On February 20, 2017 was the Los Angeles Red Carpet premiere of filmmaker and activist Matthew Cooke's new harrowing documentary "Survivor's Guide To Prison", about how in this "Land Of The Free" that there are more people incarcerated here than in every other country's prison population combined. We have 4% of the world's population...and 25% of the world's prison population. In this "beacon of freedom" we build more prisons than we do schools. The fact is prison is a FOR PROFIT business...it's not for people who are dangers to society. And the more people we incarcerate, the more revenue is generated for the Prison Industrial Complex, which benefits the wealthy. And the more it makes slaves out of it's victims to provide cheap labor for the big corporations.
This is the Q & A which followed the film. Included on the panel are Matthew Cooke, the writer and director of the film; David Arquette, who was one of the producers; Jesse Williams, another producer; Adrian Grenier, another producer; Susan Mellen, an innocent woman profiled in the film who was framed for a murder she did not commit and spent 17 years behind bars; Bruce Lisker, an innocent man profiled in the film who was framed for a murder he did not commit and spent 26 years behind bars; and Reggie Cole, another innocent man who was framed for a murder he did not commit and spent 16 years behind bars. Producer Danny Trejo also spoke briefly too.