Ashley Nellis, author of The Meaning of Life: The Case for Abolishing Life Sentences, meets with Steve Herbert, University of Washington Professor of Law, Societies, and Justice, to discuss the flaws in a life-sentence based criminal justice system.

Herbert offers his own data-rich portrait of the challenges that a life sentence poses, both to the prisoners and to the staffers charged with caring for them. He shares moving personal profiles of individuals affected by life sentences—collected in his book Too Easy to Keep: Life-Sentenced Prisoners and the Future of Mass Incarceration. Their conversation is moderated by Katherine Beckett, also of the University of Washington.

Join Nellis, Herbert, and Beckett for an illuminating conversation about the harsh consequences of excessive sentences and the critical need for our nation to consider more humanitarian punishment policies.