From Film to Real Life: CIRCLE UP Reaches Colorado Youth in Custody

Spring Creek Youth Services Center, Colorado

The Colorado Division of Youth Services (DYS) will soon be using CIRCLE UP across all 10 of its secure youth residential centers, incorporating the film into its work with young people around accountability, the impact of their actions, and envisioning a positive future.

After Programming Administrator Jason Dagg facilitated meaningful circles around the film at three DYS sites, the response was immediate: young people wanted more.

“We delivered the CIRCLE UP curriculum to the young men in our system through a series of five sessions, delivered once a week for five weeks,” Jason writes. “So far we have delivered this at three separate program sites, and each site has had youth provide promising feedback.”

For one young man, the themes of the film moved from the screen into his own life.

At a parole hearing shortly after watching the film and participating in a circle, a family member of the person he had shot spoke. She told him, “I just really want you to find success in your life. I hope for you to do well.”

Later, Jason asked how he felt about what she had said. His response was striking:

“Man, I can’t believe it’s like the film we watched…now I have a responsibility.”

In that moment, the young man recognized something that CIRCLE UP is designed to make possible: accountability can become the beginning of a different relationship with harm one has caused, the people affected, and the responsibility to make different choices moving forward.

As Jason reflected, the experience from the film had become real for this young man. Because he had already explored those ideas in the circle, the experience connected with values he was beginning to carry with him as he prepared to transition back into the community.

This is why we made CIRCLE UP: to create spaces where difficult truths can be faced, empathy can emerge, and young people can begin to see accountability and hope as part of their own journeys.

Professional Development for Brooklyn High School Staff

On November 7, I coordinated a professional development at William E. Grady Career and Technical Education High School in Brooklyn, bringing Janet Connors and Clarissa Turner from CIRCLE UP to speak about their experiences as survivors of homicide victims.

Eighty-five teaching staff watched the film the day before, then convened with us over Zoom. After a brief Q&A we divided into several small “circles” facilitated by Janet, Clarissa, and me along with two staff members trained in restorative justice. It was a moving experience for all – and an opportunity for the school to deepen its restorative justice work with its students, many of them facing challenges in their lives.

This opportunity grew out of a large in-person training we did with principals, social workers, and restorative justice coordinators from 20 New York City schools in 2019 (pictured above).

Peacemaking in Prison

Chaplain Gene Presley (above right) has dedicated his life to facilitating workshops for incarcerated populations. He teaches a course called “Peacemaking in Prison” at Wakulla Correctional Institution located outside of Tallahasse, Florida.

“There is so much pain and brokenness, not just in prison, but everywhere in the world. We need awareness of restorative justice and the peace circle process to inform our decisions about conflict, justice, and positive change.”

— Michael, one of Gene's students

Presley ‘s course curriculum has four phases:

The first phase focuses on peacemaking through emotional intelligence. Inmates watch documentaries and read books about how emotions operate in the brain and how to de-escalate situations that could otherwise end dangerously.

In the second phase, the men learn about circle-keeping by reading sources such as the Circle Keeper’s Handbook by Kay Pranis. The students wrote values instrumental to circle-keeping on paper plates. One student explained that he drew a donkey on his plate because he is “being a jack-ass” when he is not empathetic :)

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In this phase, Presley also shows his students CIRCLE UP. The men respond to the film with reflections on its central themes of forgiveness, accountability, and justice. The stories of Janet and other grieving family members led inmates to consider the effects of their actions on others – and to believe in the potential of relational practices like peacekeeping circles as a way to propel community healing forward.

Below are some excerpts of responses written by Presley’s students.

In the third phase, Presley’s students learn mediation and negotiation skills. One resource the students use in this module is a selection of simulations, such as a family mediation simulation, from the Florida Dispute Resolution Center.

The course ends with a phase that teaches students how to become facilitators, which is why Presley refers to his program as being “run by the incarcerated for the incarcerated.” In this part of the course, the students learn about pedagogy, leadership, and ethics. You can read more about Presley’s approach in the article he-co-authored in the spring 2023 issue of Organization Development Journal, "Getting After the Violence: Changing Prison Culture Through Prisoner-Driven Dialogue.”

It is moving to know that CIRCLE UP is one of many resources out there being used for this work, and that there are teachers like Presley who are so invested in their students, and students who are so invested in what they are learning.

Encore Broadcast

CIRCLE UP will be having an encore broadcast on the America ReFramed series on WORLD Channel on April 13 at 8pm/7pm CT - and will be streaming free April 13- 28 here. I’m excited to be able to reach new audiences with this evergreen film, especially at a time when we need all the justice we can get!