A New Video Series Explores Criminal Justice From the Inside Out

The New York Times, February 1, 2023: A New Video Series Explores Criminal Justice From the Inside Out

“Donald Washington Jr. had only an eighth-grade education when he began his 15-year-to-life sentence in a New York correctional facility for murder, robbery and the criminal sale of a controlled substance. By the time he was released nearly 15 years later, he had earned a bachelor’s degree in behavioral science and a master’s degree in professional studies through a prison college program.

“He knows self-improvement is possible for those in prison. But he also knows that obstacles exist.

“‘Prison is not an environment that’s necessarily conducive to your growth and development,’ Washington, 38, said. ‘But it can be if you seek that, right? So this is the seeds of hope that we are hoping to plant.’

“He is referring to ‘Inside Story,’ a news and current-affairs video series Washington created with Lawrence Bartley in partnership with Vice News and the Marshall Project, a nonprofit news organization focused on the U.S. criminal justice system. Made largely by former prisoners, the show explores issues of crime, punishment and the prison industry for a target audience of the imprisoned and anyone else who might value such a perspective. Reports on topics like the living conditions and drug use inside correctional facilities accompany personal essays and interviews with criminal justice experts and the previously incarcerated.”

Additional reading:

The Marshall Project, February 2, 2023: The Marshall Project Partners with VICE World News to Launch New Criminal Justice TV Series

The Marshall Project, March 28, 2019: Introducing News Inside