At a time when the California State Prison system was dangerously overcrowded, and more than 85% percent of its inmates were involved in drug use, one unlikely program looked inward for the answer and took a chance on 50 men serving life inside.

For these men, what seemed simply to be a longshot for parole transformed into a radical journey of healing themselves and the prison they served time in.

The 50 is a feature-length documentary that asks how a group so underestimated became agents of radical change and the first men to become California certified counselors while inmates of that same state’s prison system. We step alongside these men in an exploration of trauma, redemption, and the complicated humanity of their stories.