A documentary directed by Jonathan Stack and Liz Garbus; co-directed by Wilbert Rideau.

A blue penitentiary bus drops off inmates at the cemetery for a funeral. A gospel choir sings, "Praise the Lord, Hallelulah, I'm free." The narrator says: "Angola is the largest maximum security prison in America. A world unto itself." Eighty-five percent of its prisoners will die here. The story of six men trying to overcome the odds.

George Crawford: life for first-degree murder at 22. "Life means life." "You're never coming home." Inmates in white jumpsuits marching into the cellblock. Nine hundred admissions in 1997, most lifers, 77% black. Crawford denies the murder but admits his criminal past. He dropped out of school in the eighth grade. He's heard a lot about Angola: "I'm scared." Assigned to a two-man cell at Camp D. Inventory of all his property. He looks through his collection of photos-the life he's left behind.

Eugene "Bishop" Tannehill has been at Angola since 1959, 38 years, serving a life sentence for murder. Showing his footlocker full of pills. The camera goes down the line of beds in a dormitory. "Three things Angola will do for a man," Tannehill says:

1. Bring you to a turning point.

2. Harden you into a better criminal.

3. Kill you.

Serving time is like a 2,000-piece puzzle: your life is scattered, and you have to put it back together.

Showing the dog kennels. Ashanti Witherspoon giving an orientation talk to the new inmates. He came to Angola in 1972 after a shootout with Shreveport police. He is serving 75 years for armed robbery. "People are going to cut you loose. You will end up alone. But there's always hope." He says he arrived when Angola was the bloodiest prison in America. He shows the contents of his parole folder.

Logan "Bones" Theriot, in the Angola hospital with lung cancer, says the prison is not such a terrible place. You can live a life and help other people. He is in prison for killing his wife, after she mistreated their child (fathered by another man, he says, when he was out of the country). "Your life's not finished because you're in Angola."

Farm lines going out to work. Crawford pulling onions in the field: says it's the first time he ever worked in his life.

Burl Cain appears on the scene, describing the origins of Angola as a slave plantation. Running the farm as a business. Six complexes spread over 18,000 acres, employing 1,800. The prison town, "B-Line," home to 200 families, is "the safest town in America." (24:10)

KLSP-the prison radio station. John Brown on death row. The day of the crime-doing coke and feeling weird. Trying to do a robbery. Stabbing a man to death. He has been on death row 12 years. He is shown in the cell listening to music. Says he's changed on death row (his front teeth are missing): he has more concern for others, things have more meaning.

Vincent Simmons, serving two terms for aggravated rape, claims to be an innocent man. He says he was railroaded by the local sheriff (in Avoyelles Parish). He takes his evidence to a parole board hearing. The victim speaks first. Irv Magri jumps in to support her as victim. Even though it happened 20 years ago, the victim still lives in fear. Simmons comes in with his package of evidence. He denies the two rapes, and denies grabbing a gun just before police shot him during questioning. The doctor's report said the two victims were virgins. The lineup photo shows that he is the only suspect handcuffed. Parole board members, mindful of the camera, discuss the case. They deny his parole. Hearing over: "I did 20 years on a hundred. That mean I got 80 more."

George Crawford says he's not worried about surviving. He's worried about getting out. He calls his mother about visiting. She asks, "How do you get to Angola?" The camera picks up his mother among the visitors processing in. George is taken to visit his mother in the dining hall. When they talk, his mother starts crying. She says he got a bad deal because they had no money. She doesn't believe he is guilty. She leaves, he stays behind.

