Criminal Law Library Blog
From Goro Toshima:
I wanted to alert you to my award-winning documentary, A Hard Straight, which shows what it’s really like to make the radical transition from prison life to society, by following the post-release stories of three people in close and unflinching detail …
…One spent his childhood in foster homes, juvenile detention, and the gang life before his adult convictions. Now, the one thing he knows for sure is that he is a 2-striker and another conviction will land him in prison for the rest of his life… The second had logged more time in prison for parole violations than for his original sentence. “My friends are few, and my world is cold,” he confides, waiting on a street corner notorious for drug deals… The third, a mother whose oldest daughter had taken in the two younger children during her prison term. Life becomes very complicated very quickly once she gains her freedom. Increasing friction with her daughter comes to a head over her struggle with methamphetamine addiction.
I filmed the men and woman for two years, portraying the ecstatic moment of their release from prison and then the inevitable frustrations and setbacks, as their paths take course and alas, diverge. Recently broadcast nationwide on PBS’s ‘Independent Lens’ and now available from New Day films, A Hard Straight is already being used by prisons, juvenile institutions and university classes throughout the country, and I have been told that the documentary is generating lively discussion among the viewers because it poignantly brings real life to the facts and issues.
If you would like to consider purchasing this film for your institution, ordering information and further details on the details about the film can be found…
@ http://www.newday.com/films/AHardStraight.html
Additional information can be found at my site as well…