Say I’m Innocent
Our new film “Fallout” will be on RTE this Thursday at 10.15pm. It was on BBC last week. It is the first film based on the acute traumas faced by exonerated prisoners on release after serving long sentences. I hope you get the chance to see it. Here is a link to the trailer:
https://vimeo.com/220615026
The password is “fallout trailer”.
“Fallout” is the first documentary that looks at the post prison lives of 4 high profile exonerated prisoners: Paddy Hill (Birmingham 6); Peter Pringle (the last man sentenced to death in Ireland in 1980); Sunny Jacobs (who served 17 years on death row in the USA and is married to Peter Pringle); and Robert Brown (who served 25 years in the UK).
We are running a campaign following the film called “Say I’m Innocent”, with events in 50 venues throughout the UK, Irelan,USA, plus the European and British Parliaments. You will find more info about the campaign at www.sayiminnocent.com
This documentary explores the mental and physical fallout from long term incarceration, the day to day struggle for survival, broken family relationships, and the poor quality of lives miscarriage victims lead. It will also highlight their courage and generosity of spirit, as they engage in activism and advocacy for criminal justice reform, and human rights; showing up their states by organising help and resources for fellow victims of injustice. Underlying the very personal stories of our four principal characters is the process of those who are undergoing the programme at the Sunny Center Foundation, run by Sunny Jacobs and Peter Pringle, the work of Paddy Hill’s organization, MOJO, and the endeavours of Robert Brown, who gives talks and writes poetry as his way of coping with the pain.
This documentary is a unique take on the mental fallout of years spent behind bars. We connect on a deeply raw and human basis with our characters, resulting in an emotional and passionate cry out to be free from the trauma that has enveloped their lives. Leading psychiatrists have described the damage done as being beyond repair. But there is hope, and the first residents of the Sunny Center Foundation are evidence that a better life is possible.
Paddy Hill was one of the Birmingham Six, sentenced to life and released as an innocent man after 16 years. His psychiatrist describes him as one of the most mentally scarred cases he has ever come across. He now runs the Miscarriages of Justice Organization (MOJO), to help innocent people in prison.
Robert Brown was sentenced to life for murder in 1977. He was released 25 years later, after it was determined his verdict could not be considered safe. He has spent the years since retreating from a world he doesn’t understand and he feels doesn’t understand him.
Sunny Jacobs and Peter Pringle make up one of the most unlikely of unions; that of exonerated death row inmates. Peter was one of the last men to be sentenced to death in Ireland, convicted of murdering two Gardaí in 1980. He served 15 years. Sunny Jacobs was sentenced to death, along with her then husband, for the murder of two police officers in Florida in 1976 serving 17 years on Death Row. Both became advocates for human rights, campaigning worldwide against the death penalty. They now run the Sunny Centre to help long serving exonerees assimilate back into society.
