On this episode of Our American Stories, every Sunday, Our American Stories host Lee Habeeb speaks with Mitchel "Big Mitch" Rutledge, who has spent more than forty years serving a life sentence in Alabama. Each call traces the shape of faith, regret, and forgiveness inside a place built for punishment.

Mitch opens with a memory that still sets the tone for how he sees prison: a place where you learn to sleep with one eye open and keep your back to the wall. He talks about the people who shaped him on the inside (both good and bad), and shares poems written in their honor.

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