Lakehead Researcher's Film about Innocent Man sent to Prison

Hard Time is a film about the 31 years Robert King spent in prison for crimes he did not commit, including 29 years in solitary confinement.

"It takes every scrap of humanity to stay focused and sane in that environment," King said in Hard Time, a film by Lakehead University researcher and History Professor Ron Harpelle.

"I should be anything but what I am today, but sometimes the spirit is stronger than the circumstances," King said.

King was sentenced to 35 years in Louisiana's Angola Prison in the 1960s for an armed robbery he did not commit. He is famous for being one of the Angola 3, a trio of inmates who formed a chapter of the Black Panther Party to fight for the rights of prisoners who were routinely brutalized and abused. Approximately 95 per cent of the population in Angola Prison is black. King was exonerated and released from prison on February 8, 2001.

Harpelle was interested in King's story because it's about survival.

"King is an example to us all. His story tells me that you can survive anything. A few years ago, when his relatives were planning a family reunion, it was a big thing for him because he'd essentially been living on another planet " a six by nine foot cell with no sunlight," said Harpelle, who is also a documentary filmmaker whose research focuses on struggles for social justice past and present.

"And Canadians shouldn't be too smug about their own country because injustice happens here too," Harpelle said.

Hard Time is being shown during Lakehead's Research and Innovation Week, on Tuesday, Feb. 12 at 1 pm in the University Centre (UC2011).

King will talk about his personal and political journey through the Louisiana corrections system on Wednesday, Feb. 13 at 7 pm in the University Centre (UC1017). Admission is free to the film and King's talk.

This presentation is sponsored by the Lakehead University Faculty of Law, the Department of History, the African & Caribbean Students Association, the Thunder Bay Public Library, the Canadian International Council and the Lakehead University Alumni Association.

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Media: For more information or to arrange an interview, please contact Brandon Walker, Media Relations Officer, at (807) 343-8177.

Lakehead University
Lakehead is a comprehensive university with a reputation for a multidisciplinary teaching approach that emphasizes collaborative learning and independent critical thinking. More than 8,700 students and 1,850 faculty and staff learn and work at campuses located in Orillia, and Thunder Bay, Ontario, which is home to the west campus of the Northern Ontario School of Medicine. Lakehead University promotes innovative research that supports local and regional socio-economic needs. In Orillia, development continues on building a campus that meets Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED®) standards.