Prison Ministry Film Screening – JustUs
November 10 @ 11:30 am - 1:20 pm
The UUS Prison Ministry Team will screen JustUs, a 2021 documentary co-directed by Chicago filmmaker Maya Ben-Shahar and Cedric B. Theus, who is incarcerated for life in the Iowa State Penitentiary. Through Theus’s words, interviews with formerly incarcerated persons and activists working on policy reform, the film examines two systemic problems in U.S. prisons: racial disparity and the number of teenage offenders sentenced to life (which includes Theus). These problems are particularly bad in Iowa, which lags behind other states in enacting change. African-Americans make up 4% of Iowa’s population but 25% of its prison population. JustUs highlights the stories of two men granted parole after many years inside, Donta McKenzie and Chuck Brewton, who talk about the challenges facing African-Americans in Iowa’s prisons, their successful journeys adapting to life after incarceration, and why it’s vitally important to redirect Iowa’s focus on punishment and retribution to the life-saving work of rehabilitation and reform.
The movie is 52 minutes long. Afterwards there will be a Q & A with Maya Ben-Shahar, who will participate via Zoom.