Adam's Story: 2025 Update | Life Inside Prison Documentary

In 2008 our cameras were allowed access inside several juvenile facilities to document every day life inside juvenile prisons and detention centers. During our time inside, we met dozens of kids experiencing life inside an 8.10 cell. We spent time with the teens from sun up to sun down, documenting daily life for kids and staff as they spent their days behind prison razor wire. This video features teens inside describing how they ended up where they were, how prison life affected their young lives, and the issues that haunted them since childhood. Additionally, staff members responsible for the teens' safety and security inside the facilities discuss the realities of life on the job, and the hopes they have for so many of the kids who seem to be going down an endless path. Included in this video is also the story of teenager Adam. From inside his 8/10 prison cell, he talked to our producers about life as an abandoned child, his gratitude for his loving grandparents who raised him, and the mistakes he made in his teen years that landed him in juvenile prison. During our interview, Adam was determined not to keep making the same mistakes that got him in trouble in the first place, and promised his grandparents THIS time would his last behind bars. Now, 17 years after first meeting Adam, we learned how things have gone for him since we last saw him happily leaving prison with the grandparents so long ago. Like so many stories from inside prison walls, the latest update on Adam's story didn't turn out as he'd hoped. SPOILER ALERT/UPDATE: Adam's grandfather passed away in 2016; his grandmother passed away in 2024. Five months after her death, Adam was convicted of multiple offenses and sentenced to 3 years behind bars. His projected release date is 2027.