The News Room [News Release]
Sheriff Contact: John Roach: 313-224-0615
Release Date: Monday, February 21, 2005
Sheriff Evans & Comcast team up to offer "A Dose of Reality" TV; Comcast Cable show to air monthly in Detroit
First there was reality TV. Now there is "A Dose of Reality" TV, an original half hour program that will air on Comcast Cable in Detroit. The show is based on the popular and hard-hitting program of the same name offered by the Wayne County Sheriff’s Office.
The tour itself is provided primarily to young people who have had contact with the juvenile justice system or whose parents feel are at risk for doing so. Approximately 7,000 individuals per year take the tour. The program is designed to provide an unfiltered, unglamorous look at life in jail, the consequences of committing crimes and the lifetime of regret many convicts feel.
"This isn’t the type of jail tour that relies solely on fear and intimidation," said Wayne County Sheriff Warren Evans. "Comcast’s production does a nice job of capturing how the tour tries to work on kids’ heads and hearts, which really is more effective. When kids leave the tour, what they talk about most is how they plan to start listening more to their parents and not give in as easily to the peer pressure that often lands them in trouble."
The first episode, which will premiere on Detroit’s Comcast (Channel 6) on Tuesday, February 22nd at 8:00 PM, features, Darrien Tomlin, who calls himself Big Yellow. Tomlin is in the Wayne County jail on charges of assault with intent to murder. Tomlin told tour participants, many of them fledgling members of a gang from southwest Detroit called the Cedeńos that, probably like them, he thought he was untouchable. His message is clear: the consequences of your actions will catch up with you eventually.
Later in the program Tomlin tells the reality of his life now as he faces the prospect of going back to prison. In an eye-opening moment, Tomlin talks longingly of the simple pleasures he once took for granted, but now misses the most.
"What I want more than anything is to be able to walk over to the refrigerator and grab a piece of chicken and some Cool-Aid. For you, maybe it’s a burrito or some pizza. But I can’t even do that." He goes on to say, "You know what I had for lunch today? A cheese pocket – a piece of bread wrapped around some cheese. That’s a meal here."
Each month a new episode will air, featuring a new inmate or highlighting a specific part of the tour. Future episodes, for example, will show kids hearing from members of Pioneers for Peace, who have been crippled by bullets as a result of the violent activity they themselves were involved in. Other elements that will be touched on in future episodes include letting kids see people being sentenced in court for their crimes and graphic presentations from the Wayne County morgue.
| WHAT: |
"A Dose of Reality" Television Program |
| WHERE: |
Comcast Cable in Detroit (Channel 6) |
| WHEN: |
1st monthly episode premieres Tuesday, February 22nd at 8:00 PM.
The show will repeat weekly on the following schedule:
- Tuesdays @ 8PM
- Thursdays @ 8PM
- Saturdays at 10PM
|
| WHO: |
Wayne County Sheriff Warren Evans
Comcast Cable (Montez Miller, Executive Producer) |
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