“This is not a lost place, this is just a parking lot where people would stay for a time, and them be ready to go”.
– Carla Gullotta, Human Rights Activist
In the words of Leroy Fairweather, Superintendent of the Tower Street Adult Correctional Centre, in Kingston Jamaica, “nobody’s born a criminal; but society, a way of life and the company you keep causes people to get into crime. But, they can change.” Rehabilitation within the confines of a correctional institution can take many forms but the key to success is the buy-in from prisoners. Too little and the program is mired in crippling stasis. But, when the balance is just right, a flourish of hope and salvation washes anew. In Songs of Redemption we bear witness to the transformative effects of reggae music within one correctional facility.
The sweet acoustic stylings of Serano Walker, currently serving 13 years of a life sentence, envelopes your ears like a cool breeze on a moonlit beach. Segueing between his duties as a penitentiary radio station DJ to laying down over dubs in the recording studio and all points in between, one almost forgets that you’re watching hardened criminals. Throwaway all your preconceived Hollywood notions of the American penal system because they don’t apply in this Kingston prison today. “Prisoners come to prison as punishment, not for punishment,” states Fairweather. It’s this highly held mantra that has helped turn around a prison system in 2000 strife with limited correctional support, internal division, hordes of gangs and unending violence. One of the key bridges to getting there was Carla Gullotta’s program of rehabilitation through reggae music.
For some prisoners, this musical rejuvenation is only made possible through the teachings of the lord. For others, the fruits of their inspiration were manifested during their turbulent formative years. And for other still, the absence of family life and the longing to reconnect was their only muse. Directors, Miquel Galofre and Amanda Sans exposes something most will never see in a prison based documentary, the vulnerability and humanity of man and what can happen when their creative abilities are given a platform. These men are no angels and Galpfre and Sans reveals the underbelly of each prisoner, warts and all in a confessional style narrative. But, Songs of Redemption shines brightest when the lyrical and instrumental visions of Pity More, Black Cardiac, DZ, Markel, and Andrew Hornsman take hold. The culmination of which comes in the form of an in-house session concert featuring Serano that brings the house down.
Verdict 3.5 out of 5: We live in a society that incarcerates convicted criminals at an ever increasing rate under the guise that we are making world safer. Some will never see the light of day but most eventually reintegrate back into society in some way, shape or form. The recidivism rates after being warehouse for decades without meaningful skills to rely on in our social media, tech savvy world are high. Although Songs of Redemption doesn’t provide us with recidivism statistics for prisoners who participated in this program, it clearly makes the case on the therapeutic benefits of musical programs within an institutional correctional facilities. By providing a little more humanity to the most vulnerable within our society, we all win. Songs of Redemption shows us one avenue upon which to get there.
Final Thought: For prisoners in the Lower Street Adult Correctional Centre, music is the love and light that makes all thing possible.
Genre: Documentary
Language: English (subtitles)
Country: Jamaica, Spain
Release Date: 2013
Director: Miquel Galofre and Amanda Sans
Writer: Amanda Sans
Executive Producer: Nando Garcia Guereta
Musical Supervison: Lloyd Standbury
Runtime:78 minutes
Cast: Serano Walker, Carla Gullotta, Leroy Fairweather, Pity More, Black Cardiac, Markel, DZ, Sparrow Martin, Jerome Walker, Andrew Hornsman
