Within the three-time Oscar-nominated drama “Sing Sing,” Jon-Adrian “JJ” Velazquez and his fellow forged members inform a narrative that started practically 20 years in the past in a maximum-security jail.
In 2005, a bunch of males in New York’s Sing Sing Correctional Facility carried out a time-traveling musical comedy referred to as “Breakin’ the Mummy’s Code” for his or her fellow prisoners. The delightfully offbeat play follows an Egyptian prince who, after his “mummy” dies, solves a collection of riddles that includes acquainted characters: Robin Hood and his Merry Males, Maid Marian and Hamlet, to call a number of. “Sing Sing” tells the story behind the unique manufacturing and Rehabilitation By means of the Arts (RTA), this system that made it attainable.
Velazquez is amongst 13 RTA alumni who play themselves within the movie. “I keep in mind my mom telling me, ‘In your thoughts, it’s important to discover your freedom,’” stated the 49-year-old father who spent virtually 24 years in jail for a homicide he didn’t commit. “And that’s what appearing grew to become for me.”
On Feb. 3, Velazquez and different “Sing Sing” forged members reunited at New York Theater Workshop to carry out “Breakin’ the Mummy’s Code” for the primary time in 20 years. In two reveals introduced by A24 and The Simply Belief, Velazquez performed the guard who protects the mother’s tomb.
On this as-told-to edited and condensed for size and readability, Velazquez explains how appearing saved his life, redefined his objective, and impressed others to do the identical.
Not lengthy after I arrived at Sing Sing Correctional Facility in 2005, somebody advised me there was going to be a play within the auditorium. I’d seen performs placed on by theater teams from the surface, however this time, it was incarcerated folks placing on a present. I had by no means seen something like that inside jail, so I needed to test it out. And boy, was I amazed.
The identify of the play was “The N Trial.” Clarence Maclin, considered one of my co-stars in “Sing Sing,” was enjoying a prosecutor who was placing the N-word on trial. He was going into the historical past of the phrase, and a lawyer was on the alternative facet defending it. The N-word was performed by an precise particular person, too!
What I actually discovered attention-grabbing was the way in which they used artwork to faucet into the mind and tradition of Sing Sing’s inhabitants. After “The N Trial,” I noticed folks correcting others who had been persevering with to make use of the N-word, saying “No, brother, name me beloved.” Normally, the mentality in jail is thoughts what you are promoting. However now, folks had been correcting each other. I keep in mind pondering, Wow, how do you not be part of one thing like that? That’s how I found Rehabilitation By means of the Arts.
By means of appearing, I discovered to not be so critical. I used to be dealing with probably the most critical circumstances of my life, and it was onerous to step out of that generally. I got here to jail as a destroyed 22-year-old, as a result of I used to be incarcerated for a criminal offense I didn’t commit. My father was a army veteran within the Military, and he got here house and have become a police officer for Amtrak, so I grew up believing within the system. So, in 1998, once they accused me of [fatally] taking pictures a [retired New York] police officer, I went to the precinct and I volunteered for a lineup. This was towards my lawyer’s needs, however I used to be so naive. I assumed, What might go unsuitable? I am at a precinct. That is the police. They’re gonna do every part proper.
It was the worst determination that I ever made. I used to be a father of two, and right here I used to be, dealing with the loss of life penalty for the homicide of a police officer. I couldn’t wrap my head round how my life had modified within the blink of an eye fixed. I used to be callous and considerably bitter after I first obtained to jail due to it. I used to be dropping myself. I keep in mind my mom telling me, “You gotta perceive that they will lock up your physique, however they will’t lock up your thoughts. In your thoughts, it’s important to discover your freedom.”
And that’s what appearing grew to become for me. In jail, you possibly can generally neglect you really are human, since you will not be handled like one. You neglect that you could be playful in such a critical place, the place your life could also be on the road the minute you stroll out of a classroom or your cell. Appearing meant having protected areas to have the ability to escape from these harsh realities that no one desires to face or discuss. That’s what made it a blessing.
Appearing opened the doorways for me to use myself in so many different methods. I grew to become part of the Inmate Liaison Committee, sitting down with jail directors to advocate for the inhabitants. I used to be additionally the president of Latinos Unidos, a company that helps incarcerated Latino people, and I labored with Hudson Hyperlink For Increased Training in Jail, serving to others pursue levels.
Probably the most significant issues I did was co-create the C.H.O.I.C.E.S program (Selecting Wholesome Choices and Confronting Each State of affairs) to show the importance of wholesome decision-making to the youngsters of incarcerated dad and mom. We created a tradition the place folks inside had been considering their decisions regularly, realizing that higher choices result in higher lives. Once you lose every part — your freedom, your management over your individual life — you be taught simply how a lot that capacity to decide on issues. I exercised that freedom each probability I obtained, ensuring each selection I made was the precise one. That mindset formed my path in jail, and finally, it led to my launch.
