What happens when a victim and offender meet?
The CNN Original Series premiere night on Sunday, April 28 with the series launch of The Redemption Project with Van Jones at 9 p.m. ET/PT
The Redemption Project with Van Jones is a new eight-part CNN Original Series, created and executive produced by Jonas Bell Pasht and Jonah Bekhor of Citizen Jones and Academy-Award(R)-nominated director Jason Cohen. Offering a rare glimpse into the restorative justice process, each episode follows the victim, or surviving family members, of a life-altering crime as they journey to meet face-to-face with their offender in the hopes of finding answers or some sense of healing. Van Jones serves as a guide for the viewer throughout this transformational experience. Through unique access to the U.S. prison system, this powerful series explores the human potential for redemption.
"I wanted to do The Redemption Project because I think we have lost our sense of grace and empathy and the capacity to forgive in our culture, at the highest levels," said Jones. "This series is my attempt to put some medicine into our very sick system and to uplift people who are doing extraordinarily courageous things every day."
In the series premiere, viewers will witness the first-ever dialogue between a victim and an offender in the history of the Alaskan prison system. Terria Walters, a mother whose son Christopher was killed in a drug deal gone bad, will meet convicted killer Joshua Beebe, a former heroin dealer serving a 60-year sentence at Spring Creek Correctional Center.
Jones will also host the new CNN-produced podcast, Incarceration Inc. with Van Jones, available on Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, Google Podcasts, Spotify and other podcast platforms beginning Monday, May 6. In the four-episode series, Jones goes behind the numbers of America's mass incarceration industry to help listeners better understand the criminal justice system and explore solutions to what has become a national epidemic.
The Redemption Project is produced by Citizen Jones. Executive producers are Jonas Bell Pasht, Jonah Bekhor, Jason Cohen, Sonia Slutsky, and Magic Labs Media's Van Jones and Jana Carter. Amy Entelis and Lizzie Fox executive produce for CNN. The series will regularly air Sunday nights at 9 p.m. ET/PT.