Does everyone deserve a second chance?

Sit down with Shaka Senghor in his Detroit home and retrace his footsteps from the corner corner he was shot through the 19 years he spent in prison and 7 years in solitary confinement as you embark alongside him on a journey of loss, punishment, hope and redemption.

 

Synopsis

Shaka Senghor was incarcerated in Michigan for 19 years, seven of which he spent in solitary confinement.  He ran away as a child to escape an abusive home. The closest thing to love and support he could find was in a community built around the crack cocaine trade.

One night, he was at the wrong place at the wrong time and a man shot him multiple times.  From that day forward he began to carry a gun and a few months later, he pulled the trigger and accidentally killed a young man. He was charged with second-degree murder and sentenced to prison.  

Several years into his sentence as he was quickly losing hope that he would ever make it out, he received a letter from his young son that changed his entire life trajectory.

Today Shaka Senghor is the founder of Beyond Prisons, a humanization initiative of the Dream Corps. He is the New York Times bestselling author of Writing My Wrongs, a TED speaker (his talks gave garnered more than a million views), a former fellow at MIT Media Lab, and the proud father of two sons.

 

Cast and Crew

Written and Directed by Jamie Wong

Starring Shaka Senghor with Sekou Senghor

Cinematography by Barry Pousman 

Produced by Jamie Wong, Mario de la Vega, Barry Pousman

Edited by Will Poor

 

On the set of The Letter