don't forget hannity.com. let not your heart be troubled a lot is coming. have a great night. ♪ >> laura: welcome to this special edition of "the ingraham angle," i'm laura ingraham. there are currently more than 2 million people behind bars in the united states. every year, 600,000 more enter the prison system. as the race for 2020 ramps up criminal justice reform has taken center stage. >> we have laid out what we think is perhaps the boldest criminal justice reform act in the history of the united states politics. >> the system as a whole is a cancer on the soul of our

country. >> our criminal justice system isn't working. >> laura: president trump, the one those folks ran races against, has already taken major steps towards fixing that system. last december he signed in a law called the first step act. the legislation reduces mandatory minimum sentences in certain instances and expands on good time credits for well behaved prisoners looking for shorter sentences. it also instructs the department of justice to establish a risk and needs assessment system to classify risk and provide guidance on housing, grouping and program assignment. this summer, president trump unveiled the second chance act. it's a program that encourages employers to hire formerly incarcerated individuals. the goal is to reduce the unemployment rate for those folks over the next five years. >> they are here today to announce a vital new action that we are taking to help former inmates find a job, lives a crime free life, and succeed beyond their wildest dreams. now we must make sure that those

returning from prison get a true second chance. right? america wins when citizens with a criminal record can contribute to their communities as law-abiding members of our society. when the former inmates come home, the single most important action we can take is to help them find a really, really good job where they like the job and they want to go in and make a lot of money, and that is what is happening. second chance hiring is about safer communities, a stronger workforce, and a thriving economy. we believe in the dignity of work and the pride of a paycheck. >> without a second chance, i don't know where i would have been. i'm not sure if i could have stayed sober. i certainly know i couldn't have contributed at the level i did. i'm married and i have the ability to be standing here with you, mr. president. thank you for taking on criminal justice reform. folks, this is the public safety issue of our time, this is the

justice issue of our time, this is the civil rights issue of our time, this is the prosperity issue of our time. mr. president, thanks to you it's all of our time. >> we want to make sure every american is prepared for the jobs of today and for the industries of tomorrow and together we are expanding the blessings of america for every citizen from every background and every community and every walk of life. we are breaking down old barriers, tearing down yesterday's obstacles, and replacing the failures of the past with the bright and limitless future. that is what we have going, a limitless future. so many people in this room and so many people outside of this room has been given a second and in some cases a third chance and i will say they are really really making it. >> i never thought i would be

standing here on this podium so i'm going to suck all of this moment up while i'm standing here. [cheers and applause] >> this is why i'm so grateful for what happened around the country. with the first step act and what we are doing outcome of the second chances, even once that came home, and it was still very challenging for me to get a job. after i finally found a job at a paint store, minimum wage job, i was very grateful just to be able to get a job and it was really only because of the way they worded one of the questions on the application. it allowed me to be able to eventually start my first business at the prison which was the painting business. we ended up hiring over 18 employees and we realized the first 15 were all returning citizens just like me. it while we were building opportunities for other men and women to come home and have a great place to be able to work we wanted to venture out a

little bit further in the 2012 we started our first tech business. that is now a venture backed company that connects families back to their incarcerated loved ones the same way that my mom wrote me letters and pictures when i was in prison. we have connected over 140,000 families around the country and i'm so grateful because of the reinforces that are flowing back into these prison cells, using our tech and building the next generation of entrepreneurs leaders, business executives like me, and great employees that some of you all at this credible conference. i am thankful to be a small part of the solution because we do understand this crisis is huge but with you guys and your leadership, i feel very optimistic about the future. >> laura: the u.s. locks up more people per capita than any other nation at 698 per 100,000 people. now there has been a 700%

increase in our prison population since the 1970s. annually, nearly $50 billion per year is spent on prisons for state and federal institutions. the recidivism rate is over 55%. entrepreneur, chris read lives wants to do something about this. he is the cofounder of the nonprofit the last mile and it started with one class in san clinton. i gave inmates a second chance once they were released and today, there are more than a dozen programs in five states across the country closing the gap between incarceration and future employment and get this. this program, so far, has a 0% recidivism rate. i recently had the chance to sit down with him in indiana where the last mile program just graduated its first class of women.

