Prison No Education: Black man in dark winter jacket, hat and pants stands leaning against front of bright red semi-truck parked next to a white semi-truck on asphalt parking lot under gray, rainy sky

Many states don’t educate people sentenced to life. Now some are coming home.

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When Yusef Qualls-El was 17, a judge sentenced him to life behind bars. It was the mid-1990s, an era when the U.S. prison population exploded. Thousands of minors like Qualls-El received sentences of life without parole and entered prison at an age when their peers were going to college or starting their careers. But inside, education is often reserved for those who will soon return to society. As a result, those who were seen as the least likely to get out had the fewest opportunities.