From the day the FBI arrested him in 2003 and told him the government was seeking the death penalty, Benjamin Frandsen labored fiercely for his release. His case was overturned twice on appeal (his third trial will likely be overturned again this year), and he was found suitable for parole three times in a row. Five separate times he beat LIFE in California. After 18 years fighting a sentence that began as Life Without the Possibility of Parole, the Parole Board finally released him on December 10, 2021
As Ben closes out his first season he decides to go big and invite Project Rebound for a discussion about life, hustling, drugs, and everything else in between.
Ben brings on three special guests from Cal State Long Beach’s “Project Rebound,” a group
dedicated to helping the formerly incarcerated apply to and navigate college. What makes
Project Rebound special is that the reason the staff all understand the difficulties of being in the prison-to-college pipeline is that everyone who works there was once behind bars themself.
Senior Staff Coordinator Irene Sotello was once using her skills to sell drugs in the streets, but she learned that she could transform her hustle into something beautiful by bringing others into the light of education. Sara Rodriguez went from spending too much time in a county jail to graduating from UCLA and using her skillset to help those who were once behind bars. Robert Ortiz-Archila came home from the battle-torn Middle East only to become a homeless veteran without direction. But he found his purpose in college, in learning, and in guiding others toward higher education. The four talk turkey about some things that ex-cons know that the average Jane or Joe does not.