On Thursday, December 12 at 6:30 pm at the Chicago Cultural Center’s Claudia Cassidy Theater, you’re invited to the premiere of the new documentary In Their Hands. This 74-minute film will be followed by a discussion and Q&A with the film’s director and key participants.

Dan Protess, producer and director of the film, explores the life of Ronnie Carrasquillo, who appears destined to die in prison. 47 years after he killed a plainclothes police officer, his destiny is in the hands of a parole board whose decision-making is swayed by shifting political sands and an ever-present police union. As Ronnie’s family and attorneys fight for his life, they keep coming back to the same question: “is this any way to decide a man’s fate?” In Their Hands is a documentary about one man’s battle for freedom that pulls back the curtain on the politics of parole.

In Their Hands premieres on all WTTW platforms beginning Friday, December 12 at 9:00 pm. Also watch WTTW’s documentary series Firsthand: Life After Prison, the fifth chapter in WTTW’s multi-year, multimedia FIRSTHAND initiative, that explores what happens when the more than 20,000 people leaving Illinois prisons each year are faced with barriers on seemingly every aspect of their everyday lives, setting them up to re-offend and land back in prison.

This event is free, but RSVP is required.