“Pure Hell.” That’s how John “Divine G” Whitfield describes a part of his experience at the Sing Sing correctional facility, a maximum security prison in Ossining, New York state, where he served a 25-year sentence for a crime he says he did not commit.
He was accused of the murder of a white drug dealer who had been shot in the back of the building where he lived.
“The most difficult part of my prison experience was waking up every morning and realizing that I was waking up into a nightmare,” he tells Face2Face Africa. “When I slept, I was free, I was home with family and loved ones, and the moment I awoke, the never-ending nightmare would replay itself over and over, and over; again, again, and again, day after day, week after week, month after month, year after year, decade after decade.”
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As he fought for his innocence while in prison, he helped found a group that would change his life — Rehabilitation Through the Arts (RTA). That organization is now the subject of the film “Sing Sing”, which follows the story of men participating in a prison theater program.
Whitfield has an Oscar nomination for the film that is largely based on his time in the New York prison. The 60-year-old author, actor and activist is nominated for best adapted screenplay for the film and he will be accompanied to the Academy Awards on March 2 by Colman Domingo, who is nominated for best actor for playing Whitfield.
“If we were to win this adapted screenplay award at the Oscars, I am certain a new chapter of my like will begin that will open a door to the creation of more stories such as Sing Sing,” Whitfield says of his nomination.
“As the owner/founder of Divine G Entertainment with 8 published novels, 5 audiobooks, the winner of numerous international writing awards, it may be that moment when I will finally be able to make a living doing something that I enjoy, and will have an impact on improving the lives of people around me, instead of working a mundane job solely for survival purposes.”
More importantly, the devoted father of three, who now works as a New York subway driver, hopes that the film will help overturn his murder conviction.
Growing up in the Canarsie, Brownsville and East New York sections of Brooklyn, life was rough but Whitfield did not let that deter him from achieving his dreams. He attended Canarsie High School in 1983, acquiring a diploma while many of his friends dropped out.
From a humble background, a 12-year-old Whitfield worked various jobs to support his family including packing grocery bags, shoveling snow, and helping his father sell fish.
Along the way, he realized his love for the arts and started making 8mm karate movies, which he showed to other kids in the neighborhood for money. He also started a DJ group, danced with a semi-professional dance group called Realism and appeared on a TV show in 1979 called “Soap Factory Disco”, becoming a community celebrity.
With his dreams to become an actor, he joined the High School for Performing Arts but in 1988, he was convicted of murder. The deceased, Jimmy Calibera, was fatally shot in a drug deal gone wrong in front of Breukelen Houses estate in Canarsie, where Whitfield lived with his family. Whitfield wrote in his 2005 memoir that he was at his friend’s apartment in Crown Heights at the time of the murder and was innocent.
In fact, Whitfield did not know he was being held responsible for the murder until he had already surrendered to begin a sentence for drug dealing.
“When I was wrongfully arrested for this murder, I was in a prison upstate (i.e., Downstate, the very decommissioned prison where the Sing Sing movie was filmed), serving a 1-to-3-year sentence for possession of drugs. Upon arriving in Kings County Supreme Court and I was told I was being arrested for a murder, there are no words in the dictionary to describe the level of shock, confusion, terror, etc., I was experiencing. In fact, it took days for me to figure out that I was being falsely accused of the unsolved killing of a white drug dealer that had been shot in the back of the building where I lived,” he says.
“Through a tactic known as Trial by Ambush (the DA hid all its evidence until the day of trial, knowing it is physically impossible to prepare a defense in a matter of hours) I was found guilty based only on the testimony of Richard Doyle (an admitted crack addict with a dozen criminal convictions), who came forth as a witness after he got arrested for burglary and possession of crack cocaine, and those charges miraculously disappeared after he became a witness,” he adds.
Despite the painful years behind bars, Whitfield found another purpose through the Rehabilitation Through the Arts (RTA) program. As seen in the film “Sing Sing,” a group of inmates at a correctional facility of the same name stage a play for their fellow inmates through a charity called Rehabilitation Through the Arts (RTA). They do this every six months, with the help of a local volunteer theatre director, Brent Buell, who is played in the movie by the Sound of Metal star Paul Raci.
