After having spent 40 years and 27 years, respectively, both Bill “Popeye” Stuart and Lowell Fentress first talk about getting drunk on seeing a living tree in person, upon their release from prison. Both Stuart and Fentress agree there can be no rehabilitation of an inmate in prison while the prison culture is nothing but repression. They also talk about crooked guards that traffic drugs and about the gangs taking over the prisons.

Louis Font and Ed Fox discuss their time in the military, the Vietnam War, military rituals, and West Point military academy. They express their anti-war sentiments and describe atrocities committed in Vietnam.

Content Warning: This conversation includes racially and/or culturally derogatory language and/or negative depictions of Black and Indigenous people of color, women, and LGBTQI+ individuals. Rather than remove this content, we present it in the context of twentieth-century social history to acknowledge and learn from its impact and to inspire awareness and discussion. The book, "Laughing Last: Alger Hiss" is the biography of Tony Hiss' father. Although Alger Hiss was convicted of perjury and did time in prison, Tony Hiss said his father, Al, was doing all right.

Discussing the making of film documentaries with Fred Wiseman, especially his film, "Juvenile Court." Includes excerpts of the sound track from a juvenile detention center in Memphis, Tennessee.

Dr. Willard Gayelin talks about and reads from his book "In the Service of Their Country." He talks about the imprisonment of conscientious objectors who did not want to participate in the war.

Terkel Interviews Michael I Rothstein (a lawyer) and Franklin E. Zimring (a law professor) on the subject of capital punishment.

A panel at University of Chicago Law School discuss ending capital punishment (tapes A and B) and with Dick Gregory (tape C). Includes presentations from Hans W. Mattick and Arthur Wineberg. (Part 1 of 3)