27 years, prison and youth detention: how two friends survived a rotten penal system

Wisconsin's hardline criminal justice policies ensnared Hamid Abd-Al-Jabbar and David Thompson. Over decades, they helped each other find freedom

This story was originally published by The Trace, a nonprofit newsroom covering gun violence in America. Sign up for its newsletters here.

On a December afternoon in 2018, Hamid Abd-Al-Jabbar pulled into the parking lot of a McDonald's on Milwaukee's north side. Overhead, under the company's iconic arches, the M" was smashed out. A stretch of cracked pavement connected the restaurant to the headquarters of 414LIFE, the violence prevention nonprofit where he worked.