GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — Behind Our Walls is a documentary directed by Grand Rapids-based filmmaker Nathan Roels which tells the stories of eight men currently incarcerated in Ionia who enrolled in the Calvin Prison Initiative.
The initiative is a five-year bachelor's degree program from Calvin University and Calvin Theological Seminary, which provides a Christian liberal arts education to inmates and a degree in Faith and Community Leadership.
"A lot of these men realize that they've put holes in the world. They've really created a lot of pain by their past actions and the crimes that they committed, and although they can't fill those holes that they created in the world, or undo the harm that they did, they do want to find ways to give back and to make the world a better place," Roels said.
He first met the men participating in the initiative while he was doing video work for it.
"I had been really inspired by their stories, seeing the transformation in their lives that they've experienced in the ways that they're trying to give back within the system and figuring out ways to serve the community that they're in," Roels said.
Many of the inmates enrolled in the program are serving long-term or even life sentences, so professors visit the prison to teach the same classes that are offered at Calvin University.
"They realize that education is the best way that they can equip themselves to get the tools that they need to be able to help their communities, to be able to serve the other prisoners that are around them, and to be able to even give back to the outside world when possible," Roels said.
He says that he's seen the inmates use their educations to train dogs for the blind, grow gardens to provide produce for organizations and provide mentorship, vocational tutoring, and counseling to others within the prison system.
In addition to this, Roels says those who have been released have gone on to work for non-profits and take part in programs to help support those re-entering their communities.
Roels hopes the film will change the way people view those who are incarcerated, and inspire change in the prison system.
"Although people really do need to pay a price for crime when they commit a crime, we also should be seeking to restore these people to make them better people when they go to prison, rather than them coming out as worse people as a result of their incarceration," Roels says.
He also hopes it can inspire more forgiveness.
"I hope that viewers of this film are able to become more forgiving and to seek more redemption, and second chances with the way that they view prisoners, but also with the people that are in their lives as well."
The next public showing of the film will take place on Oct. 26 at the Covenant Fine Arts Center at Calvin University. Tickets are available online.
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