“Two Strikes” tells the story of Mark Jones, a 37-year-old former West Point cadet suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder and alcoholism. He is sentenced to life in prison in Florida after an unsuccessful carjacking — because of a statute that increases prison time for repeat offenders. Jones’ earlier arrests had been for minor crimes, and he spent a year in prison for stealing a $400 tool set from a Home Depot. But the “two-strikes” law allows the maximum punishment for people who commit a felony within three years of leaving prison, even for a failed carjacking attempt in which no one was physically injured.
“My sentence is life without the possibility of parole,” Jones says. “So I’m in here till I die.”
Mark’s story is part of a Marshall Project investigative series by Cary Aspinwall into the reasons behind the steep national increase in the use of life-without-parole sentences. She and data reporter Weihua Li found that Florida has far more people serving life without parole than any other state — almost a quarter of the total nationwide in 2021 — in part because of its punitive “two strikes” law.
Directed by FRONTLINE/Firelight Media Filmmaker Fellow Ursula Liang, producer Tessa Travis, and co-produced and reported by Aspinwall, “Two Strikes” is an intimate portrait of what it means to sentence someone to die in prison, and the real life consequences of harsh sentencing laws.
In addition to FRONTLINE (PBS), “Two Strikes” is produced in association with Firelight Media. It premiered at the Florida Film Festival in April 2023.
Tutwiler“Tutwiler” tells the story of expectant mothers behind bars at Alabama’s Julia Tutwiler Prison for Women. Working with a group of doulas from the Alabama Prison Birth Project, the women attend parenting classes, dream up names for their babies, and plan for life after prison.
But nothing can fully prepare them for what they will endure: Once they’re taken to a nearby hospital to give birth, they typically get 24 hours with their newborn before being sent back to prison.
As one woman says, “When you were locked up your whole pregnancy and it was just you and that baby, and then to walk away from the person that’s been there with you, it makes the strongest person break.”
“Tutwiler,” a documentary short from Academy Award-nominated filmmaker Elaine McMillion Sheldon (Heroin(e), Recovery Boys, King Coal) and reported by The Marshall Project’s Alysia Santo, offers a rare and powerful look into the reality of pregnancy and parenthood behind bars.
Produced in association with World’s America ReFramed, “Tutwiler” won the audience award at the 2019 New Orleans Film Festival, had its world premiere at Hot Springs Film Festival in October 2019, and screened at the 2020 Full Frame Documentary Film Festival. The film originally broadcast on World on May 19, 2020.
TWO STRIKES
Produced and Directed by Ursula Liang
PRODUCED BY Tessa Travis
EDITED BY Eugene Yi
CO-PRODUCED & REPORTED BY Cary Apsinwall
CINEMATOGRAPHY Isaac Mead-Long
SENIOR PRODUCERS
Carla Borrás
Monika Navarro
ORIGINAL MUSIC Andrew Orkin
ASSISTANT EDITOR John Beder
GRAPHICS AND MOTION DESIGN Miles Alvord
ARCHIVAL PRODUCER Alethea Pace
OFFICE PRODUCTION ASSISTANT James Valdez
RESEARCHER Maurice Possley
PRODUCTION ASSISTANT Hilmari Gaines
SOUND RECORDIST Mike Garofalo
ONLINE EDITOR/COLORIST Jim Ferguson
SOUND MIX Jim Sullivan
VOICE OF EUNICE HOPKINS Patricia Alvarado Núñez
ARCHIVAL MATERIAL
Shutterstock
Florida Department of Corrections Press Office
Wolfson Archive - Miami Dade College
The Jones family
ADDITIONAL MATERIAL
The Florida Channel
ABC Action News 9
Spectrum News 9
Florida State Legislature
State Archives of Florida
WPMI
SPECIAL THANKS
Suejean Ahn
Diane Garthwaite
Matthew H. Liang
Bibiana Murillo
Brett Story
Robert Jones
Heather Gatheridge
June Morgan
Hailey Lingebach
Tiffany Evans
Eustesia McCree
Dexter McCree
Deborah Brennan
Ren Ying Wu
Abigail Ahn Yi
William Still III
Heather Gatheridge
FOR THE MARSHALL PROJECT
REPORTER Cary Aspinwall
ADDITIONAL REPORTING
Weihua Li
Dan Sullivan
SENIOR EDITOR, STORYTELLING Raghuram Vadarevu
SENIOR EDITOR Leslie Eaton
EDITORIAL DIRECTOR Ruth Baldwin
MANAGING EDITOR Geraldine Sealey
EDITOR-IN-CHIEF Susan Chira
FOR FIRELIGHT MEDIA
FILM MENTOR David Teague
LEGAL COUNSEL Fernando Ramirez
SPECIAL INITIATIVES PRODUCER Nicole Docta
SUPERVISING PRODUCER Julia Pontecorvo
SENIOR DIRECTOR ARTIST PROGRAMS Monika Navarro
PRESIDENT Marcia Smith
A FRONTLINE Production with Noncompliant Films in association with Firelight Media & The Marshall Project
Copyright: 2023
WGBH Educational Foundation, Firelight Media, Inc. & Noncompliant Films LLC
All Rights Reserved.
TUTWILER
WRITTEN & DIRECTED BY Elaine McMillion Sheldon
PRODUCED & REPORTED BY Alysia Santo
EDITED BY
Chad Ervin
Elaine McMillion Sheldon
PRINCIPAL PHOTOGRAPHY Elaine McMillion Sheldon
ORIGINAL MUSIC Francois-Paul Aiche
SENIOR PRODUCER Carla Borrás
ASSOCIATE PRODUCER Molly Born
ADDITIONAL EDITING
Iva Radivojevic
Molly Born
ADDITIONAL CAMERA
Lily Keber
Nisa East
ONLINE EDITOR/COLORIST Jim Ferguson
SOUND MIX
Christopher D. Anderson, C.A.S.
Jim Sullivan
SPECIAL THANKS
Penelope Falk
Leslie Simmer
Curren Sheldon
Kristen Nutile
Sarah Ginsburg
FOR THE MARSHALL PROJECT
REPORTER Alysia Santo
MANAGING EDITOR Geraldine Sealey
EDITORIAL DIRECTOR Ruth Baldwin
EDITOR-IN-CHIEF Susan Chira
A Requisite Media Film for FRONTLINE and The Marshall Project in association with WORLD Channel America ReFramed.
Copyright: 2020, 2023
WGBH Educational Foundation and The Marshall Project
All Rights Reserved
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