tell us how you started this thing called the last mile, why we call it the last mile, and where it began. >> it began about ten years ago. i run a venture capital firm in san francisco and a friend of mine was doing some tutoring to some men inside san quentin prison and she said that a lot of the men were asking her about business and questions about starting a business and so forth and she said i can't answer your question but i know somebody who might be able to and she asked me to come in and talk to the men and my initial reaction was no, why would i want to do that? i don't have time to do that and you know, i don't think they are even going understand what i'm talking about, but she was pretty persistent so one night i went in and i spoke to a group of men, about 50 men, and i was supposed to speak for about 30 minutes. i got in there and it turned into not a presentation but a

conversation, and they had so many great questions, they were hit handing me business plans and that 30 minutes turned in the three hours, and it was probably one of the most engaged groups that have ever spoken to you and i want out that night thinking this is completely different from what i expected. i went home, my mind was spinning, and i walked in the front door and i told my wife beverly, beverly, i think we can do something in san quentin. and she said to me, chris, i can't exactly tell you what she said to me but she said no way am i going into prison because we work together for many years and i knew if i did something i had to do it with her is that i was kind of how it started. >> laura: in that experience those three hours, take us to the first day were you were able to launch your first program. >> yeah, really the goal was to help some of those guys i met. we worked a lot with young entrepreneurs as investors so i thought maybe we could just take some of that practice, put it inside, teach them how to build

a business plan, sell it when i get out, and start a business. so we got permission from san quentin and administration to go into go nights a week just beverly and me, and we went in and we kind of made up as we went out based on our experience and we had a deadline day in 2012 and i invited a bunch of my venture friends to come into th prison to hear the presentations . >> it's definitely not my dad's barbershop. >> laura: did they think you were insane, like we will give you money to do this but we're not doing this? >> yeah. so we had five guys that presented and they were amazing presentations. because they weren't just presentations they were basically a chance to tell an audience and really connect. >> i have found my identity. >> ice a lot, you have to take it from here and here to put it

here and that's what they did and people walked out and they said these are some of the best presentations i have ever seen and that was really when we knew we had something. >> laura: the average inmate who gets to this vaunted place in your program, explain how they get there. good behavior, all of the things that they have to check. >> yeah so behavior is really important. they have to have good citizenship, no infractions, two years prior to applying, and they can't have an infraction while they are in it. so we really consider it a zero tolerance program in that respect. and now that we are in the coding program, you know, it's really not necessarily the college education you had, it's your desire to perform and be a part of this. it's really a commitment level and was about education level. but now that we are years down the road, there is a long line of people that want to be part of this. we have many people inside ordering books and studying and

learning before they even get the program so desire is a key component to success. >> laura: how has this changed you? >> it's changed me in so many ways. i think it's allowed me to become much more empathetic it's really not -- could you say don't judge a book by a cover that's taken to an extreme now because you are talking to populations and people that i never would've crossed in my normal life and one of the things that's really important for us is that every classroom has every ethnicity and cultural background that we can draw from . when you go to prison, you going to prison yard, it's very segregated, and we really felt it was important that those people in the program learn to work with each other because they have to do that on the outside and that's been an

amazing change for them inside to understand that that person i would never talk to you, i can actually work with, and that person can be my friend, but there's a huge amount of people in prison who need a second chance. over 90% of the people are getting out so we have to figure out who we want them to be when they do get out so you know that's really part of it that i didn't really start this and when i did this with beverly, it wasn't started to change stereotypes, but what i saw initially was this idea of hope within the first month or so that we started a program. one of the guys came up to me and said if i never get a job it's okay. t iid t u you actually are treating me like a human being for the first atime by someone from outside. and i have hope. >> laura: how many graduates have actually gone on to work in the communities? how do you keep 0% recidivism? >> what we are trying to do is educate and prepare people to be successful. people that aren't in prison make mistakes too so that's our goal.

