They Call Us Monsters

Ottawa Premiere on Friday February 10th!

In California, violent juveniles between 14-17 years old can be tried as adults. Typically, they are accused of heinous crimes—murders and attempted murders—that leave their victims’ families shattered. And yet, they are still kids, with a greater capacity to change and one day return to society. What is our responsibility to these kids? And to their victims? Do they deserve a second chance? These are the questions legislators are grappling with across the country as they attempt to reform our juvenile justice system. Meanwhile, behind the walls of the Compound, three violent juvenile offenders are writing a movie as they await their trials. It’s the story of their childhoods with the ending rewritten.

The Millhaven Lifers’ Liaison Group’s (MLLG),with support from the Criminalization and Punishment Education Project (CPEP) and Mothers Offering Mutual Support (MOMS) Ottawa, is collecting children’s book donations at the Mayfair for the men at Millhaven penitentiary. The imprisoned men would like to record themselves reading bedtime stories for their children at home, to help maintain the parent-child bond despite incarceration. Donations will be gratefully accepted at each screening of the film.

More information available on the group’s Facebook event page.