become an astronaut, you know?
Damn.
- I did everything except kill it.
[Jovan laughing]
- But I'm just seeing the fly stuff,
you know, the money and everything.
You've got the fancy clothes,
you've got your car, you've got your jewelry.
All the girls on you, you know what I'm saying?
It's like, that's a good feeling.
It was like, how would you say,
like a status symbol.
- [Artie] What's going on?
- Nothing.
Just, I don't want to have at it again, you know?
I wanna have peace.
And I don't like being inconsidered.
- Right.
- [Artie] You know, 'cause... [tense music]
- Yeah, I mean I'll make sure we stay on the same page.
- I hope so.
- I've been to prison four different times.
First one is for drug trafficking.
The second one was for robbery.
The third one is for drug trafficking.
The fourth one was for drug trafficking.
I'm 41 years old, and I've spent 11
of those years in prison
that I can't get back.
I can't wait to taste that.
- I have to remember when I got out of prison,
I wanted to run around also, you know?
And I made mistakes, he's making mistakes.
People make mistakes.
But my eyes are wide open.
Believe it.
- Hey, mom. - [Artie] Hey baby.
- How are you? - [Artie] I'm good!
- [Steven] Oh, what's up man?
- Jovan, that's my son. That's Steve.
Steve, that's Jovan.
- How you doing, man? - [Jovan] All right, man.
- [Steven] It's nice to meet you though
for the first time, man. - Yeah.
- [Steven] Because I don't know who you is,
you know what I'm saying?
[tense music]
- My son Steven really doesn't like the idea
of me letting Jovan stay with me.
Steven was saying that Jovan could be
a serial killer, and yeah, maybe he could be.
But I really don't think my friend
that introduced me to Jovan
would even introduce me to somebody like that.
And he's known Jovan for years.
- I'm just here to make sure, you know,
you just respecting her, respecting the house,
everything, you know what I'm saying?
I just don't want no out of line, nothing, you know?
- [Jovan] Yeah.
- It's all a respect thing, you know what I'm saying?
- Man, I understand where you're coming from,
young blood, but I'm a grown man.
I ain't gonna be walking on no eggshells.
[tense music]
- I'm not too comfortable with the whole thing,
because it's a random man coming and staying
in my mother's house that just got out of prison,
you know what I mean?
It'll be in the back of my head,
like oh damn, what if something happened
or went wrong.
And as soon as you disrespect her or her house,
then you disrespect me,
and things could go left real fast,
[beep] can get out of here.
- [Artie] My boy's so protective.
- Oh man, I see that.
That's your son, so I understand.
- [Artie] He's the only one.
Mm-hmm.
- I understand Steve's concerns,
but he need to understand, man,
I'm not here to ruin his mother's life.
I'm a father of a young daughter,
and I'm trying to turn my life around.
I'm not looking to create no problems for someone.
If I can't stay here and get along with Steven,
and Artie just asked to put me out,
that's gonna put me in a situation.
You cool with me, you know what I'm saying, staying here?
- I still, I mean I ain't cool with it.
- Right, okay. [Artie laughs]
- I see she really wanna help you out though,
you know what I'm saying?
- I'm gonna show respect, man.
As long as I'm given respect, you'll receive it, you know?
- [Steven] Right, right.
- Mm-hmm.
[tense music]
[casual upbeat music]
- [Mark] Yeah, so here's downtown Elkhart.
- Where's the motor vehicle department?
I have to get my driver's license.
- To your left.
- That's it right there? - Yeah.
- Since getting out of prison, everything has felt so surreal.
Mark's been helping me acclimate
and get the things I need on the outside.
And I'm hoping that our friendship develops,
and that that will result in a loosening
of some of the rules.
What interstate is that there?
20?
- That would be 20 bypass, yeah.
- We're not leaving the county, are we?
- No, we're not leaving the state either.
[Mark laughs]
Today I'm going with Bill to buy a smartphone.
Bill's staying here is gonna be dependent
on his ability to get a job
and be stable in life,
and get just the basics of what he needs to know.
- [Attendant] How you doing today?
- Hi. - Hey, doing good.
- All right, how are you? - How can I help you?
- We're just looking for a phone.
You got electronics?
- Yeah, yeah.
I got some phones over here,
if you wanna talk a look.
- Okay.
- I have this one right here.
- Check it out.
What do you think, Bill?
- I don't know what I'm looking at.
It's extremely overwhelming with all these new things
and technology that everybody in the world
has had years to slowly acclimate
and be introduced to, and I'm getting hit with it
all on day one.
Wow.
The phone is just like completely freaking me out.
[laughing] You know?
Imagine me coming out of prison,
the last thing was a Nokia phone or a Motorola flip phone.
And how do I use these things?
Do I have to take a course,
or is there a course online?
I'm looking forward to the challenge
of learning to use it.
I haven't seen a smartphone really ever.
