Screen Time: ‘First and Last’ an interesting prison show

Am I the only one who likes nothing more than to lay up in my bed when it’s raining outside?

Something about the feeling of a gloomy, sort-of-fall day makes me sleepy and lazy.

Due to it raining all week, I’ve found myself getting off of work and basically dying in front of my television.

Because I get practically all of my entertainment from Netflix, I discovered a new original series they produce called “First and Last,” in which we are given an inside look at the first and last day of incarcerated people.

The United States houses 22 percent of the worlds prison population, despite the US having 4 percent of the world population, so it’s no surprise that we are a country who love crime.

Every other show on television is a crime drama or a prison show, so when I saw another one in the queue, I almost skipped over it.

I’m sure glad I didn’t, though, because this one is excellent.

“First and Last” takes you inside Georgia’s Gwinnett County Jail and provides a glimpse at what life is like when you first arrive and the day you leave.

On both days, emotions are high, but for two very different reasons.

Day one sees criminals (some first offenders, most not) getting booked into the system, waiting for family to post their bail or not, and crying about how they either didn’t do it or it was their last time and they were going to clean up their life but BAM, back in the slammer they went.

The last day sees inmates preparing to go home. Full of excitement and a sense of new found freedom, it is encouraging to listen to them talk about how they aren’t going back to their old ways and want to start life over, fresh.

Some of them make bail and don’t become residents of the facility if a family member or friend steps up to get them out, but most go in and await trial and potential release.

The saddest part of the show is when they leave jail, they do seem hopeful to become a normal member of society, but the show posts follow ups on their progress, and most relapse or fall right back in to the life that got them behind bars in the first place.

Growing up, my mom watched every true crime and prison show possible, and with superhits like “Orange is the New Black,” my interest in incarceration has waned immensely so I was pleasantly surprised with Netflix’s new take on life on the inside.

It’s not a life any of us would want, but it’s a life that some of us get, and it was interesting to see the system process, the personal changes and adjustments people make when they settle in to jail, and the hope that’s present in each prisoner when it really sets in that their rights are stripped and they’re property of the state.

It’s a sad look into a world I’m not a part of and serves as a great “What Not To Do,” I think, for people who may live a life that could eventually show them a first and a last day behind bars.

Chance Gibbs is an actor and writer living in the Dallas area. He’s appeared in numerous television shows, films, professional and community theater, and TV commercials, and has been a contributor to news publications since 2007.