The Walls Turned Sideways interpreted tour, developed by Dr. Maru Colbert-Her’tazhe has inspired several courses of action with respect to wrongful treatment of BIPOCs in the criminal justice system. One was a town hall meeting held over Zoom and livestreamed on Facebook. Hundreds of people attended this frank, open and at times, highly charged discussion with people involved at all levels of the criminal justice system, including two of its victims-wrongfully accused individuals.
Another is the project presented here. It is an educational intervention, designed for young people with informational segments prepared for their parent community. It serves as both an outreach activity as well as a prelude to youth viewings of the films produced by The Innocent Convicts (TIC). The amount of general and criminal justice specific knowledge and education one has is the best predictor of the likelihood of becoming court-involved in the short and/or long-term.
A series of social justice courses aligned with five of the Walls Turned Sideways exhibits. The exhibits are “LA PD Uniform”, “Sgt. Kroll Goes to the Office”, “Index II & II”, “Trophy Collection” and “Prison Maps”, was offered in the Fall of 2022 and another set will be offered Spring of 2023 by Dr. Maru Colbert. All of these provide much desired STEM education with an awareness of criminal justice practices in a social justice context. Five organizations collaborated with their students for the first offering.
The Innocent Convicts 