THE IF PROJECT

Synopsis

A compassionate Seattle police officer creates a unique writing program along with a group of inmates at a maximum-security women's prison, challenging them to answer a simple question with a difficult answer: What if things had been different? If there was something someone could have said or done that would have changed the path that led you here, what would it have been?" This is the question veteran Seattle police detective Kim Bogucki asked a room of inmates at the Washington Corrections Center for Women in Gig Harbor one day in 2008. That question inspired repeat offender Renata Abramson to take action, and from that action grew a revolution, an outreach program that has affected the lives of thousands: The IF Project. Each meeting, Kim or another trained writing instructor assigns an essay prompt, and anybody who wants to share is given the floor. Topics range from writing about the house you grew up in and identifying the moment you got "a little broken" to letters of forgiveness to both yourself and the people you've wronged. The goal, Kim and Renata hoped, was to inspire the inmates to express themselves and be vulnerable without judgement, often for the first time in their lives, and to assist them to better their lives upon their release. Tracking Kim's complicated relationship with law and order, as well as the lives of four inmates affected by the program-Renata, Tiffany, Angela, and LaKeisha-this documentary is raw, powerful, provocative, and required viewing in a country where nearly seven million people have been behind bars.