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“C-number” is the name given to a cohort of mostly elderly prisoners in Illinois prisons who were sentenced back during an era when parole boards held inordinate amount of power to determine whether prisoners were ready to be released. Since then, parole has been done away with in the state, but these men are still governed by its vestigial dictates. Now most of them are elderly, sick, and repentant and living out their final days in prison. Here’s an excellent documentary about one prisoner who’s spent 33 years in prison for killng a police officer. As grave as his crime was, it’s hard to see what society gains from his continued imprisonment.

(As a special bonus, you can also see my partner Kate in action. She represented Bacino while a law student at Northwestern.)