- Yeah?
- I've been in prison the last 18 years.
- Oh wow.
- Yeah? [all laughing]
I shouldn't be worried then, should I?
- [Bill] No, no, no.
Turned my life around.
- Awesome.
What did you go to prison for?
- Well, [chuckles] I was a jewel and art thief.
Then I escaped from prison.
- Wow.
- And I got more time for the escape.
So it's my second day in Indiana.
- Well I'm glad we can help you out
and get you some items that you need
to get you going.
- Appreciate it.
So this will allow me to call anywhere in the country,
and just like a regular phone?
- Pretty much, yeah.
Once you get your plan signed up.
- Life is good, compared to 18 years of deprivation.
I'm looking forward to doing, I think they call it
FaceTime, something where you see a video of somebody.
I see you have a lot of nice jewelry here.
- Mm-hmm.
- Some engagement rings.
And maybe we can turn it in one day for a nice ring.
- Yeah.
When you're ready, come see us.
We'll fix you up.
- Okay.
I haven't told Mark and Sharna
about my girlfriend Mary who I met over the phone
while I was in prison.
With all their restrictions and rules,
I'm not sure what they'll think about my relationship.
I'm very happy to be getting this phone.
Maybe it will help me get around the rules,
and have some private video time with Mary.
- All right, let's go ahead and get it.
- [Attendant] All right.
We'll get that packaged up for you.
Follow me.
- Mary lives in central California area.
I've gotten to know Mary, and I met her through a friend.
She was looking for help for an incarcerated client.
She got in touch with me,
we started talking.
We quickly fell in love.
We felt all the same vibe as we were speaking.
- I'll do 75 even on that for you.
Okay.
- That's awesome. I really appreciate it.
She's gonna be part of my life going forward.
I just hope that Mark and Sharna
respect my relationship with Mary.
- And there's your receipt.
- [Mark] All right, thank you.
- Thank you.
- [Bill] All right, thank you.
- Enjoy.
[tense music]
- Ready to go get our new roommate?
- Yeah.
- [Kyle] Let's go.
Hopefully the weather's good and traffic's not too bad
for the drive.
- [Sandra] Yeah, let's hope.
- It's a long drive there and a long drive back.
But drive back should hopefully be pretty interesting.
[tense music]
I see it up on the hill. Do you?
That big building up there?
- Yeah, the one up there?
- [Kyle] That's gotta be it.
[beep]'s about to get real as [beep] for him.
- Ready or not.
It's happening.
[dark tense music]
Wow.
- Holy [beep].
- Definitely not a place I wanna go.
- [beep] this.
Look at the wall of barbed wire here.
Careful, it's a little slick out.
- [Sandra] Brr!
- [Kyle] Kyle [beep].
- [Kyle] Okay.
[beep], it is cold.
[Sandra shivering]
I'm excited to see him, though.
- I don't know if excited is the right word, though.
Not ready to share my bathroom
and our tiny house with this person
I don't even know.
- Just have to figure that [beep] out
when he gets out here in about 30 minutes here, hopefully.
[tense exciting music]
Getting anxious, getting eager.
They need to hurry up. Let him out. Let's go.
[tense music]
- There he is. Yeah.
- [Kyle] That's him.
[soft music]
There he is.
[Kyle chuckling]
What up, dude?
- [Nick] What's up, buddy?
- [Kyle] [beep] the box, man.
Put it down.
What's up, dog?
[both groaning]
How are you, man?
This is Sandra.
- [Nick] Thank you guys for coming to get me, hi Sandra.
- Nice to meet ya.
- Nice to meet you. - Let me get this for you, man.
- It's real.
It's been a long time coming now.
I've had two birthdays here.
I am finally out of this place.
I cannot wait to put this behind me
and get on to some new better things.
I'm gonna do things right this time.
- [beep] this place, dude. - Thank you, for real.
Thank you so much.
With my dad gone, Kyle and Sandra have been willing
to open their doors to me.
Seemed like my best option.
I'm gonna just keep myself as busy as possible.
If I don't have time to do anything bad,
then I'm not gonna get myself in trouble.
I just gotta stay on the right track,
working, and gotta get back to normal life now,
and get in the groove of things.
- Let's get out of here.
I hope you learned something while you were here, boy.
- [Nick] Mm-hmm.
[soft music]
- [Sharna] Let's have some lunch.
- I'm starving.
Sharna stood by me in prison.
She was never judgmental towards me.
She never really asked me about my crime.
She was just trying to be an encouragement,
and tell me about life out here.
And we're like best friends.
Since I've gotten out of prison,
the reality of living with Mark and Sharna
is far different than I've expected.
You know, I could eat the whole menu.
- Do you need to? [chuckling]
I thought you were gonna diet and lose your extra weight.
- Are we ready?
- I'll try to lose weight. - Yes.
- Are you trying the burger?
