♪ ♪ >> We got a witness and the lady said that you were trying to take her car.

>> Mark, here we are.

You're just gonna go into the facilities, and just do what they say, and hopefully you can get out of here soon enough, all right?

>> No, you won't.

>> My sentence is life without the possibility of parole.

So I'm in here till I die.

It's a hard place to navigate.

There's a lot of different people from all walks of life.

So you've got to be careful.

It still doesn't seem real.

I'm 48 now.

The average male lives to about 78 years old, which means I'll do another 30 years in here before I pass away, on average.

I'm reasonably healthy so I might make it till my 80s, so it's a... it's a long time.

(traffic rushing by) (children chattering in background) >> I have a bunch of stuff here.

Boxes and things that we had to, like, lift.

Mark isn't there so he cannot lift things.

So I have to lift it.

So, that's one of the things that kind of, you know, you don't have somebody here to help you, it's just you.

This is our kitchen.

This one was more my mother-in-law.

She has those in the house and I always like it, so I just kind of put the little vase and put it in there.

Got this, one of the little things... ...that I treasure.

It's a bar of V05 soap.

But it's handmade.

So they made that, put my name out, and inside "Always Mark, I love you."

(sighs) That make it tougher, every time that I see it.

I am a pharmacy technician at Orlando, at the VA. Well, Mark and I have been together for a really long time.

We had both got out of divorces.

I, I always tell him that he was the, the only person that I, that I know that goes to the kitchen and do the dishes with me.

He's... he's a good man.

We bought the house this year.

Some people say "Oh, you continue being dumb," like, "you are married to somebody and pay this and pay that."

But for me it's not, it's...

I say, "I'm not taking anything with me the day I die, but I will leave him something."

So, what is mine is his.

>> I grew up, I was a very patriotic young guy.

(marching drums) I wanted to be an FBI agent like my father.

Have three kids, have a nice home, maybe coach football.

I had an older brother who was a West Point cadet.

I had a grandfather who served in World War II.

So, the military was a big part of our family.

And I really believed in America, its principles, its values, freedom.

♪ ♪ I enlisted in Fort Dix, New Jersey.

And then from there, I went into West Point.

It was hard.

It's a, it's a very competitive place.

A lot of patriotic people, smart people.

I played football there also.

I was there in the early '90s.

But, uh, then there were some things, some... there were some violent things that went on and it was, it was considered normal.

Nah, I don't want to get into that, I really don't.

I'm sorry.

(sighs) It was bad, it was really bad.

It's part of my life.

(clears throat) (drums beating) I could tell things weren't right in my, in my mind.

(whirring, traffic sounds, buzzing) The big thing is the noise.

(whirring, traffic sounds, buzzing) Your heart starts beating really fast.

It's like being electrified, and you can't figure out what's causing the electrification.

My... every pore on my body would open up sometimes, and I, I couldn't explain why.

I remember my mom, she would call it my dark place.

She would say, "Mark, it's not real."

It would help bring me back into reality.

But whatever, whatever was going on...

I constantly wanted to take that edge off.

>> How about, you have family, you got brothers and sisters?

>> They don't want you around?

I would have bad, really bad nightmares and I would, I would drink during the night to go back to sleep.

It wasn't a lot.

And as time progressed... (traffic passing, insects, birds chirping) ...I'm trying to get drunk, I'm trying to stay drunk.

All day, all night.

I'd go out a lot, on my own, just to get away from people.

If everybody was quiet around me, it would help.

>> He disappeared.

I mean, sometimes he'd disappear for days, and you don't know.

It's just, like, you don't know what was going on.

♪ ♪ But then, he'd call, "I'm fine, blah, blah, blah."

And so, I'm...

I was calm.

But then, he'd continue.

>> Then what is your M.O., man?

I mean, I took these items.

I'd go to county jail.

And I'd figure my quickest avenue back to alcohol would be probation.

And then of course, I would violate the probation so it just became an... a collage of incidents.

I really didn't get help until probably 2010.

I went to the, uh, Orlando PTSD clinic.

♪ ♪ Unfortunately, the Orlando PTSD clinic said, "Look, you need a higher level of care."

>> So then he had to go to Bay Pine.

And Bay Pine said, "You have to be sober for one or two months."

>> So, I was kind of bouncing between the two.

And I'm, you know, and I'm...

I was a mess.

You know, I was a mess at that time.

A lot of drinking.

>> So, how can you, gonna tell somebody "do not drink" if you are an alcoholic?

I think that the VA failed Mark.

>> Eventually, that's when the, the incident that occurred that put me here.

I just go by what Ms. Hopkins said happened that day.

I mean, I was blacked-out drunk.

Apparently, I was at a Publix, talking on my cell phone, and I walked up to a vehicle.

