One in every 34 men in America has spent time in prison. For black men, one in three can expect to be incarcerated at some point. Many go in as boys and come out as grown men. These statistics can be overwhelming, even mind-numbing. But behind the cold numbers are individual human beings. Who are they? What are their names? What are the stories they want us to hear? What led to their criminality? How can they now turn their lives around, and find meaning and true freedom? How can we help them?

Here are deeply personal, candid, and sometimes raw conversations with men and women who have spent years of their lives locked up in America’s prison system. How they got there, how they survived, and how they’re coping now with the challenge of beating the odds and staying free.

Host Taymullah Abdur-Rahman has a unique connection to these stories. Currently a chaplain at Harvard University, Taymullah spent many years as chaplain for the Massachusetts Department of Correction, counseling men, young and old, through the pain of regret and the possibility of hope.