The documentary Return tells a story of a struggle lived out by countless men and women released from prison. As former inmates set out to return to the outside world, the ability to find work and a place to stay is a challenge not easily met. Many leave possessing only a bus ticket, lacking the proper documents, cash, or background that grant true freedom in our society.Gwen and Jill are about to begin their journey into the outside world. For these women the future is a great unknown. Thomas and Carol offer a picture of what life after prison can be. Theirs is a story of hope and struggle. Years after leaving their prisons behind, they have striven to forge new lives for themselves, becoming the transformed people they are today.The common thread of all four individuals is the assistance of volunteers from outside the prison world, complete strangers who stepped in to help. They strive to bridge the gap between the convicts and the world they left behind. With the help of these mentoring volunteers the obstacles so highly stacked up against Gwen, Jill, Thomas and Carol may be more possible to conquer.The United States has the highest documented incarceration rate in the world.These figures are ignorable when we do not know the individuals whose lives they represent. Return introduces four people who each have a story to tell that takes them past the faceless figures of the current incarceration debate.