it may be seen unrealistic but that's our goal. what we know we are going to do is reduce recidivism. we know that for a fact. >> laura: what about this has impacted you can compare experience? >> there's nothing that i've experienced in business that can replicate the feeling of seeing someone get out of prison walking through the gates, and being free. there is nothing like that. business can't be compared at all and one example, darnell hill who was in one of our first groups, he served 24 years in prison, he actually was a cellmate with his dad at that point which is kind of amazing. so he grew up, his dad was a criminal, he recruited his son so there's a chance just like you never really had a first chance, but his wife waited for him for 24 years and i'm standing next to her when darnell walked out the gates. you can have an ito, that's

great, but nothing like that is going to compare. >> laura: where is he working? >> he works for us but he is our reentry department. >> laura: the white house criminal justice reform, the president really didn't campaign on it a lot butri it has becomea really important cornerstone ofd what he wants to do. how important is that? the encouraging part is that it's an indication that both parties can work together. so as we are setting examples for other things, hopefully we can set examples that this can happen. you can't depend on politicians and government to make changes. you have to have this relationship between business and bureaucracy in government to make it happen because innovation does happen in private sector and that needs to sort of transition and be part of this discussion so there needs to be more and more of the private sector involved in

really resolving these issues. >> laura: and scaling up across the country and other correctional facilities, that's already happening, but indiana the governor was settingit three or four other institutions where they are going to be rolling this out. incredible. >> we are in five states not, we want to be across the country and we want to be in at least 50 classrooms in the next five years. i think we can make that happen. we have a lot of private donors and so forth that are helping that happened but i'm reallys hopeful that this will become a national program and really give hope to many, many populations across the country. >> laura: what do you say to the folks who might be watching those w who are in prison today who are saying this who maybe have lost hope and thought there would be no place for me, nobody will trust me again? >> i think we have shown there is hope, absolutely. you is someone who is incarcerated, you need to continue to do the right thing for you.

study hard, be a good citizen do whatever you can to change her life because you never know when that is going to happen because bills change,ch laws change, your chance might come up and you need to be ready so never, ever give up because i've seen this happen multiple multiple times where someone thinks i'm never going to get out and sure enough, they do and they are preparedth to be successful. >> laura: chris, inspiring. thank you so much. great to talk to you. up next, meet the women who decided to make their timeme behind bars count and are working toward their second chance at life when this special edition of "the ingraham angle" continues.

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comcast business. beyond fast. >> laura: in april of 2018 the last mile program expanded for the first time outside of the state of california, this time giving inmates at the indiana women's prison a second chance. the summer, the first class graduated and "the ingraham angle" was there and four women receive their diplomas and share their personal stories with me. you for and seemed to be many others are proving that indiana is a state that works for all.

congratulations. i can't wait. the best is yet to come. >> i began to get a fuller understanding of what it was i was doing. i have created the conference center. i wanted to create a space where people would be able to go and feel safe unequivocally. >> what's the most important thing you learned about yourself in this program? >> i really excel in academia. i am just really good. >> laura: how the heck did you end up here then? you excelled in academia and you end up in prison, how does that happen? >> well i had an addiction problem for most of my adult life and i have been sober for about six and a half years. might i got lung cancer and i took care of him for a year and have until he died and when he died -- i can explain it. i don't like to blame thater because that's not his fault but

it definitely hit me on an emotional level that i wasn't prepared to deal with so i turned to what i knew would numb me and long story short, your i am. >> laura: when you get out? >> i will receive my bachelor's degree in december and that makes me immediate relief. i hear there's no such thing as immediate relief but they are saying the process may be possible. >> laura: how excited are you? >> i'm excited and anxious ihi because i've been locked up for over seven years and everything has changed out there. i left with small children and i'm going home to adults. the life that i had before coming is completely demolished and gone through the relationships that i had before coming are very fragmented and need to be repaired or rebuilt and so i'm just stepping out of prison as a clean slate and that's a little nerve-racking.

