16 Bars

16 Bars is an intimate look at the lives of four inmates at the city jail in Richmond, Virginia, who are a part of a unique rehabilitation effort that involves writing and recording original music. The film follows their personal and artistic development as they produce and record with with Grammy- winning recording artist, Todd ‘Speech’ Thomas, from the hip-hop group Arrested Development. As the creative process unfurls and a chance at freedom draws near, each of these men must unearth painful elements of their pasts, which hold the key to a new chapter in their lives. The story is set in Richmond Virginia, the former seat of the confederacy, where the legacy of systemic racism, a spiraling opioid crisis, generational poverty, and a lack of mental health services have entrapped many of its citizens in a cycle of incarceration- which makes the city itself a unique case study for rising recidivism rates in the U.S. at large. With the U.S. locking up more of its citizens per capita than…