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Donald Washington, Jr., is the director and executive producer of Inside Story, a video series designed to reach audiences both inside and outside of prison walls. He is a self-taught filmmaker who honed his skills working with local Brooklyn artists and grassroots organizations. Donald holds a graduate degree from the New York Theological Seminary and a Bachelor of Science degree from Mercy College. Previously, Donald was the co-founding president of the Back-To-School Fund, a fundraising group supplementing the educational needs of children with incarcerated parents in New York State prisons. In 2015, he was presented with the Ossie Davis Award for his excellence in community service by Hudson Link for Higher Education.
Email dwashingtonjr@themarshallproject.org
A Black man wearing glasses, dark green prison pants and a tan sweater is holding a microphone as he asks a question to a woman in the foreground who is sitting on a chair and her back turned to the camera. Alongside the man sit four other men in the same green prison pants and a variety of shirts. Members of the audience look on from their blue-colored seats.
Feature October 29
Incarcerated Men at Sing Sing’s First Film Festival Reflect on Movies, Justice, and Change
The diverse group of jurors shared how their favorite films have shaped their perspectives on community and life behind bars.
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A gray chain-link fence topped with barbed wire outside an Oklahoma jail.
Inside Story October 24
Effort to Provide Low-Cost Health Care Behind Bars Stirs Controversy
Examining a company providing low-cost health care services at jails across the U.S., and a formerly incarcerated person shares how a mentor behind bars saved his life.
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A Black woman with short hair, wearing a patterned-pink jacket, sits in a chair in a courtroom with a small smile on her face.
Inside Story October 17
Americans With Past Convictions Fight to Regain Right to Vote
A Tennessee woman tries to regain her right to vote after a conviction, and entrepreneur Topeka Sam talks about what she learned while in prison.
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A White man can be seen through the back of a wooden dining-table chair.
Inside Story October 10
Toll of Prison Staff Shortages on Guards, Prisoners and Their Families
Prison staff shortages impact guards, prisoners and their families, and comedian Donnell Rawlings talks about his connection to the system.
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An illustration of a brown-skinned man wearing a yellow jail jumpsuit sitting at the edge of a bunk bed, as two bunk beds sit empty in the background.
Life Inside October 4
Life Inside, Remixed: What 90 Days in Jail Taught a Poet About America
Ravi Shankar was born in D.C. to South Indian parents. But it took going to jail for him to fully understand what many other Americans of color face.
By The Marshall Project
A Black man with glasses and a black fedora, black vest and red button-down shirt.
Inside Story October 3
Discredited Hair Analysis Is Fueling Efforts to Overturn Convictions
Rapper Common talks about his work bringing music into prisons, and incarcerated people fight their convictions from debunked forensic science.
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Inside Story September 24
Inside Story Season 2 to Premiere Soon
The video series, developed by formerly incarcerated people, about the criminal justice system returns for another season.
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Left, a Black woman holds a photo of herself in a red dress sitting alongside her husband, a Black man with a beard wearing a blue T-shirt and a gold crucifix chain; right, the Black woman with short hair, earrings and a white shirt, looks into the distance.
Inside Story March 23, 2023
Violence on the Inside, Mentorship From the Outside
We investigate violence at one of the newest federal prisons and talk with La La Anthony about preparing incarcerated youth for life on the outside.
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A Black man with square-framed glasses and a thin, slightly graying beard, sits in a Florida prison wearing a blue uniform and looking down.
Inside Story March 16, 2023
The Rise of Life-Without-Parole Sentences
We explore sentences that imprison people for life without parole, and comedian Ali Siddiq unpacks his behind-bars beginning in comedy.
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A group of people, including formerly incarcerated people, pose for a selfie with one of them holding out their phone, on a deck that overlooks a small pond nestled among some green trees.
Inside Story March 9, 2023
Glimpses of Prison Life, Through TikTok and TV
We see how glimpses of life behind bars go viral online, and talk with Piper Kerman about creating “Orange is the New Black.”
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