“As a founding member of Rehabilitation Through the Arts (RTA), and an executive producer of this movie Sing Sing, I am proud to say that it was inspired by a desire to show a different view of the lives of incarcerated people, and the awesome power of creative arts. Most people have a one dimensional view of prison as being violent, brutal, harsh, filled with hate, misery, and lack of hope,” Whitfield says of the program.
“Sing Sing counters those views and shows that although these above mentioned attributes do exist, they are not the only characteristics of prison life, since there are those trying to better themselves despite the horrible circumstances. This movie also demonstrates that through the use of creative arts we were able to hold onto our humanity, nurture a healthy community, promote hope, healing, brotherhood, fellowship, camaraderie, and most of all, to give incarcerated people the critical life skills they need to get out and stay out,” he says.
For six years, Whitfield worked with filmmakers Greg Kwedar and Clint Bentley, who had read an article about him and the RTA and contacted Buell about possibly making a movie inspired by the story.
Whitfield and Clarence “Divine Eye” Maclin, another inmate and member of the group, worked with the filmmakers on the script, earning credits as writers and executive producers.
Shot in a disused prison, most of the actors were formerly incarcerated people who played themselves. Many of them are alumni of the RTA program, including Maclin, who became a close friend of Whitfield during their time at Sing Sing and became known as “the Divines”.
Whitfield was initially going to play himself before the role was given to Domingo. He ended up making a cameo appearance as a book fan who asks his character for an autograph of his novel “Money Grip.”
Still, he describes working with Domingo as one of his greatest accomplishments.” To have a prominent, caring, compassionate and extraordinary actor, such as Colman Domingo, portray me in a movie and garner an Academy Award nomination, is beyond a dream come true!
“Working with Colman will also go down in my history as one of the most memorable moments in my creative life. Although I had one cameo appearance with him on the screen, I learned so much about acting on film during this interaction that it will obviously have an impact on any and all of my future creative endeavors.”
Sing Sing was originally released on July 12, 2024, before having a wider release on January 17, reaching over 500 theaters and correctional facilities across the U.S.
It made history as the first movie to be released simultaneously in both commercial theaters and prisons across the United States. It has since gone on to receive several awards and nominations; Whitfield is not entirely surprised by the recognition “Sing Sing” has received.
“I think Sing Sing is resonating so well with people because the story is about humanity, people helping people, community building, healing in an environment that does not promote restoration, and because these topics are universal, people can identify with the journeys of the characters in the story.”
Amid the buzz the film is receiving, Whitfield is also working hard to reverse his murder conviction. His Conviction Review Unit (CRU) Complaint is pending in the Brooklyn DA’s Office and has been there for over seven years, he says.
“The outcome I am hoping for is that the Brooklyn DA’s Office reverse and throw out my conviction. If the Unit refuses to rectify this gross miscarriage of justice, we will then file a post-conviction motion and demand that the Courts’ rectify this gross injustice,” says the actor and activist.
A 2016 research states that 1 percent of the 2.2 million individuals in U.S. prisons are innocent. In other words, around 22,000 people are behind bars for crimes they did not commit. What is more, Black Americans are seven times more likely than white Americans to be falsely convicted of serious crimes.
“As of 2019, Blacks were incarcerated in local jails at a rate of 600 per 100,000 U.S. residents, which is more than three times the rate for Whites (184 per 100,000 U.S. residents),” a study by OLL states.
For Whitfield, the U.S. Justice system is “inherently inept and systematically broken when it is applied to people of color, in particular African Americans.”
“The mere fact that we were brought to this country in chains and bonds forced into hundreds of years of chattel slavery while the very foundation of this Country’s existence was being formulated (i.e., the Constitution) constitutes clear evidence of the fact that the System was never intended to serve as a means for justice for African Americans,” he says.
“My case exposes its deeper flaws and shortcomings because the evidence of innocence in my case was overwhelming enough to compel a Governor (Elliot Spitzer) to order a clemency hearing to consider me for a full pardon based on actual innocence, yet the Brooklyn DA’s office is procrastinating in making a decision on this case as if there is no solid basis for overturning this case.”
In light of this, Whitfield is urging anyone who believes in justice to go to www.FreeDivineG.org, read the evidence of innocence, and sign the Petition, demanding that his Conviction Review Unit (CRU) Complaint pending in the Brooklyn DA’s office “stop being ignored and placed in legal limbo.”
