This is the story of a legal consolidation hearing, a process to combine two sentences to reduce total prison time. The defendant, João Duarte (a pseudonym), a man in his fifties, appears before the court accompanied by two police officers. Having served three years for robbery related to drug use, he is now abstinent and working in prison maintenance. While the court acknowledges his progress and cooperation, the shadow of his past addiction remains. The hearing concludes with the decision to set his total sentence at nine years, with the final ruling to be delivered via video conference.