After a long career in criminal justice reform, Carol Shapiro agreed to become a New York parole board commissioner. Two years into her five-year term, she was exhausted by 12-hour days, reams of paperwork, risk-averse colleagues and videoconference hearings with prisoners that seemed dysfunctional by design.
“I’d often go into the bathroom to cry,” she said. “I couldn’t make a difference the way I thought I could.”
This essay, voiced by Shapiro and animated by Lily Padula, Chelsea Beck and K Downs, is part of “Inside Story,” The Marshall Project’s groundbreaking video series distributed online and in correctional facilities across the U.S.
Watch the latest season, with new episodes landing every Thursday at 11 a.m. ET on The Marshall Project’s website and YouTube channel. Episodes will also air on the Scripps News network on Fridays at 9 p.m. ET/8 p.m. CT.
