That moment, the moment Glenn Ford hesitated inside that car on his way to get his first doughnut since Ronald Reagan was president, crystallizes the challenges that exonerees face upon their release from prison. In an instant they go from a world where they have virtually no choices to a world in which their choices seem limitless. And they go from a world in which they have no control—over opening a door, for example—to one in which they can, indeed, control their own fate.

Some exonerees make the transition to free life more smoothly than others. Some, like John Thompson, become selfless advocates for other exonerees. But some promptly get in more trouble with the law or with people seeking to take advantage of them. Those heartbreaking scenes from Shawshank Redemption, the ones in which the paroled inmates struggle with life on the outside, are closer to the truth than anyone outside this tiny corner of the law truly knows. These men are free, you see, but their freedom is only the start of their journey.

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Just before Glenn Ford walked out of prison late Tuesday afternoon, the state of Louisiana—which had wrongfully charged, convicted, and incarcerated him for 30 years—gave him a $20 dollar debit card for his troubles. (As recently as 2011, the state gave only $10 to inmates leaving prison.) When you combine the debit card with the balance in Ford's prison account, the total he received upon his departure from Angola was $20.04. He left, too, with some photographs and with his medicine, all in two small boxes. He left behind his headphones.

It was the first time that Ford had gone outside in seven years. Seven years. Not because he had been placed in solitary confinement, like Herman Wallace, but because prison officials had so restricted the outdoor activities of the men on death row that Ford considered the exercise futile. He is 64 years old now, remember, with bad knees and hypertension. He didn't want to be outside it if meant being outside in a tiny cage, like an animal, without shade.

Before he left the prison, the head warden at Angola, the legendary Burl Cain ("God's Own Warden" as he has memorably been called) shook Ford's hand and told him that if he, Ford, had any problems on the outside, "you give me a call." It was like another surreal scene from another prison movie. But Ford took this as a sincere gesture, even though it came from an official who has presided over conditions of confinement at Angola that are so deplorable and inhumane that they have been declared unconstitutional by the courts.

Ford has gained a great deal of weight recently—30 pounds or so, according to his attorneys—and he had long complained to prison doctors about a variety of ailments and illnesses. Before he left the prison on Tuesday, he reported to the medical office for a physical. However, by the time he got there, ready for inspection, Ford told his attorneys that prison staff already had completed his medical form and handed it to him. So much for his final prison physical. On Thursday, his attorneys told me, Glenn Ford finally went to a real doctor for treatment for his illnesses.