one of those men is william earl basset.s been incarcerated since 1963 and in stateville since 1966. originally he was serving a maximum of ten years for burglary and forgery at another illinois penitentiary called menard. >> i had a short parole coming but a guy was messing with my food in the dining room and i just -- i went off, tried to get him and got involved in a prison riot down there. there was three prison guards got killed down there at the time. they give me the electric chair for one of them murders. they said everybody stabbed this one lieutenant. >> in 1972 the u.s. supreme court abolished capital punishment. basset's sentence was commuted to 150 years with the opportunity for parole every year. though he's been repeatedly turned down for parole, he remains one of stateville's model prisoners. he's worked in the industries department for more than 15 years. >> let's make sure it gets out to the right place. we have to number everything. >> i like it. i'm the type of guy likes to stay busy. i can't just lay aro