Inside the experimental soft-touch prison wing compared to Disneyland where Erik and Lyle Menendez are serving life sentences for killing their parents

The killer brothers who brothers walked into the den of their parents $5million mansion and shot them point blank are serving their time in an experimental prison that inmates have likened to Disneyland.

Lyle and Erik Menendez, then 21 and 18, shot their parents dead in their Beverly Hills home in 1989 while the couple were watching television.

The brothers claimed their actions were a result of years of sexual abuse by their father Jose Menendez, who was a top Hollywood executive. But authorities said that greed was the true motive, citing a lavish spending spree that followed the murders. 

The highly-publicized legal battle - which involved two juries, two trials, and one mistrial - ultimately saw the brothers convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to two consecutive life prison terms without the possibility of parole.

The brothers have continued to fight for a new trial, with their case gaining increased public interest following the release of the Netflix series Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story, which dramatizes their lives.

But as the pairs lawyers make a renewed legal push for their release Lyle, 56 and 53-year-old Erik continue to serve their sentences in the Richard J. Donovan Correctional Facility, a California state prison that offers yoga, art lessons, guide dog training, and college education programs.

Lyle (left) and Erik (right) Menendez were both convicted of first-degree murder in the 1989 shooting of their parents Jose and Kitty. The brothers (pictured in 1990) were both sentenced to two consecutive life prison terms without the possibility of parole

The brothers claimed their actions were a result of years of sexual abuse by their father Jose Menendez, who was a top Hollywood executive. But authorities said that greed was the true motive, citing a lavish spending spree that followed the murders. Pictured: Erik, left in 2016, and Lyle, right in 2018

The pair are serving their sentences in the Richard J. Donovan Correctional Facility, (pictured) a prison complex sits on 780 acres in unincorporated southern San Diego County

The Donovan prison complex sits on 780 acres in unincorporated southern San Diego County. 

Designed as a training and work-oriented facility, the state corrections department says Donovan provides vocational, academic, and industrial programs to its inmates.

The facility also features the experimental Echo Yard, an unit that operates outside of normal prison rules, The San Diego Union-Tribune reported six years ago.

Echo Yard, while appearing harsh with its 70ft tall concrete walls, sees racially integrated cells and both sex offenders and transgender inmates housed with everyone else. Gangs are also banned in the unit. 

Convicted murderer Anerae Brown, better known by his rapper name X-Raided, who entered Echo Yard in 2017 revealed that inmates have to earn your way here and branded the unit as being as close as you get to a field trip to Disneyland in here.

Erik Menendez joined Echo Yard in April 2018, roughly two months after his brother Lyle became a resident of the unit.

The brothers were reunited at Donovan when Erik joined the unit after having not seen each other since the end of their second trial in 1996, at which they were both found guilty of first-degree murder.

Lyle how he tightly embraced his younger brother for the first time in 22 years during their emotional reunion, and said to Erik, finally as they both burst into tears.

Richard Donovan prison (pictured) has been likened to Disneyland over its yoga, art guide dog training, and college education programs. The facility also features the experimental Echo Yard, an unit that operates outside of normal prison rules

The Prison Yoga Project at Donovan aims to help inmates connect with their bodies so they can gain good emotional awareness and develop a capability for embodied mindfulness. Inmates are pictured during a Saturday morning yoga class

The Prison Yoga Project is more than just a behavior changing effort. It also allows inmates to earn a 10-day reduction in their sentence for every 52 hours of program participation

Twenty-three Donovan inmates even earned their bachelors degrees in sociology this year, in partnership with the University of California, after they received in-person instruction from professors at UC Irvine while serving their sentences. Pictured are the inmates at their graduation

All Echo Yard inhabitants take part in courses designed to address their criminal past, such as anger management or victim awareness. Some attend Alcoholics Anonymous, Narcotics Anonymous, Criminals and Gang Members Anonymous.

The inmates are also provided opportunities to focus on a law-abiding future, such as learning about money management or job hunting strategies.

But most extraordinary are the prisons extracurriculars, which includes a Saturday morning yoga that helps inmates reduce their time behind bars.

The Prison Yoga Project at Donovan aims to help inmates connect with their bodies so they can gain good emotional awareness and develop a capability for embodied mindfulness, the programs executive director Bill Brown previously told NBC 7.

He claims the yoga program is a humanizing experience and has made a huge difference in the behaviors of several inmates.

Were really reshaping the nervous system. Its a way of helping people with impulse control and anger management, and over time - yoga is a dose-dependent thing, he said of the effects of the program.

The longer and more frequently you practice the bigger the effect, and Ive seen guys in here who have gone from being loose cannons to the sweetest, most compassionate people that I know.

The Prison Yoga Project is more than just a behavior changing effort. It also allows inmates to earn Rehabilitative Achievement Credits (RAC).