In 2021, I used to be granted govt clemency [by New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo] due to the work I used to be doing inside. It wasn’t primarily based on my wrongful conviction. I wasn’t pardoned. Actually, I served 23 years, seven months and eight days earlier than they let me out on neighborhood supervision. It felt like a slap within the face, as a result of that was like one other sentence. No favors had been completed for me. I completed parole on March 9, 2024, solely months earlier than the Manhattan prosecutor’s workplace accomplished their investigation [and a judge] formally exonerated me on Sept. 30, 2024. They tried to interrupt me at each flip, however applications like Rehabilitation By means of the Arts and Hudson Hyperlink stored me going.
Simply months after I obtained out, I discovered myself again in jail — this time, a decommissioned one — to play myself in “Sing Sing,” a film concerning the very program that had given me hope. It was surreal. After spending 20-plus years preventing to get out, I used to be now strolling again in, sporting that uniform and embodying the spirit of being incarcerated once more. I used to be the final particular person on the forged to have been launched; everybody else had years out to course of it. It wasn’t straightforward for me.
We filmed for 18 days in July, and if you realize something about prisons, you realize they’re conductors of climate. It was unbearably scorching, and each second in that area carried the burden of the years I misplaced. However this time, I used to be an actor. And I used to be part of telling our story on our phrases.
What folks don’t notice is that a lot of the forged knew one another lengthy earlier than the movie. Whereas we had been incarcerated, a number of of us had been in class collectively, incomes levels in behavioral science. We sat in school rooms, supported one another and labored towards one thing greater than ourselves. These bonds don’t fade. Once you’ve relied on somebody at your worst, that stays with you. That’s why our current efficiency of “Breakin’ the Mummy’s Code” on the New York Theatre Workshop was so vital. It wasn’t only a present to us; it was a reunion.
I ready for this efficiency by re-reading the script, finding out my cues and watching previous jail efficiency movies [that director and playwright] Brent Buell despatched us. Everybody acts, whether or not in job interviews or each day life, projecting a picture to seal the deal. However this was completely different due to the fervour we introduced. We needed to alter how the world sees us and transfer past the stigma of being seen as a “prisoner,” an “inmate” or a “felon.”
Appearing has opened up a brand new dimension of activism for me. Within the final yr and a half, I’ve met wonderful folks — from actors and filmmakers to common folks — all devoted to being a part of the change. I wish to proceed utilizing the platform [“Sing Sing” created] to boost consciousness and push the pendulum in the precise path. I fought to get out of the system, to flee that darkness, and but I discover myself preventing simply to get again into prisons to assist others. Once I was on parole, and I’d attempt to enter prisons, they’d inform me to return again after I was off parole, after I was exonerated. Properly, now I’m exonerated and knocking on the door once more. Can I come again in now?
Folks suppose I’m loopy for wanting to return, however I do know the reality: There’s a lot expertise behind these partitions. So many individuals by no means had the chance to see what else was attainable. They didn’t know methods to cope with their circumstances, circumstances the place poverty was their father and lack of alternative was their mom. They thought what they had been doing was the way in which to outlive.
My mission is to enter prisons and assist those that, like me, have expertise however lack alternative. My hope is to point out them that they will survive, reside their greatest life, and that they do not must commit a criminal offense. That’s the message we have to unfold. That’s what I do by my very own work and my work with my castmates.
I’m additionally centered on persevering with my activism, together with an anticipated lawsuit towards New York Metropolis for my wrongful conviction. After every part I’ve been by, this lawsuit is about preventing for my respect. Past that, I’m excited concerning the film me and my staff are engaged on about my story. This work I’m doing now, as an actor and activist, is my objective, and I’m right here to maintain pushing ahead.
Jon-Adrian “JJ” Velazquez is an actor and activist dedicated to authorized reform. He was wrongfully convicted of the 1998 homicide of a retired police officer, and spent practically 24 years in jail earlier than being exonerated in September 2024. Throughout his time at Sing Sing Correctional Facility, Velazquez led many applications and initiatives, together with organizing TEDx occasions and advancing schooling by Hudson Hyperlink. His advocacy expanded into tasks just like the Pulitzer Prize-winning podcast, “Letters From Sing Sing,” the ebook “The Sing Sing Information,” and the MSNBC docuseries, “The Sing Sing Chronicles.” He additionally stars as himself within the A24 movie “Sing Sing.”
