The Prison Within

Prisoners incarcerated for murder inside San Quentin Prison transcend the punitive prison system to unearth the root cause of their violence by working with victims of violent crime. Each character undergoes a radical transformation, revealing how all human beings, on both sides of the wall, can break free from their own personal prisons. These prisoners and survivors come together to participate in an innovative restorative justice program, enabling prisoners to discover how the trauma they’ve experienced has contributed to their criminality and to understand the impact their crimes have had on their victims. Together, the prisoners and survivors confront and expose the pain, shame, and rage caused by the extreme trauma they have experienced. The Prison Within is narrated by Hill Harper  and author of Letters to an Incarcerated Brother. Director Katherin Hervey, a former Los Angeles Public Defender and volunteer prison college instructor, is the first filmmaker to gain access to chronicle these intimate and revealing sessions inside San Quentin Prison. (Santa Barbara International Film Festival)