Jeff Solomon, a jewish man raised by black parents, dedicates his life to serving the public as a parole officer and dealing with dangerous felons. At the suggestion of his bosses, and against the wishes of his wife, Solomon takes a position teaching reading to a New York City Public School System class of illiterate future felons. In order to keep his students out of the prison system and teach them to read, Solomon must fight the school system itself....

Probation officer Cathy Madden is given the task of rehabilitating notorious killer 'Bloody' Mary Laidlaw back into society after twenty years in jail. Cathy has always believed that every client deserves a shot at redemption, but her beliefs are firmly tested when two children disappear near 'Bloody' Mary's farm.

Jack Mabry, a parole officer days away from retirement, is asked to review the case of Gerald 'Stone' Creeson, in prison for arson. Now eligible for early release, Stone needs to convince Jack he has reformed, but his attempts to influence the older man's decision with his wife Lucetta have profound and unexpected effects on them both.

Erroll Babbage has spent his career tracking sex offenders, and his unorthodox methods are nearly as brutal as the criminals he monitors. When he links one of his deranged parolees to the disappearance of a local girl, he and his new partner must scour the S&M underground to find her before it's too late.

Follows the intertwining stories of Walter Dishman, a melancholy parole officer struggling with the doldrums of married life, and three eccentric ex-convicts recently placed under his supervision.

John Bricker, recently released from a prison sentence for manslaughter, finds himself lured into the illegal world of underground fighting.

Follow former prisoners through the challenges of their first year on parole. With unique access, the film goes inside the effort to change the way parole works in Connecticut and reduce the number of people returning to prison.

Paul Crump, who robbed the Chicago stockyards on March 20, 1953, with four other black men, shot one guard to death. He was sentenced to die in the electric chair. William Friedkin met Crump in the Cook County Jail. Friedkin was impressed by the "model prisoner", Crump. Friedkin produced this documentary as an impassionate plea for Crump's return to society.