Prisoners can earn them a 10-day reduction in their sentence for every 52 hours of program participation. Inmates can have up to 40 days taken off their sentences via RAC programs annually.

Erik and Lyle Menendez (bottom left) have apparently participated in Donovans art initiatives, with the pair in 2020 having helped paint a 1,000-foot long mural that scaled the concrete walls at Echo Yard

The brothers spearheaded the idea for the mural which depicts historic landmarks across San Diego. The pair had been thinking about beautification

The prisons Project Paint program is designed to encourage creativity, connection and sharing. The program launched in 2013 with a goal of reducing prison violence and recidivism

The art lessons feature a variety of assignments, including figure drawing and creating a metaphorical self portrait

Another notable activities offered to Donovan inmates include a prisoner-published monthly newspaper and its Project Paint art classes.

Project Paint is designed to encourage creativity, connection and sharing. The program was launched in 2013 with a goal of reducing prison violence and recidivism.

Laura Pecenco, founder of Project Paint, told KPBS in 2015 that the art lessons feature a variety of assignments, including figure drawing and creating a metaphorical self portrait.

She says the program gives inmates the opportunity to label themselves as an artist, rather than just a prisoner, and allows them to have an alternative identity.

We tend to see as more positive, exploring aspects of your identity, connecting with family, things that overall tend to lead to reduced recidivism and lower institutional violence, she added. 

Lyle and Erik have apparently participated in Donovans art initiatives, with the pair in 2020 having helped paint a 1,000-foot long mural that scaled the concrete walls at Echo Yard.

The brothers spearheaded the idea for the mural which depicts historic landmarks across San Diego, volunteer Brahman Kyrie told KGTV at the time. She said the pair had been thinking about beautification.

Donovan prison also offers a program which allows prisoners to raise service dogs for wounded veterans and children with autism

Its Prisoners Overcoming Obstacles & Creating Hope (POOCH) Program trains inmates to provide a safe, clean, and humane environment for the care, custody, training, and control of future guide dogs

Inmates raise the dogs and teach them to complete several tasks, including opening doors, retrieving and carrying objects, turning lights on and off, and providing calming behaviors in the presence of triggering events

The POOCH Program began at Donovan in 2014 and has since expanded to include a puppy birthing program

The facility also offers a program which allows prisoners to raise service dogs for wounded veterans and children with autism.

Its Prisoners Overcoming Obstacles & Creating Hope (POOCH) Program trains inmates to provide a safe, clean, and humane environment for the care, custody, training, and control of future guide dogs.

They raise the dogs and teach them to complete several tasks, including opening doors, retrieving and carrying objects, turning lights on and off, and providing calming behaviors in the presence of triggering events.

The POOCH Program began at Donovan in 2014 and has since expanded to include a puppy birthing program, the state corrections department said.

POOCH programs have also since been launched at Mule Creek State Prison in Ione, as well as the Brig at Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton in Oceanside.

Additionally, Donovan appears to foster prisoners educational advancement. 

Nearly two dozen inmates even earned their bachelors degrees this year, in partnership with the University of California, after they received in-person instruction from professors at UC Irvine while serving their sentences.

Donovan held its first-ever graduation ceremony earlier this summer after 23 inmates pursued degrees in sociology through the Leveraging Inspiring Futures Through Educational Degrees (LIFTED) program, ABC 10 reported.

LIFTED allows qualified prisoners to apply to transfer to UC Irving as juniors and earn a BA in sociology while they remain incarcerated. The inaugural class at Donovan began taking courses in autumn 2022.

Lyle and Erik Menendez fatally shot their parents, Jose and Kitty Menendez, in their Beverly Hills home while they were watching television. The pair are pictured in court

Pictured: Jose Menendez, father of Lyle and Erik Menendez, in 1988. He and his wife, Kitty Menendez, were found murdered in their Beverly Hills, Calif., mansion in August 1989

Chilling crime scene photos showing the blood-soaked couch where Jose Menendez was shot five times by his own sons became central to the prosecution

This was the scene outside the Menendez familys Beverly Hills mansion when police arrived on August 20, 1989. It was months before they arrested the brothers, when Eriks confession to his therapist changed their investigation entirely

Erik and Joseph Lyle Menendez were sentenced to life without parole in 1996 for the first degree murder of their parents Jose and Mary Kitty Menendez inside their Beverly Hills home. 

Lyle, a then-22-year-old Princeton student, and Erik, a then-19-year-old professional tennis player, walked into the den of their $5million mansion in August 1989 and shot Jose point blank in the back of the head.

They then turned the gun on their mother as she tried to run from the room. In total, they shot Jose five times and Kitty nine.