- I think I was going for a chicken patty
with pepper jack, Swiss, and provolone.
- [Waitress] Okay.
- And how about some bacon on it?
- [Waitress] Perfect.
- [Bill] Thank you. - [Waitress] Thank you!
- Bill moved here knowing we were vegetarians.
His letters before he got out
was that he's gonna be so happy
to have all the vegetables and fruits,
and a vegetarian diet.
His stubbornness is definitely a bad thing
in a living situation.
I feel it's very disrespectful.
- Waitress is kinda cute. [chuckling]
I'm just kidding, Sharna.
But I guess coming out of prison,
all women are cute and beautiful and wonderful.
[chuckling]
- He's been with men for years in prison,
and they're pretty coarse people,
and they probably just talk men language
and gutter language, like would be out on the streets.
I think he's lost a lot of manners in society.
But he doesn't need to be making inappropriate comments
about other women being pretty.
That's good?
- Really good.
Should be illegal.
- [Sharna] [laughing] Illegal?
- This should be in prison, not me.
[both laughing]
I wish I could mail some of these to Mary.
[chuckling]
[tense music]
- Bewildered would be a word to explain how I felt
when he said he had a girlfriend,
because I can't imagine it's very easy
to find a girlfriend when you're in prison.
- I prayed for a long time
for a woman that believed in God,
had a good education.
Months before my release, I meet the woman
who answered all my prayers.
- I've known Bill for more than five years
at the point of his release,
and I did not know about this girlfriend.
- [Bill] We've committed to getting married as well.
There's been no formal proposal.
- How long have you known Mary?
- Not even three months,
and we spend the entire day on the phone.
- Okay.
Well, I'm just telling you from my own experiences
that you need to take your time.
That has increased my anxiety about Bill coming here.
I want Bill to take
accountability and responsibility,
and I'm just worried that he's very focused on Mary.
Three months isn't very long.
- [Bill] We'll see what happens.
[tense music]
[Facetime ringtone]
- He's really supposed to be here by now,
and he's not here yet.
He's talked so much about how much
when he got out, he just wants to find a job.
He has no way to find one,
except that then I hooked up with someone
who could give him one, and he has an interview,
and he's not back for it yet.
[Facetime ringtone]
Hey, Joe? - Hey.
- Well, I was just calling to check in
because those guys are supposed to be here,
and they're not here.
- [Henry] Nope.
- [Henry] Yup, concerns me.
[tense music]
- [Henry] Yeah, all right great. Appreciate your help.
- Yeah, see you soon.
Bye. - All right.
- Everyone who gets out of prison is set up to fail.
So what do people getting out of prison need?
They need to have a plan, one that really matters.
Well, I'm worried that he has not been well prepared
by the prison system for getting out,
and it's hard for me to see that,
and know he's struggling,
and know there's nothing I can do.
And we're gonna have to be careful.
[Facetime ringtone]
[soft tense music]
- I just got out of prison. My first day out.
I was currently in prison for racketeering,
but that's behind me.
I did five years for it, so this is my day.
I got a letter from Robert.
He politely informed me that I wouldn't be
allowed to stay at his place.
I am devastated about not being able
to stay with Robert, and fulfill our obligations there.
It was a real big blow,
but I'm gonna have to do what I gotta do.
You know, rebound.
Right now I gotta go inside.
My bus leaves in 18 minutes.
Just 1,000 things are going through my head right now.
I'm nervous, I just want things to be right,
I want the future to be solid.
I want things to happen so I can get back
to my children and my family, you know?
- I have a guy in Atlanta that I've worked for
in the past, and possibly I could contact him
and see if he'd be able to put me on.
This is to Robert, you know, I wish you the best.
No hard feelings.
I appreciate everything you've done for me
up until this point, and I'll see you.
But I gotta go.
Bus is here, gotta go.
[soft music]
- Want me to get in there? - Yeah, if you would.
I feel terrible.
I cannot open my home up to him.
I feel like I failed.
- You kidding?
I gave him hope.
I gave...
Damn right, I feel like a failure!
What the hell am I?
Is he coming here?
No.
I can't do this anymore.
I'm sorry, I'm done.
Aaron, I'm sorry, son.
I screwed you.
But I'm finished.
Y'all pack your [beep] up and go home.
I can't do it.
I hate what the hell I feel like.
[Robert sniffling] Come on, cat.
- I'm about to bring an inmate into my home named Ariel,
who is getting released from prison.
- She got in trouble for fraud.
You don't know this woman.
She could do literally anything.
- [Kyle] One thing I do want to talk to you about
- That's not gonna happen, okay?
- No, yes we are.
- No. Like I'm a [beep] kindergartner?
- I have to put my sandwiches in the air conditioning vent
because I'm not allowed to use their refrigerator.
This is so ridiculous.
- Me being late, though--
- That wasn't okay.
You don't really know what empathy is.
That's okay.