it's not stepping into the familiar but stepping into the unknown. >> laura: how has this help you with those skills communication skills, honesty we are all broken, all of us but you know you went through your thing, we have all gone through something. that's really important. i just think that realization that you just expressed is important to express to everyone. people watching us are going to have a different view of incarcerated people.yono >> i think that's good because when we are thinking about incarcerated people, we need to remember they are just people and everybody -- going out i'm saying? most people don't make a lot of bad choices but more and more we are saying that they do and if we put them in a box forever then we are not allowing them to change the world. >> laura: how important is it for you to succeed out there for those still here who you will leave behind? >> it's really important for me

because i feel like it's important to give backe end because i feel like in the board and give back and i've made it a point here to teach classes and do things that allowed me the opportunity to help others more the beginning of their process and so i know that my success is going to have a huge impact on the women coming into the future of the pilot program and so all eyes are on the people of the pilot program, seeing that they can succeed. it's definitely very important to me to be successful so that number one, they don't mistake me, and so the number two people know these kind of programs exist. >> laura: what does it feel like today? you at all of these people in the room, elected officials business leaders, what was that like? >> breathtaking, really. i was speechless almost. i've been waiting for this day

i love opportunities like this and anytime it's resented itself i'm going to grab it. it was a great day. >> laura: how do you feel about yourself and your own trajectory and how you started here, the day you walked in, to today?ou >> amazing. some days i felt like i wasn't going to be able to make it, but we all have those days, don't we? but i made it and i feel like i believed in the process and it took me here. >> laura: to those who say youto can't rehabilitate people, we shouldn't be putting money into helping people in prison, we should just be putting it into schools and the people who haven't broken the law, people who are just starting out in life, what do you say to those skeptics? >> i believe the only way tofe rehabilitate people is to give them an opportunity. if you put people in prison and you don't give them any opportunity to succeed, they won't succeed because they don't know how. we need an example like the last mile that the hoosiers provide. i feel like it's easy to fall

into the environment around me but as long asas you have something like the last mile and you are grounded and you are humble and you are on goal, your only goal is to become a better person andre make it home, i advise a lot of people to work on their selves and work their inner self because you came in here is yourself and you are leaving on here as yourself but a better person and that's what we came here to do. >> laura: what was the hardest thing being inherent besides i was sleeping away from your family andei your friends? >> the hardest thing for me was forgiveness. forgiveness for myself, i believe. if i don't forgive myself, i will always be stuck in the past and i can't begin a new journey without letting go of the past and starting a better future like this. >> laura: what is the biggest misconception that people on the outside have of women on the inside, from what you've

experienced? >> theep biggest misconception r me would be that they believe that we do nothing in here at all, we just do our time, but as long as we come together and keep providing these opportunities to become the women that we are glad to be before we made the mistake, i think a lot of misconceptions will change because we are not just inmates in prison, we are trying to better ourselves c but we do need help. >> laura: what is your journey when you get out? my dream h when i get out is to have my own startup company. >> laura: how confident are you that you are going to get it and do well? >> 99.9%. >> laura: that's pretty good. next, why did indiana jump at this program and what is their message to other states? the surprising answer when we come back. we come

>> live from america's news headquarters, aishah hasnie in new york. president trump is on his way after spending thanksgiving wit the troops in afghanistan. he enjoyed a traditional meal with the troops. he also had a brief meeting wit the afghanistan president. in it is already black friday i some parts of the country but with thanksgiving following on

the fourth thursday this year i will be the shortest shopping season since 2013. consumers will have six days to shove the share bear the national retail federation says despite the shorter selling season, holiday sales will rise between 3.8 and 4.2 percent. i'm aisha housley, now back to "the ingraham angle." >> laura: welcome back to this special edition of "the ingraham angle." one of the main goals of the last mile program that we've been talking about tonight is giving inmates the tools they need to succeed outside of the prison walls. studies suggest that more than half of those individuals really used are likely to be rearrested within a few years. in indiana, the number 33%. state leaders say with programs like the last mile and a second chance act, that number will continue to drop. >> commissioner carter, tell us

what a surprise c you most about this last mile project as instituted here in the end they on a woman's prison. >> i was amazed at not only what they learned about their soft skills. with coding or computer people they can be a social misfit at times.of they have the stereotype of these ladies actually look and presented well like in a boardroom. i was impressed at that. >> laura: it was incredible to see again, they've been incarcerated, many for years it the poise with which they introduced their coding business plans. for their initiative was. still when i'm watching this and thinking wait a second, did they learn that here? >> i had several comments afterwards from our partners that we invited and they were amazed.s they said they've never seen anything better from anyone so it was a good day. >> laura: tell us about this

