SnakeCharmer
05-31-2007, 03:14 PM
I was looking around today on the web and came across this. I thought I would share it with everyone. I havent heard anything about this up untill now. ( seems like if it is "Good News" it doesn't get spread as fast as drama, or when something bad happens)
HAS anyone heard about this film? has yalls loved ones said anything about this? know of anyone that was interviewed for this Film? I would love to see it. People all the time just want to think that , if you are in prison you can do no good.. but so many times, people from behind the walls TRY to reach out and help someone from the "free world" if only more of "US" would reach out and help them....
Here is the article i found;
Film aims to keep youths in school
By Kenneth Mullinax
Today, Montgomery public school principals will preview "Inside Out," a documentary to convince children to stay in school. It's a documentary Alabama native Shelley Stewart was inspired to make by his own tragedy and the desire to help school children avoid tragedies of their own.
Stewart was 5 years old in 1939 when his father, Huell Stewart,murdered his mother. His father took an axe and hit his mother, Mattie, so hard with it that it knocked her out of the window of their home, killing her.
Both parents were illiterate. Stewart, who believed that helped cause the tragedy, created a non-profit organization named after his mother that is dedicated to lowering U.S. high school dropout rates.
It is the Mattie Stewart Foundation that made the documentary "Inside Out." It features Alabama prison inmates promoting education as the main way for youth to avoid a life behind bars.
John Dilworth, superintendent of the Montgomery public school system, saw the movie a few weeks ago at a special screening and was so impressed with its message that he requested it be shown to all 58 principals, said Tom Salter, Montgomery school system spokesman.
"We can tell students all day to study hard, make choices and set goals, but seeing the consequences of the bad choices of dropping out of school told in such a compelling way is a very effective way to help us curtail the dropout rate of our students," Salter said.
The documentary presents stories of inmates in Wetumpka's Tutwiler Prison and Atmore's Holman Prison. They give personal testimony of how they believe a lack of education contributed to the bad choices that landed them in prison.
"What we are hearing these inmates say is that they want to keep young people out of prison," Stewart said. "We want to tap into this growing desire of a sizeable portion of the prison population to communicate that education and graduation from high school is a major way to avoid a life wasted behind bars."
Stewart said that each of the inmates in the documentary is either serving life or a sentence of life without parole.
Salter said the Montgomery public school system is showcasing the film today so each principal can decide if they want to use a shortened 32-minute version of the film and its teacher's guide at the beginning of next year's school season.
"We aren't saying yet that we will require its showing, but we believe most of Montgomery's school principals will want to show it to their students," Salter said.
He said the school system's teaching and learning department would review it, consult with Dilworth, and send it out to the schools.
A local non-profit group that supports local school students succeeding academically through tutoring and mentoring programs feels that the documentary puts forth a sensitive, yet strong message.
"This film helps love the kids straight on the virtues of staying in school and graduating, not scaring them straight as so many other prison-produced films of the past have done," said Hannah Williams, director of Montgomery's Partners in Education.
She feels that every single inmate story told on the 52-minute video is beautiful and told out of a desire to help young people before they drop-out and end up in prison.
Alabama prison officials don't know of a study that directly correlates a lack of education with a chance of being sentenced to prison, but Alabama Department Of Corrections spokesman Brian Corbett noted that 60 percent of Alabama's inmate population is made up of high school dropouts.
"While the message of staying in school to avoid a life of incarceration is not a new message, it is one that deserves to be continuously reinforced, and this documentary does it well," Corbett said.
Stewart said his documentary, which was filmed in August of 2006, will rapidly be made available to all the state's schools, churches, youth clubs and community groups and eventually be distributed nationwide.
He said that the film evokes a range of emotions to all those who have seen it so far.
"Our documentary will both break your heart and give you hope," Stewart said.
HAS anyone heard about this film? has yalls loved ones said anything about this? know of anyone that was interviewed for this Film? I would love to see it. People all the time just want to think that , if you are in prison you can do no good.. but so many times, people from behind the walls TRY to reach out and help someone from the "free world" if only more of "US" would reach out and help them....
Here is the article i found;
Film aims to keep youths in school
By Kenneth Mullinax
Today, Montgomery public school principals will preview "Inside Out," a documentary to convince children to stay in school. It's a documentary Alabama native Shelley Stewart was inspired to make by his own tragedy and the desire to help school children avoid tragedies of their own.
Stewart was 5 years old in 1939 when his father, Huell Stewart,murdered his mother. His father took an axe and hit his mother, Mattie, so hard with it that it knocked her out of the window of their home, killing her.
Both parents were illiterate. Stewart, who believed that helped cause the tragedy, created a non-profit organization named after his mother that is dedicated to lowering U.S. high school dropout rates.
It is the Mattie Stewart Foundation that made the documentary "Inside Out." It features Alabama prison inmates promoting education as the main way for youth to avoid a life behind bars.
John Dilworth, superintendent of the Montgomery public school system, saw the movie a few weeks ago at a special screening and was so impressed with its message that he requested it be shown to all 58 principals, said Tom Salter, Montgomery school system spokesman.
"We can tell students all day to study hard, make choices and set goals, but seeing the consequences of the bad choices of dropping out of school told in such a compelling way is a very effective way to help us curtail the dropout rate of our students," Salter said.
The documentary presents stories of inmates in Wetumpka's Tutwiler Prison and Atmore's Holman Prison. They give personal testimony of how they believe a lack of education contributed to the bad choices that landed them in prison.
"What we are hearing these inmates say is that they want to keep young people out of prison," Stewart said. "We want to tap into this growing desire of a sizeable portion of the prison population to communicate that education and graduation from high school is a major way to avoid a life wasted behind bars."
Stewart said that each of the inmates in the documentary is either serving life or a sentence of life without parole.
Salter said the Montgomery public school system is showcasing the film today so each principal can decide if they want to use a shortened 32-minute version of the film and its teacher's guide at the beginning of next year's school season.
"We aren't saying yet that we will require its showing, but we believe most of Montgomery's school principals will want to show it to their students," Salter said.
He said the school system's teaching and learning department would review it, consult with Dilworth, and send it out to the schools.
A local non-profit group that supports local school students succeeding academically through tutoring and mentoring programs feels that the documentary puts forth a sensitive, yet strong message.
"This film helps love the kids straight on the virtues of staying in school and graduating, not scaring them straight as so many other prison-produced films of the past have done," said Hannah Williams, director of Montgomery's Partners in Education.
She feels that every single inmate story told on the 52-minute video is beautiful and told out of a desire to help young people before they drop-out and end up in prison.
Alabama prison officials don't know of a study that directly correlates a lack of education with a chance of being sentenced to prison, but Alabama Department Of Corrections spokesman Brian Corbett noted that 60 percent of Alabama's inmate population is made up of high school dropouts.
"While the message of staying in school to avoid a life of incarceration is not a new message, it is one that deserves to be continuously reinforced, and this documentary does it well," Corbett said.
Stewart said his documentary, which was filmed in August of 2006, will rapidly be made available to all the state's schools, churches, youth clubs and community groups and eventually be distributed nationwide.
He said that the film evokes a range of emotions to all those who have seen it so far.
"Our documentary will both break your heart and give you hope," Stewart said.