Leaned in the vehicle, told the person to give me the keys and get out of the vehicle.

The victim said they screamed, and I walked away talking on my cell phone.

Tell you one thing, I didn't strong-arm rob this chick, dude.

See, the, the problem was, I had gone to prison for grand theft.

Out of a Home Depot, it was a drill.

Because I had been released from prison within three years, the state attorney offered me a 15-year plea deal, but he said if you don't take this plea deal, we're gonna enact what's called the PRR statute-- Prison Releasee Reoffender.

>> We could call this bill the "We Really Mean it This Time" bill.

>> People that have committed treason, murder, manslaughter, sexual battery, carjacking, robbery, arson, kidnapping... >> So, what we're trying to do is put these people back in prison before they commit another crime on a probation violation.

>> Sort of a two strikes and you're out, if you will.

>> If you had been incarcerated three years or less prior, and they decide to enact the statute, and you go to trial, you're automatically sentenced to the statutory maximum.

I was found guilty at trial.

They gave me life in prison.

And anything I say about the severity of my sentence, I don't mean to minimize the impact I had on her that day.

She has every right to you know, have a normal day.

And, uh, so I'm sorry.

From the bottom of my heart.

♪ ♪ >> This is another Christmas.

"You are in my heart.

Be safe, my love.

Come back home soon."

This one was from his mom.

When you have some, somebody in prison, you just not putting one person in there, you're putting the whole family.

And, um, uh... we lost his mom already.

It's, uh... >> Right before, it was hard.

Oh, man, I broke down on the phone.

>> And he calls, like, every 15, 20 minutes, just for me to put the phone.

You know, I'm in Columbia CI prison, I got about ten people standing around me, and I, I had to say goodbye to my mom.

Seeing... the mother go through the whole thing, him not able to go... to hug her, I mean.

That's hard.

She's just a good person.

I couldn't go to her funeral or anything like that at all.

Now, the father is not doing well either.

So...

It's very, very, um...

Very tough, very, very, extremely tough.

And this is... you know, these are the last years I've got with them.

At first, my dad was like, "Well, you're, you should go to jail," you know, and that sort of thing.

But as time went on, he was like, "This is enough, Mark," you know?

"I've seen so much change in you."

I'm a law clerk at the prison law library.

You got a lot of guys in here with less than a ninth grade education.

They can't even write an essay, you know, let alone put a brief together for the district court of appeal, and they, they need help.

I'm stuck in here, I'm trying to make a difference from in here but it's hard.

If there's any way I can get back to my family, I need to get there.

I mean, it's hard for her because she's doing everything by herself.

(phone chimes) >> (over phone): An inmate at a Florida Department of Corrections Institution.

Your current balance is $55.49.

This call is from a corrections facility and is subject to monitoring and recording.

Thank you for using Global Tel Link.

>> Hey, babe.

>>- Hey, honey.

>> Um, well, there's nothing going on here.

I'll be trying to get a hold of my dad tonight, see how he's doing.

>> Okay.

>> A lot of guys are interested in what I... >> It's always good to hear his voice.

But it's tough, it's tough.

The phone calls used to be half an hour for $1.20.

Now it's $4.30.

They take whoever they can and make money out of the family.

- All right, I love you.

- I love you, babe, bye.

>> Have a good night, bye-bye.

(hangs up) >> For me, this is just an abuse of power.

Not only Mark, 'cause... it's all the people that going through same process and the same pain.

>> My brother, Dwyane, has served 21 years on a 60-year prison sentence for the theft of a gold chain.

>> Stuckey shoplifted DVDs from a Seminole County Sam's Club.

He was sentenced to 30 years.

♪ ♪ >> I love it, and it works.

Crime is at a historic lows in Florida.

So that tells us that it works.

>> There are currently 8,000 people in Florida prisons sentenced to mandatory maximum sentences under the Prison Releasee Reoffender statute.

>> I go back again to the whole thing.

For scaring an old lady.

It's, it's just, it just blow my mind.

The system have to change.

This law have to change.

Florida have to change.

>> When you're in this, this kind of a place, you miss simple things.

(indistinct chatter) You know, just being able to go to Chick-fil-A and get a sandwich.

I miss Christmas, I miss, I miss the holidays.

I just miss my family, you know?

I wish I could be there.

If there's heavy boxes to carry, I wish I could be there to do it for her.

But, um, I'm stuck in here.

>> Hey.

Where's Mom, I can't see her?

♪ ♪ >> Thank you, Mark.

>> Yes.

Captioned by Media Access Group at WGBH access.wgbh.org.

>> For more on this and other Frontline programs visit our website at pbs.org/frontline.

♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ Frontline's "Two Strikes" and "Tutwiler" are available on Amazon Prime Video.