and how this experience is affecting maybe even your thinking about what's possible. >> seeing something like this has 0% recidivism. that's the most impressive part of the last mile program is that it has a 0% recidivism. it really gives you hope and they need help r and somebody ws talking about having a job offer before they get out, that something that really hasn't happened in the past. they would have to find them a job, the parole officer, and then they would just go back in the community and mess up so having not only a job offer buto a living wage, really good living wage before they get out that's incredible. >> laura: tell us how the last mile has affected the women who have been fortunate enough and hard working to get through it. >> i think they just really want to give people a chance and because they've done in california, they knew how this program can turn around. somebody may have not been going the right way and they

absolutely did that here. >> laura: what's the biggest misconception about people once they've come here and once they've served some of the sentence? >> i think what we've seen in movies and what not whatnott glorifies a lot of negative behaviors and attitudes and those are just movies. that's not the way here. the average day at the prison is pretty normal and pretty boring. >> laura: what have you learned with this attempt at reducing recidivism and seeing this rich guy come and start this program and it's going to threat all over indiana? what has it taught you about what's possible? >> i think what it's taught me the most was that we have to be a little bit more flexible about whom we are letting in the program. just being a little bit more

open and flexible and giving people a chance, even though they haven't been the best. >> laura: what about for b everyone out there was watching those who are skeptical? what about schools where kids need more help and they need? these rich people to come into? what do you say to them? >> they have a valid point but they have to remember that these ladies, as well as the man, they are coming back and they arese your neighbors and i want somebody to come back i was to t be my neighbor who is going to be a good neighbor to me so we can't forget about this population. they need something to give them incentive to stay out and to do the right thing but the end result, it's just wonderful. i'm just so excited for them and i can't wait to see when they get released what they are going to do and hopefully they will come back and encourage everyone that's behind them. >> laura: why did you decide to get involved in this last mile program? there are a lot of skeptics in certain parts of the fight

against recidivism and so fortht but the last mile has become its own phenomenon. >> seeing is believing and we saw phenomenal results and future is ahead and when you think about the state of indiana only has a finite amount of resources to address all of the challenges that we have, you want to make sure that you are getting stewards of the tax. treasury and this program obviously allows us not to just see people come into the program believe in a much better place and that's why am so passionate is when you see the results when you see the lives that are transformed, when you see their passion, when you see that they have a new lease on life, that they don't have to be angered to some past poor decision and that they have new decisions out in front. >> laura: what do you say to the skeptics who say we have schools that need more

resources, we have inner-city kids in america's major cities who need more resources and yet we are pouring resources into this place where these people make really bad decisions and we could allocate them elsewhere? what do you say to them? >> a few things. number one, who among us hasn't made a bad decision? it's a fine line.. enter go, i agree with you. we do need more resources and this is a way to do that, by the way. y when you look at the state of indiana over about every year we are pouring in about $758 million into the system. when we pull that recidivism rate number down, we are down about 3% from 2017 to where we sit today. that's real money. >> laura: what about the bipartisant nature of this? we have seen an election year everyone is out eight dozers mike each others throats all the time, there's a lot of anger in washington and i'm sure we are

all a part of it but this is an area where people should and can and do get together from the entertainment industry to politics to business and volunteers, church -- churches are very important to this. how does this message look to the rest of the country? >> it would be what's most important about this, which is again, seeing is believing. we have folks on both side of the political aisle here today that want to be a part of that success story and it turns out we have more in common than you might otherwise think if you just tuned into the story of the day. it programs like this, the last mile, that are making a significant difference in people's lives, have a tendency to cut through the clutter, to cut through the noise, and again, seeing is believing. when you talk to any of these folks that are getting credentialed, that is all the proof that you need. some of the folks that are going

to be incarcerated for years to come, that are going through this program, are the very ones that are having a huge positive influence. >> laura: why is that? knowing at such a long time before they get out but yet they are still showing up day after day after day, why? >> may be life's true purpose is being revealed to them too and they are a part of this bigger, notion of what are we doing for our neighbor and our neighbor is close by and our neighbor comes from a much different place than others. some of these folks didn't have a first chance, let alone a second chance, and if you are serious about helping them, in turn, by the way, help others through the process,el then get involved and for folks to have made a badth decision and they have to live every day knowing what that was, they don't havee to be tethered to it. >> laura: on either of us do. that's for all of us, governor. >> laura: exactly. so that's what is so refreshing

about this program is it looks forward and it's may be that last mile to certify you or tos credential you but it's the rest mile in turn of the of your life. >> laura: next, i go inside esthe last mile classroom where the students show me what it really takes to be part of this computer coding program. let me tell you, it's not easy. i couldn't do it. the story after this. it. the story after

