From the day the FBI arrested him in 2003 and told him the government was seeking the death penalty, Benjamin Frandsen labored fiercely for his release. His case was overturned twice on appeal (his third trial will likely be overturned again this year), and he was found suitable for parole three times in a row. Five separate times he beat LIFE in California. After 18 years fighting a sentence that began as Life Without the Possibility of Parole, the Parole Board finally released him on December 10, 2021.
Today Ben talks with rehabilitative director and drug counselor Jeff Stofle about mass incarceration in the U.S. and some of the misconceptions that add to the problem. As a former "lifer" himself, who has been counseling and working with parolees for the last four years, Jeff talks statistics and why the general public should care: 95% of the people in prison WILL get out. How does society want those people to be when they're paroled- angry and bitter over long prison stays, without any coping skills, or rehabilitated and ready for a second chance? Ben gives his audience a call action to get involved with organizations who are already laboring to drag the darkness of mass incarceration into the light.