A few days before the Oscars, the chapel at San Quentin became a screening room for a film that hits close to home. Incarcerated people watched I Am Ready, Warden, a short film nominated for an Academy Award about a prisoner on Texas Death Row.
The event was organized by San Quentin SkunkWorks. It marked the first time a film about justice and accountability was screened simultaneously inside a prison and in city of San Rafael. SkunkWorks calls an inside-out model of justice reform.
Kerri Blakinger the film’s producer spoke at the San Rafael the event while the film’s director Smirti Mudhra joined voting members of the Academy Awards for the screening at the Q.
“The journey to making this film grew out of a request from a man on death row, who wanted me to bear witness to his story and tell the world,” Blakinger said during a press release by SkunkWorks. “Almost four years later, we have done that and so much more. Now, bringing together this film and this audience feels like a full circle moment that I am profoundly grateful that is possible.”
The event was followed by a panel discussion in the chapel, and it became the setting for a difficult conversation about the death penalty, justice, and who gets to shape the future.
Two of the panelist were incarcerated men who had spent decades on Death Row.
“On Death Row there wasn’t so much programs, when I came out here as a level II there is so much programs day and night,” said Loi Vo.
The film prompted reactions from across the room, including from the Oscars voters who joined the inside audience. “It wasn’t just a screening-it was a collision between two worlds,” said Timothy Evans, a member of the SkunkWorks leadership council who saw it as an opportunity to showcase what’s possible when leadership comes from within.
According to resident, Kai Bannon, cofounder of SkunkWorks, if we believe in justice, we have to reckon with what this means. “This isn’t an abstract policy debate-its real lives, real consequences. And for the first time, the people most impacted are leading the conversation,” Bannon added.
In addition to the film itself, the event underscored the growing shift in how justice reform is discussed. Rather than speaking on behalf of incarcerated people, SkunkWorks positions those inside to lead the work themselves.
“For too long, justice reform has been a one-way conversationpolicy is made, decisions are handed down, and incarcerated people are expected to live with the results,” said Yasmine Barghouty, vice president of SkunkWorks on the outside. “But today, that dynamic is shifting. This screening isn’t just happening inside a prison its being led by the people inside. We’ve invited filmmakers, foundations, and the press to witness this because true reform isnt about working on behalf of incarcerated people-its about working with them.”
The impact of such event was evident when it left many in the room quiet, reflective, and perhaps changed. For the incarcerated participants, it wasn’t just a chance to be seen it was a confrontation with the harm their actions caused and the systems that shaped them. The film didn’t offer easy answers. Instead, it forced everyone present to reckon with the weight of accountability not just as a concept, but as a lived reality that ripples far beyond prison walls.