Ashanti Witherspoon leaves prison with the CPR team to do training in Baton Rouge. They ride in a prison van. He speaks to the group being trained. He says on camera he could escape, but he doesn't want to: he wants "real freedom." Being trying for 25 years to get out. (47:50)

Bishop Tannehill speaking as we look out at men on the yard. He says, "I don't think I could be this free on the outside ... not from within." He says he was ignorant when he came to prison. Now he is an ordained minister. Cut to men (almost all black) singing in a prison church service. The Bishop starts to speak: he is transformed into a fiery evangelical preacher. "God still exists behind prison bars." He tells the story of how he came to prison in a loud, confessional, emotional delivery, while the other men clap, closing with, "Repent," spoken over and over. After 38 years in prison, the pardon board has recommended him for a pardon. He leaves it in God's hands.

The nurse says Bones Theriot is not eating. He says he is ready to leave this planet. He is happy to be going. He isn't worried where he will be buried, or how he will be judged. "I'm ready."

Point Lookout prison cemetery: the prisoner's worst nightmare. The Angolite magazine. Wilbert Rideau and Lane Nelson interview John A. Brown before his execution. He says he doesn't like to think about the part where his breathing and heart stop. He says he knows he will be paralyzed and suffocating, while his mind is still alive. The execution team practices in the death house. The doctor takes part in the practice. They work on details, like moving the speaker's stand out of the way.

John Brown goes to a pardon board hearing, asking for a commutation to a life sentence. Sally McKissack presides as chairman. His lawyer's speak first, asking for mercy. The victim's stepson speaks of the violence done his stepfather-and the mental problems his mother suffered after the killing, resulting in her hospitalization. The family seeks "closure," not vengeance. The pardon board rejects clemency. Cain says he wishes the victims were more forgiving. The prison sees both sides of the struggle between good and evil.

KLSP broadcasting on Christmas Eve. Religious visitors go to Camp J to cheer up the men in lockdown. One of the visitors is dressed in a clown suit (making this one of the most bizarre scenes in recent prison films). The convicts are smiling and in good spirits.

The warden is prowling the interior of the prison at night-trying to keep despair down and hope up. "Our job is to keep hope." Getting out is like winning the lottery : 85% of the convicts will die at Angola. Cain praises Ashanti Witherspoon as an inmate lawyer. Witherspoon has done 25 years of a 75-year sentence.

Rideau and four other inmates (James West, Kerry Myers, Norris Henderson, and Checo Yancy) visit Bones Theriot in his hospital room. They bring him food. He is reflective: "It's not where you go, it's how you go." He speaks about convicts wanting to die outside of prison. But then he tells his visitors that he has decided to be buried in Point Lookout, where his friends are. He says he is thankful he had the extra time in prison to find peace with God. He wishes them the same, and they say goodbye.

A rainy spring morning on the walk. The prison is on flood watch. "Wade in the Water" plays on the radio station while inmates sandbag the levee. The prison would be under water if the river breaks the levee. Cain doesn't want to evacuate. The river rises to the edge of the prison, then subsides a week later.

John Brown's last day on death row. He will be executed the next day. He still has hope of court intervention. Brown is moved to Camp F on execution day. He smokes and waits on the Supreme Court decision. Cain says the staff is okay with what they have to do. Brown says he believes in Heaven: the way to get there is to be "Christ-like." He's not sure he's there yet. The camera pans the debris left after the last meal. The warden says Brown was upset when his family left, but they got him settled again. Cain speaks: "At 12:12 p.m. (should be a.m.) we sent his soul for final judgment. Brown last words: "Wow!"

Cain is talking about hope again: if we give up hope here, look forward to the next life.

Witherspoon says he wants to take a bath when he gets out. The parole board denies him a hearing.

Tannehill says he would feel joy if he were released. His pardon is on the governor's desk awaiting approval.

Vincent Simmons still dreams of freedom. His appeal was rejected by the Supreme Court.

George Crawford's family is trying to raise money for the transcripts he needs for his appeal.

The convicts meet Bones Theriot's family at the cemetery. The family had wanted to bury him outside. His sister is upset, but the other sister had the legal authority to decide. Singing "I'm free" as the funeral proceeds. The coffin is lowered into the grave and dirt begins to fill the hole. The end. (1:29:00)