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New Documentary Explores The ‘Other Death Penalty’
By thinkprogress.org- Carimah Townes
Published: 07/29/2015

“It’s not better than the death sentence because it is the death sentence,” said Kenneth Hartman, a maximum-security inmate serving life without parole. “The outcome of the death penalty is death — it’s never being free again.”

So begins Toe Tag Parole: To Live And Die On Yard A, a new HBO documentary about 600 men who are sentenced to life without parole and participate in an innovative rehabilitation program created by the California Department of Corrections in 2000. The film dives into the sentencing of children to life without parole, who have to confront the ‘other death penalty.’ It follows Wilber Morales, who received three life sentences plus five years at age 16 for a murder conviction and currently lives in a single cell while he adjusts to prison culture. Viewers also meet Daniel Whitlow, who was locked up when he was 17 for a murder conviction.

Although a 2012 Supreme Court ruling says that juveniles can no longer receive mandatory minimum sentences with no chance of parole, the ruling was not retroactive. So thousands of inmates who were sentenced as juveniles are still serving life sentences. As of early 2012, there were 301 juvenile “lifers” in California.

Edgar Gomez is one such lifer who was convicted at age 14. One day, while he was hanging out with a group of friends, a member of the group shot and killed someone with a gang affiliation. Gomez did not pull the trigger, but because he was present during the gang-related killing, he was convicted of second degree murder. He was 22-years-old when the documentary was filmed.

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