Engaging livestream conversation about re-entry and recidivism for returned citizens with 16 BARS filmmaker Sam Bathrick, film subjects Speech Thomas of Arrested Development and Sarah Scarbrough, director and founder of Real Life Re-Entry Program, re-entry activist and community leader Lyn Twyman, CEO of LASERS, and moderator Steve Michelson, Executive Director, The Fund for Sustainable Tomorrows.

Q&A Panelist Bios

SPEECH Thomas

Recording Artist + Activist

Two-time Grammy®-winner Speech Thomas is widely considered to be one of the godfathers of conscious hip-hop. His band Arrested Development’s 1993 debut album “3 Years, 5 Months & 2 Days in the Life of...” went quadruple platinum and achieved what few thought was possible at the time, establishing an Afrocentric alternative to gangster rap that was commercially viable. 25 years later, Speech continues to tour the world with his band and seek out opportunities to use music to address issues of social and racial justice. In 2017, he set out on a journey to the Richmond City Jail, where he conducted music workshops with inmates and even spent the night inside the jail. His goal was to shed light on the complex issues in our criminal justice system by bringing the voices and stories of incarcerated people to a larger audience. 

Sam Bathrick

Director, 16 BARS

Sam Bathrick began his career as a refugee caseworker in West Africa, interviewing survivors of war— a job that would ignite his passion for human stories. He fell in love with New York while producing RUN FOR YOUR LIFE, a doc about the enigmatic founder of the NYC Marathon and spent some wild years chasing musicians through the streets of cities like Tokyo, Istanbul and Atlanta while directing the PBS travel series Music Voyager. His directorial debut 200 MILES, a documentary about a seemingly impossible run, premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival. In 2017, he and his partners at Resonant Pictures set out to make a film about Grammy®-winner Speech Thomas’s journey to record an album inside a jail. The L.A. Times called 16 BARS a hopeful look at the potential power of song and creativity to focus, empower and inspire.”

Sarah Scarbrough, Ph.D. 

Real Life Founder and Director

Dr. Sarah Huggins Scarbrough graduated with a Master’s in Criminal Justice in 2007 and PhD in Public Policy in 2012, both from Virginia Commonwealth University. In 2013, Richmond Sheriff C.T. Woody, Jr. hired her as his full time Program Director to oversee, develop, coordinate, and manage programming aimed at providing treatment and rehabilitation for incarcerated individuals. In addition to her work in Virginia’s second largest jail, Dr. Scarbrough subsequently founded a non-profit, REAL Life, to assist the men and women coming out of The REAL Program in Richmond’s jail, and to break the cycles of release and re-incarceration that plague returning citizens. REAL Life helps individuals overcome obstacles associated with obtaining a job, finding support networks, mentoring, budget coach, bus tickets, cell phones, educational goals, and more. REAL Life also opened a recovery house to house men after release from the jail in 2017.

Lyn Twyman

Behavioral Health Advocate, Community Policing & Re-entry Expert 

Lyn is an advocate whose father was incarcerated in Federal Prison, and now specializes in domestic violence prevention, trauma and healing, community policing, youth engagement, and prison reentry. Lyn’s extensive career spans over 20 years, including a dynamic background in violence reduction with a majority of years spent in law enforcement as a civilian, in addition to the private and nonprofit sectors, state, and federal government. She also advises grassroots organizations that offer fatherhood and mentoring programs for returned citizens. Lyn works to bridge the gap between law enforcement and the community, especially with youth and those returning from prison. Lyn serves on the State of Maryland Governor’s Office of Community Initiatives Interfaith Domestic Violence Coalition and is the Chair of the Civil Unrest Work Group.In October of 2016, Lyn was appointed by Maryland Governor Larry J. Hogan, Jr. to the Neshante and Chloe Davis Domestic Violence Prevention Task Force, the first task force of its kind for the State of Maryland. She is a speaker and workshop presenter on various issues including mental health and founded a grassroots program that focuses on domestic violence prevention education and trauma. 

Steve Michelson

Executive Director, The Fund for Sustainable Tomorrows

Steve Michelson is the Executive Director of The Fund for Sustainable Tomorrows, a 501C3 non-profit specializing in supporting engagement campaigns around cause-related documentaries. Issues the Fund focuses on include: health, social justice, sustainability and the environment. Steve teaches an on line course, Making Media That Matters, in association with Ringling College in Sarasota Florida, for the next generation of documentarians. From 2006-2019 he was the Executive Producer at the Video Project, specializing in educational and institutional distribution of documentary films. His production studio operates out of his Ranch in Half Moon Bay, CA. called Lobitos Creek Ranch, redesigned recently to accommodate retreats and strategy offsites. Steve has served four terms as a Governor with the National Academy for Television Arts and Sciences (NATAS) and is the recipient of the Gilbert Award from the San Francisco Bay Area film community for his contributions to the industry. Steve was the co-founder of One Pass Inc., San Francisco's largest production service from 1975-1988. He is a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania where he attended The Annenberg School of Communications and the Wharton School of Business.