>> laura: the second class of the last mile program at the indiana women's prison graduates later this year. the students work in tandem up to eight hours per day learning how to code on computers without the use of the internet. the women all told me this is their best chance at a better future on the outside. >> laura: so you are a new become a kind of. you've done three months? >> yes. started may 28th. >> laura: pizza specialist? this is my dream here. >> we start from scratch and this would be a screenshot and then we would create that. >> laura: so you order from that screen and you -- >> apparently answer real app. >> laura: wait a second, did know anything about it? >> no, i knew nothing about coding coming in. >> i just started a project on

friday which includes outside activities where you can go and get chores so we are it's a got a long tour so you just watch videos and -- >> laura: okay so is it more kind of nature destinations? >> yes. this is just the beginning of it. >> laura: what are you coding here? >> this is the code for this page and down here are the different codes are different things. >> laura: i'm getting vertigo just looking at the screen. okay. wow. how long did it take you to make this? >> one year. y so 13 weeks in.

>> laura: incredible. how many hours a week do you get to work on this? >> we are here from 7:30 to 10:30 and 11:30 to 3:00 and then we come back every night from 6:30 to 8:00. i need it. >> laura: fantastic. what do you have going here? >> i am self learning with the follow along to make my web page responsive whether t it's on a desktop or like this piece here and it would give a different size of the phone so that your website would fit each phone. doing so if you're on a samsung versus the iphone x and change the size? >> writes about that everything doesn't just look like. so with this little thing that they give us, we make our web pages responsive so that it can be viewable from wherever you are looking at. >> laura: did you spend a lot of time on computers before you

arrived here? >> i knew how to use a computer but i didn't know how to code. i didn't know any of this existed. i didn't have the slightest clue but it was interesting. i think we take for granted what exactly goes into a web page so it's really nice to have this opportunity to learn how to do this stuff. >> laura: what do you say to folks on the outside who are watching those who say what are we doing spending moneyn on thee people, incarcerated people, why do we care about them? what do you say to them given everything you know?pe >> this is not my first time i've heard that. i'm not proud of that but i've never had an opportunity like this so that's what i like about this, i'm n getting out somethig out of this since the day i got here and i guarantee you it's worth it. >> laura: as much as you love your friends here, never coming back again? >> never coming back again. all i care about is my family in this career.

the one what do you got? >> i will be completing in october so this is part of my capstone project. i>> laura: explain capstone. >> when you begin the program you start working on a capstone project and little by little what do you learn you put into your capstone. my passion is with youth because -- i have generated at risk youth because of my soincarcerations. so this app is an extension or is my presentation to the last mile to be an extension for at risk youth. >> laura: what's your biggest misconception? >> that there is no hope or that we are a lost cause. addiction can be healed and we can heal. >> laura: once you have going? >> i'm also working on my capstone project and i was a nurse for 20 years before i became incarcerated later in life.

later in life grade i was in a lpn but i went to a very prestigious school and it was a great career but i also think that society and obesity and issues at hand cause diabetes so i feel like an early glucose monitoring system will help a person. if you don't want to eat right and if you don't want to do the exercise and you don't want to do the things that you need to do in order to prevent diabetes in life, maybe you can monitor your glucose. my app will be hopefully in them near future where you can actually put your glucose stick on your phone and i'm hoping that happens in the near future and it will just connect to this app and it will give you a graph. i i'm working on how to put it chart and a graph and here. i'm struggling with that but this is the beginning of my idea. you can enter whatever the month is, the date and time, and keep track of your glucose and submit it and just view it so you can keep track of it. >> laura: i am so impressed by all of you. i feel like i couldn't think

