was there as an inmate when this production was filmed part of an inmate organization The Creative Work Shop, in which I was a member as Director of the Woodshop Dept. Thank you, Carole Cass, for your sponsorship of our organization. this short play is still relevant today in 2020.

I learned of this video from a book I am currently reading, Virginia State Penitentiary: A Notorious History. Willie Robinson did a great job composing & performing the music.

Jerry Givens(shown in this video) died recently from the effects of the COVID virus. Virginia's official executioner for 17 years and 62 dead criminals. He was an outspoken critic of all that he did in later years. Quite a guy...wish I had met him, the stories he could tell.

Never TOO LATE to learn.

' Education is our Passport to da Future Because Tomorrow belongs 2 those who Prepare for it today.. ' Malcolm X..

How did Earl Clanton participate in this as a death row inmate?Weren't they kept separate from GP?

Here is a 1987 article from the Richmond Times-Dispatch on the production of the film authored by its producer Carole Kass. (begin article) INMATES' FILM DEVELOPED MAXIMUM COOPERATION January 25, 1987 |Richmond Times-Dispatch (VA)| Author: Carole Kass | Page: J-1 |Section: Leisure The incredible thing is that it was made at all: The project -- a video film promoting literacy -- was shot last October inside the maximum security Virginia State Penitentiary on Spring Street in Richmond. "A Time to Learn," a 26-minute combination of fact and fiction designed to promote literacy, will air at 7 p.m. Tuesday on Channel 12, co-sponsored by WWBT-TV and Richmond Newspapers. Conceived and carried out by inmates, it was paid for with a grant from the Virginia Department of Correctional Education. Then warden -- Michael J. Samberg -- with support from corrections director Edward Murray, gave the project carte blanche: The camera could go anywhere. Guards were assigned full-time. All limiting regulations were suspended. It was a project of the Cineastes, a group of inmates with whom I have worked since 1976. They honed their skills videotaping "The Repaired Man" from a script by inmate-writer Evans Hopkins. It was performed during social functions and videotaped with equipment borrowed from St. Bridget's Catholic Church by the Rev. Joseph Biber. In 1984, we made a two-minute "commercial" promoting literacy through a $600 grant from the John Stewart Bryan foundation. The small budget was made possible by the loan of equipment from Virginia Commonwealth University's photography department and volunteer filming and editing by graduate student David Williams. Our only costs were film stock and developing and printing at Commonwealth Films. It was distributed to other correctional facilities. After he saw it, Dr. Charles Price, director of the correctional education department, commissioned the Cineastes to make a longer version especially for for those in juvenile institutions, because illiteracy is closely linked to unemployment, crime and drug dependency according to Gov. Gerald L. Baliles, who instituted a "no read, no release" program. He said at least one-third of Virginia's 11,000 prisoners are functional illiterates. It took almost a year for script approval and a $5,000 grant from Chapter One funds. Then I learned that a producer brings together all the disparate elements and turns everything over to a director -- and becomes his servant. I chose Jerry Williams to direct the film. He makes videos for the media services department of the Richmond Public Schools, serves as entertainment critic for WTVR-TV, writes capsule film reviews for Style magazine and makes music videos on his own time. Williams took charge, spending his vacation shooting and editing the film. He met with warden Samberg and assistant warden for security Maj. D.R. Lawson. Lt. Clyde Hubbard and Sgt. William Robb were assigned full-time to the filming. Williams scouted locations in the penitentiary and prepared the script for filming. Hopkins' script is many textured, thanks to the combination of his talent and the collective voice of the Cineastes, especially Jesse Knight, a burly man stubbornly rooted in reality. The real-life angle is crucial. Since it was made by inmates inside a maximum security facility, no youngster can think this is a fairy tale dreamed up by do-gooders. The film is about two men who can't read. One, a basketball player who drops out of high school, can't fill out a job application. Hustled in a poolroom into breaking the law, he ends up in prison. The other, who helped his father on the farm, wasn't allowed to attend school. The film follows them in prison and shows what happens there because they can't read. The poolroom scene is a music video. Lanky Earl Clanton Jr. (one of the death row escapees from Mecklenburg) plays the hustler, clad in my son's blue sport coat and my black fedora hat. Two inmates with shaved pates portray his henchmen. Williams embellished the script with inmates and former inmates testifying to the benefits reading has brought them. None is more effective than a former inmate leaning against his car, a young woman sitting in the front seat. He says he got his job because he earned a General Equivalency Diploma and took college courses in prison. Inmate Jarrell Saunder sends the message via a rap number. Another inmate, Willie Robinson, is into music like a baker is into flour. For a month he gave himself to us and wrote a song that became the third star of the film. Robinson is a natural musician who composes songs, sings and plays keyboard. He is also a natural actor. We held auditions, first for inmates then for guards. Alonza Harris was our first choice to play the role of James McDonald, the basketballer player. But the 6 foot-5-inch gentle giant called "Zo" is so quiet, his smile so sweet, we feared he couldn't show anger. We were wrong. Harris is funny. He can be intimidating or tender, and he takes direction like a sponge. The guards who auditioned seemed too nice. Jerry Givens, a bear of a man played himself, patient and measured, and is seen helping new inmates. Another guard, Robert Beauchamp, portrays Harris' potential employer. Officer Mary Jones portrays a guard who gives the hero a "charge" for littering. We shot as early as 7:30 a.m. and as late as 10:30 p.m. Light was a problem, since the sets were prison offices, a basement gym, school rooms and cells. Nothing went smoothly. Some days the sound equipment didn't work. Another time it was the lights. Sometimes the actors "went up" on their lines. One scene needed 33 takes. Sometimes an actor didn't show up. When we shot the Adjustment Committee scene -- when McDonald is tried for littering -- Jan Mason, who covered the film for Life Magazine, substituted since the guard actor didn't turn up. Richmond actress Beatrice Bush performed gratis as Harris' foster mother. Inmate Robert White, who started out as makeup man, became slate man when the original one was called away, and later took over the task of recording takes of the script when Hopkins had to rewrite it. Because Williams gave the Cineastes a quick course in cinematography, inmates lugged equipment, set up scenes and operated the camera, lights and sound. Ivan Sparks, a Rastafarian who wears his hair in dreadlocks, became a light and sound technician and set up the camera. Al Congdon ran the video like a pro. (end of article)

I highly doubt ppl realize how many men were raped and murdered in this prison

I wonder is James McDonald a real person. Was this movie based on a real person?

00

I wonder these folks are now,if any were ever able to come back to society and become successful in the community???

500 spring street Richmond Virginia. A lot of poor soul 💔 lived and died there.😢 Yes a lot was murdered by the state at500 spring street in Richmond va.😢

Quite sobering to watch TBH what surprised me was the fact that there was no one at reception to help illiterate inmates read and fill out forms ?!?!

Dyno mite?

What in the white man stereotype bs is this!?!? Can’t believe these brothers & sisters participated in this shxt. Kanye West would be proud tho...