True Life › Ep.

What's it like to have your mother or father incarcerated for years before you finally see them on the outside again? That's often the reality facing the more than 2 million Americans now growing up with parents in prison.

On this episode of True Life, you'll meet two young people trying to forge new relationships with the folks they've never really known.

From the time he was born, Austin has only interacted with his Dad as an inmate. Now, on the eve of Austin's 16th birthday, his father is being released and eager to build a relationship with his son. But Austin is understandably wary of the man he's never spent time with outside the confines of a jailhouse visitor's room. Will he allow his Dad to assume the role of father figure or will Austin erect new emotional barriers to replace the prison walls that separated the two for so many years?

Pe'Andre has had to fend for himself from the time he was barely a teen, ever since his Mother & Father were sent to jail. To get by, Pe'Andre dealt drugs and ended up in a jail cell on more than one occasion himself. Now, Pe'Andre is convinced he can stay clean if he learns to forgive the father whom he hasn't spoken to in nearly 15 years. Will the support of Pe'Andre's newly-freed Mother give him the courage to visit his Dad and finally make peace with his painful past?

Their worlds have been forever altered by parents who were locked away for years. Will reuniting with them lead to healing, or only more hurt?