compass half of what do you guys accomplish in one day. incredible.. >> i have a recovery house. i've been in addiction and this is my first time back. a third time back. i am not coming backck here. >> third and last. third times a charm. anyway this is where you can go and you were going to be able t to an application and then i have a live chat on here. it has treatment plants plans along with one-on-one counseling . >> laura: so a lot of what do you guys are doing, stick it stems from something you experience or you hope for. is that accurate? so health-related, weight related, anxiety, stress addiction, hospitality fields or get people to a place outside of themselves. that is usually when a best work comes is when it's something

that in your mind you've always wanted or stuff you have gonent through so i think that is important. if you could tell a young woman out there one thing, one thing that they should always remember coming to never end up here what is that one thing? >> don't make mistakes. >> laura: when we come back the motivational message that these women and the last mile leaders want the world to hear. i am totally blind. and non-24 can make me show up too early... or too late. or make me feel like i'm not really "there." talk to your doctor, and call 844-234-2424.

[ dramatic music ]ing ] [screams] elliott. you came back!

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>> laura: the last mile program started as a passion project for cofounder, chris that has become a life-changing mission for dozens of prisoners across five states. it's expanding grade at indiana governor eric holcomb couldn't be more proud and can't wait to see what the future holds not only for these four women but for his state as a whole. >> we started this journey back in 2017. i remember vividly the conversation of the governor and i had on a sunday afternoon. this program was and is probably in my opinion one of the best w programs that is offered in any prison in the united states and the results are incredible. first of all, they end up with real good jobs, real good paying

jobs, and secondly, the most incredibleoo part is the 0% recidivism rate of all the graduates. we were drawn to that. this transcends politics and that's what i like about it the most. >> we are on the verge of launching, i guess officially we are launching tomorrow our fifth locationer in indiana. that's pretty amazing. congratulations to the women of iw p. you are leveraging this opportunity to learn, create and develop skills that will serve you in the future. keep working as a team encourage one another to work beyond your limits. this will make yourself and your family proud. we are investing in you and we hope that when you go back to your communities, you become a positive role model in your communities. we will positively change the criminal justice system and provide those who are willing to doiv the work a second chance ad creating a successful future.

this isut about a shared mission to help people. there is no higher calling than to do that with them. i believe in you and i believe in this program 110% and you are proving all of us, you included you are proving that this is the right road to go down. this is the right path. i'm so proud of the path that you are on and i'm proud of your perseverance and your dedication and your aspirations to improve the station in your life. you are proving to everyone that it is not rhetorical to say that education and training aren't going to work on you. you embody that. you are proving you are just as capable as anyone outside of

here. you are doing it inside. you become advantaged. it's somewhat profound to think that you would come here to become advantaged, equipped, ann ready. you are not only capable, just as much as anyone else out there, you are most importantly i think you are proving not only that the american dream is still alive and well, but you get to determine your own destiny. you are taking advantage of the time and the resources before you and it's not just proving it to yourself, you are proving it to the rest of the world. >> laura: my final thoughts on this incredible program and our experience inside the indiana women's prison when we come back.

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>> i think chris readlist for giving us an exclusive opportunity to go inside the indiana woman's prison. you give these inmates a second chance at life, setting them up to succeed so they are not back in the prison system costing taxpayers a lot of money and more human heartache and even human carnage along the way. i was very impressed by the professionalism of these women. how well spoken they were and how much work they did on these coding projects they had been working on for so much time. we all take our freedom for granted and a lot of us are saying when we were leaving the prison but for the grace of god go i, we had parents who cared

about us, we did not get locked up in substance abuse but it was eye-opening for the entire team that was present with these women, really dedicated to improving their lives. i hope everyone enjoyed the special. i want to thank everyone, kristin and everybody who worked so hard on this and we will see you back here tomorrow night, good night from washington. >> donald trump x a surprise visit to a strip something's giving and says he believes the taliban is open to a cease-fire. the secretary of the navy slams the commander-in-chief saying the president does not understand how the military works and china warns the us over american support for pro-democracy demonstrators in hong kong. this is special report. welcome to washington, happy thanksgiving. donald trump is not home for the holidays tonight.