| Documentary Tries To Show a Prisoner's Human Side
Omar leaves the Maryland Transitional Center. |
Omar and Pete |
If you watch a film about drug addicts who steal—and who have been in and out of prison for 30 years—yet end up sympathizing with them, then filmmaker Tod Lending has done his job.
In Omar and Pete, Lending tells the story of two longtime friends taking part in a cutting-edge reentry program and trying to become engaged members of the community. The film mainly follows Leon “Omar” Mason from 2002 to 2005 through his ups and downs, drug relapses, and his ultimate inability to make it on the outside.
In the film, Omar appears ready to change his life. He was serving a 10-year sentence for armed robbery, but he had been drug-free for 8 years and had become a devout Muslim. “Before, every time that I left prison I already made plans to come back,” he said. “What's different this time? I have been preparing myself not to be a recidivist . . . . I think I'm prepared to do that.”
After leaving the Maryland Transitional Center prison, Omar lived with his old friend William "Pete" Duncan who had been released 10 months earlier. Omar and Pete participated in the Maryland Re-Entry Partnership Initiative, a program run by the Maryland Division of Corrections and city and community agencies. The program supported Omar with case managers, transitional housing, health care, employment assistance, and educational opportunities, and made substance abuse treatment available as well. But while Pete used the reentry program to hold on to his success, Omar retreated from his case managers, used drugs, and ended up back in prison.
“I was hoping for a story of redemption and it didn't happen,” Lending said. “There are more Omars than Petes.”
The viewer is left wondering what ultimately caused Omar to give up his freedom—perhaps a biological addiction that was too strong, or institutionalization—but Lending hopes that viewers will not simply walk away from the story; he wanted to humanize Omar and demystify his experience as a drug-addicted African-American male who was never able to survive longer than a year at a time on the streets. Omar and others like him “are dealing with demons and you understand,” Lending said. “It's not acceptable to be an addict but it makes sense. It's not a mystery why this happens.”
Lending believes that the general public is not aware of how pervasive substance abuse is among offenders. “You have to come to know these people and what their issues and experiences are in order to design programs and to even care about them,” he said.
The majority of the returning offender population has alcohol and drug problems but Lending said a number of reentry programs that he saw throughout the country did not have a strong therapeutic component and were not properly addressing addiction or treating co-occurring disorders. He hopes that people who view his film will argue for reentry support structures, and that policymakers will realize that they need to do more to help returning offenders.
Omar and Pete is one of the documentaries featured under the umbrella effort called The Reentry National Media Outreach Campaign. The campaign attempts to expand public awareness and dialogue, provide media-based resources, and work in partnership with key organizations engaged in local initiatives to strengthen families and neighborhoods. Funding for Omar and Pete was provided by the Child and Family Foundation, the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, the Annie E. Casey Foundation, and the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.
Lending has received positive feedback about the film through e-mails and at screenings. Blighted communities have embraced the film, but Lending does not believe the film will resonate for middle-class white communities that do not have a returning offender problem. CCDO has used the film in the VISTA (Volunteers in Service to America) Reentry site visits and trainings.
The film can be ordered directly from Lending's production company at http://www.nomadicpix.com/pages/omarandpete.htm, or communities and organizations interested in screenings can order the film at http://www.reentrymediaoutreach.org/pdfs/omar_pete_com_screening.pdf.
For more information, contact:
Denise Blake
Campaign Director
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