Criminal Justice Movie Coming to Muncie!

 I will most likely be working on the 18th, and who knows if anyone will read this post who can attend, but, dammit, this feels like something I should report.

From the Muncie Business Journal's Facing Project to Bring ‘The First Step’ Film to Muncie on March 18th:

Ahead of its nationwide theatrical release, Muncie will be one of 20 cities (and the only in Indiana) to early screen The First Step, a 90-minute documentary film that follows political commentator Van Jones and the bipartisan coalition who fought to pass landmark criminal justice reform in 2018 (The First Step Act), which has allowed more than 20,000 people to come home from federal prisons. The first screening opened in late-February in New York City and will conclude in May in Virginia.

Immediately following the Muncie screening on March 18^th at Muncie Civic Theatre, The Facing Project co-founder and president, J.R. Jamison, will moderate an interactive local panel discussion on the themes of the film that include addiction, recovery, reentry, and criminal justice reform.

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Tickets for the screening are $10 and available online or at Muncie Civic Theatre’s box office: https://app.arts-people.com/index.php?show=167410.

There are a limited number of reserved seats for those who need financial assistance. Please contact J.R. Jamison (jr@facingproject.com) for details.

More about the film can be found at: https://www.firststepfilm.com/.

An interesting tidbit from the notice:

In regard to local drug-related charges, Hansard added, “In Delaware County, 25% of the folks on probation have a low-level substance offense such as possession, and we have 1,200 folks on probation at any given time.”

I can say I was in 

Fort Dix FCI when this passed, and the Bureau of Prisons did not seem to be in any hurry to implement the law. It did send many prisoners home, whose stay in prison contributed to nothing than the hiring practices of the BOP.

sch 3/9