The brothers have never denied they killed their parents, but have argued they were driven to shoot down their father after years of sexual and physical abuse.

They have said they were afraid that their father would kill them after they warned him they would expose him for deviant behavior.

But evidence that their sons had been subjected to years of sexual and physical abuse at the hands of their record executive father was ruled inadmissible, as prosecutors argued that they killed their parents because they wanted unfettered access to their $14 million estate.

Both bought Rolex watches, condominiums, sports cars, and expensive other items in the months after the murders.

The siblings fatally shot their mom Kitty, a socialite, and dad Jose Menendez, a wealthy record company executive. The family is seen above in an undated photo

They have argued they were driven to gun down their parents after years of sexual and physical abuse

The brothers ultimately had two trials - the first had a hung jury and was ultimately ruled a mistrial, but when they were retried together in 1996, they were found guilty.

They lost an appeal against their conviction in 2005 and are both currently serving out their sentences at the Richard J. Donovan Correctional Facility in San Diego County.

But their case was bolstered last year when Roy Rossello, a former singer in boy band Menudo claimed that there father had raped him at 13.

He said in a sworn affidavit that he went to Joses home in fall 1983 or 1984, drank a glass of wine then felt like he had no control over his body.

Rossello also claims in a sworn affidavit that he was sexually abused by Jose on two other occasions - right before and after a performance at Radio City Music Hall.

Their attorneys, who are cautiously optimistic about the brothers release, filed a petition in May 2023 citing new evidence, including the allegations against their father by Rossello.

Their team also cited a letter Erik wrote to his cousin, Andy Cano, describing the abuse about eight months before the killings.

The brothers claimed they suffered years of emotional and sexual abuse at the hands of their father, and that he forced them to perform sex acts on their mother

The brothers - Lyle (left) and Erik - Menendez who killed their parents in Beverly Hills in 1989 had enjoyed materially privileged childhoods but they say that the reality was that their parents were abusing them

Ive been trying to avoid dad, the hand-scrawled message read.

Its still happening, Andy, but its worse for me now. I cant explain it. He is so overweight that I cant stand to see him. 

I never know when its going to happen and its driving me crazy. Every night, I stay up thinking he might to come in. I need to put it out of my mind.

I know what you said before but Im afraid. You just dont know dad like I do. Hes crazy. Hes warned me a hundred times about telling anyone, especially Lyle.

Their cousin testified that when Erik was 13, he came to him and told him that his father Jose was touching and massaging his genitals, asking if that was normal.

Another one of their cousins named Diane Vander Molen, also said that Lyle spoke about the abuse to her when he was eight years old, and that she went to his mother about his confession, but was told he was lying.

Arguments put forward by their defense team at their second trial described the pair as not harboring the mental state needed for first-degree murder and were therefore guilty of manslaughter. 

Back in the spotlight: Lyle, left, and Erik, right, Menendez were just 22 and 19 when they entered their parents Beverley Hills home armed with 12-gauge shotguns and killed them in cold blood in a case that shocked the US 

Attorney Cliff Gardner now hopes to prove they should have been convicted of manslaughter - arguing in an appeal of their convictions that if they had, the brothers would have been out of prison by now. 

My hope in the case is that the judge will realize that this new evidence is indeed credible and persuasive, and hell vacate the convictions, Gardner told 48 Hours in March.

The case is now the subject of the second season of Ryan Murphys Netflix series Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story, starring Javier Bardem and Chloë Sevigny. 

Erik publicly criticized Murphy and his Netflix series for what he called its horrible, blatant lies.

I believed we had moved beyond the lies and ruinous character portrayals of Lyle, creating a caricature of Lyle rooted in horrible and blatant lies rampant in the show. I can only believe they were done so on purpose, Erik wrote, sharing his thoughts about the series on social media.

It is with a heavy heart that I say, I believe Ryan Murphy cannot be this naive and inaccurate about the facts of our lives so as to do this without bad intent.

Pictured: Nicholas Chavez as Lyle Menendez, Chloe Sevigny as Kitty Menendez, Javier Bardem as Jose Menendez and Cooper Koch as Erik Menendez, in the Netflix series Monsters: The Lyle And Erik Menendez Story

Erik publicly criticized Murphy and his Netflix series for what he called its horrible, blatant lies. Pictured is a scene from the series 

Erik is portrayed in the series by Cooper Koch, while Lyle is played in the series by Nicholas Alexander Chavez.

Javier Bardem plays their father José Menendez and Chloë Sevigny plays their mother Kitty.

The pair also received a surprising visit from Kim Kardashian, who met with the pair at Donovan accompanied by her sister Khloe Kardashian and mother Kris Jenner.

Kardashian engaged with a group of around 40 inmates to discuss her ongoing commitment to criminal justice reform, per a TMZ source.