During Prison Stay, Menendez Brothers Made It Beautiful

Nearly 30 years after they killed their parents, Erik and Lyle Menendez launched a beautification project in the California prison where they're serving life sentences. Their project was inspired by the Norwegian approach to incarceration that believes rehabilitation in humane prisons surrounded by nature leads to successful reintegration into society, even for those who've committed terrible crimes, per the AP.

• Back in the headlines: The Menendez brothers' case was again in the public spotlight Thursday when the Los Angeles County district attorney recommended that their life-without-parole sentences be thrown out. Prosecutors hope a judge will resentence them so they can be eligible for parole. If the judge agrees, a parole board must then approve their release. The final decision rests with the California governor. The Menendezes' lawyer and the LA district attorney argued they've served enough time, citing evidence that they suffered physical and sexual abuse at the hands of their entertainment executive father.

• Green Space Project: They also say that the brothers, now in their 50s, are model prisoners who've committed themselves to rehabilitation and redemption. Both point to the brothers' years of efforts to improve the San Diego prison where they've lived for six years. Before that, the two had been held in separate prisons since 1996. In 2018, Lyle Menendez launched the beautification program, the Green Space Project, at the Richard J. Donovan Correctional Facility. His brother, Erik Menendez, is the lead painter for a massive mural that depicts San Diego landmarks. "This project hopes to normalize the environment inside the prison to reflect the living environment outside the prison," Pedro Calderon Michel, a rep for the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, said Friday.
• Norway model: The brothers' lawyer, Mark Geragos, said he believes Lyle Menendez learned about the Norwegian incarceration model during his university classes. Norway has set up small prisons across the country, which allows people to serve their sentences close to home, said Kristian Mjaland, a sociology professor at the University of Agder. Mjaland said Norway's incarceration system is based on the principles that people should be "treated decently by well-trained and decent staff" and have "opportunities for meaningful activities during the day" and should retain their basic rights.
• Results: The entire country has about 3,000 people in prison, he said, putting Norway's per-capita incarceration rate at roughly one-tenth that of the US. Norway has some of the world's lowest levels of recidivism. Government stats give the proportion of people reconvicted within two years of release in 2020 as 16%, with the figure falling each year. Meanwhile, a US DOJ survey carried out over a decade found that 66% of people released from state prisons in 24 states were rearrested within three years, and most of those were incarcerated again.
• What's next for the project: The Menendez brothers' work is ongoing, with the ultimate goal of transforming the prison yard "from an oppressive concrete and gravel slab into a normalized park-like campus setting surrounded by a majestic landscape mural," per the project's website. The final product will include outdoor classrooms, rehabilitation group meeting spaces, and training areas for service dogs. More here.

(More Menendez brothers stories.)