Menendez Brothers Star Witnesses for Resentencing Hearing Are Prison Employees

Erik and Lyle Menendez and their legal team are making a full court press for freedom at next month's hearing ... and we've learned their star witnesses are people inside the prison.

Sources with direct knowledge tell TMZ ... the Menendez Brothers lawyer, Mark Geragos, will call six key witnesses to the stand at their Dec. 11 resentencing hearing ... and they all work for the California Department of Corrections.

The witnesses are two correctional officers, one education officer, a prison guard, a correctional lieutenant and another employee from the Dept. of Corrections ... all of whom have crossed paths with Erik and Lyle during their three-plus decades behind bars.

Our sources say the prison staffers will testify Erik and Lyle have been rehabilitated and have been model prisoners who not only worked on themselves, but helped other inmates improve their lives as well.

The witnesses, among other things, will highlight a beautification program they helmed for the prison yard at the Richard J. Donovan Correctional Facility outside San Diego, CA.

Lyle launched the program, dubbed Green Space, in 2018 ... and the project includes murals of San Diego landmarks ... with Erik serving as the lead painter. Their vision also calls for outdoor classrooms, training areas for service dogs and meeting spaces for rehab groups.

Geragos has filed legal docs supporting his case, which includes a letter from several dozen relatives of Jose and Kitty Menendez ... a letter supporting Erik and Lyle's release.

TMZ obtained the victims' letter, in which Jose and Kitty's family members say it would help their healing process to see Erik and Lyle freed. It's interesting ... the family members are considered victims, since they're related to Kitty and Jose, and we're told several may testify.

Our sources say the Menendez brothers will not be in the courtroom, but they will participate in the proceedings virtually from prison.

As we told you, Erik and Lyle have a few pathways to freedom. Geragos will ask the judge to change their convictions from murder to manslaughter, which would free them immediately based on maximum time served.

The judge could also resentence them and put their freedom in the hands of the parole board ... but that could take 6 months or even longer.

California Governor Gavin Newsom could also step in at any point and commute Erik and Lyle's sentences ... and Geragos submitted paperwork asking for clemency.