Definition December 2023 - Newsletter

SAN QUENTIN PRISON MARATHON PRODUCTION

A s infamous prisons go, San Johnny Cash, who famously sang that he hated ‘every inch’ of the place, this worse-for-wear correctional facility on the San Francisco Bay is one of America’s oldest prisons. It also holds the dubious distinction of housing America’s largest death row population. And though the winds of change may be coming, with efforts in place to reform the facility and dismantle its capital punishment provision, San Quentin’s grim notoriety in popular culture persists. Its enduring Quentin is right up there with the worst of them. Immortalised by

reputation is one of brutal living conditions and violent clashes, fuelled by a powder keg of chronic overcrowding, racial divides and gang tensions. Against this charged backdrop, a new documentary unfolds, chronicling the story of San Quentin’s 1000 Mile Club and its annual marathon: a punishing 105 laps around the yard undertaken by prisoners each November. Inviting viewers into the lives of the incarcerated runners and the challenges they face, it sheds light on the transformative power of running, as well as broader issues around the prison system, raising

complex questions about criminal justice and rehabilitation.

STARTING BLOCKS Over six years in the making, the spark for 26.2 to Life ignited when filmmaker Christine Yoo stumbled across an article in GQ magazine about the 1000 Mile Club. This was in early 2016, but her relationship with the prison system goes back much further. “More than 20 years ago, I had a friend who was wrongfully convicted and sentenced to 271 years in California state prison,” she shares. “He

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