Okay, when I was arrested in 1982, I wasn't very knowledgeable about the law at the time.

I didn't hardly know anything about it until it was too late. And it went bad for me.

Terry Allen was 23 when that arrest happened and he was never convicted of the crime

but he wound up in an Illinois prison anyway.

And he's been there since, with no release date for almost four decades.

I was told that I would be going to a hospital.

I didn't go to one.

I was told that I wouldn't serve very much time.

I'd be locked up for 36 years and if that's not very much time I don't know what you would call it.

I'm Rainey Aronson,

executive producer of the PBS series Front Line, and you're listening to the Front Line Dispatch.

The Front Line Dispatch is made possible by the Abrams Foundation Journalism Initiative,

committed to excellence.

The Frontline Dispatch is made possible

by the Abrams Foundation committed to excellence

in journalism, and by the Frontline Journalism Fund, with major support from John and

Joanne Hagler.

Support for Frontline Dispatch comes from the Massachusetts General Hospital Cancer Center,

dedicated to providing compassionate care and cancer specialists who are experienced in the cancer you have.

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Learn more at massgeneral.org slash cancer. dot org

across the country hundreds of people are in prison

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