Toe Tag Parole: To Live And Die On Yard A Movie Review (2015)
A no-frills documentary about a group of incarcerated men who have been granted creative outlets while serving time with no parole, Toe Tag Parole: To Live And Die On Yard A will make you think.
For many, many years, if you weren’t someone who had a friend or family member who was incarcerated, the idea of prison was elusive. You may have seen cells or prison yards in movies, but the actual experience wasn’t one that most people were exposed to. In the last few decades, though, with shows like 60 Days In and various documentaries, we’ve all begun to learn some things that, as a collective, we may not have known.
Toe Tag Parole: To Live and Die on Yard A is a documentary about a specific yard in a California prison that is dedicated to allowing creative outlets for certain men who qualify. While many prisons are extremely racially segregated, to qualify for this yard, you must be willing to peacefully interact with people of every background. There are other requirements as well, but once you are there, you can exercise, paint, play instruments, and sing. This is a way for these men to find some hope in a system that they will live in for the rest of their lives.
There also appear to be support groups, one of which is highlighted in the doc. These men are former military and can speak with each other in a way that only fellow veterans can. They talk about the horrors that they’ve seen, the PTSD they experience, and how coming home led them to addiction and, ultimately, prison. It isn’t the life they expected for themselves.
A number of individuals are interviewed, one of whom was 14 when he committed his crime. This raises the question of whether a teenager should be able to be incarcerated without the possibility of parole. His crimes are not discussed in full detail (although he explains what happened from his perspective), but it does make you wonder.
They refer to “life without the possibility of parole” as “toe tag parole.” You only get to leave with a toe tag on. And the question is posed: Aren’t the death penalty and life in prison essentially the same thing, one is just much longer?
The creative outlets in and around the yard provide some men with the opportunity to help others. Some paint and sell their pieces in art auctions, donating the proceeds. Others paint murals in the yard. It is a small piece of hope that keeps their spirits up and their lives worth something.
That said, the documentary is somewhat heavy-handed in its support of prison reform. There are various mentions of it taking decades for prisoners to accept and own their crimes, and that once they do, perhaps there could be a path to freedom, particularly for the older men.
There are no interviews with men who haven’t reformed for comparison, though. So while the point is well taken, I would have appreciated more voices to flesh out the argument. And at the same time, the daughter of one inmate states about the length of a sentence, “There’s a point where justice stops and revenge begins.” Poignant words.
Runtime: 80 minutes
Motion Picture Rating: Not Rated
Languages Spoken In The Film: English
Should You Watch It? Yes
Did I Cry? Nope
My Rating: 3.25/5 Stars
Available: Free on Max and Hulu, to rent on Prime Video, or may be available for free on other streaming platforms
