A formerly incarcerated man has taken a low point in his life and transformed it into a star-studded project.
After receiving a 35-year prison sentence for attempted possession of marijuana, Quawntay “Bosco” Adams found himself venturing into Hollywood as a producer, Benzinga reports. During the Benzinga Cannabis Capital Conference, held in July 2023 in Miami, FL, he shared his journey following his prison release to building out his feature film, “Bosco,” which is based on a book about his life.
According to Deadline, “Bosco” follows Adams’ story of how he “miraculously escaped from a Federal maximum-security prison while under 24-hour surveillance in solitary confinement with the help of an older woman he met through a lonely-hearts ad.”
Adams shared with Benzinga, “When I got out of prison, I started networking, raised millions of dollars, put together an amazing cast of A-listers, and started producing the movie.”
What’s more, Adams announced that the feature film is finished.
“We completed it. It’s complete now,” he said. “We have Tyrese Gibson in it, Vivica Fox, Theo Rossi, Thomas [Jane], Nikki Blonsky from ‘Hairspray,’ DC Young Fly. It’s quite extensive.”
The film was written and directed by Nicholas Manuel Pino.
“Bosco is an incredible human, not only because of his escape, but because of his passion and drive to better himself and the world around him,” Pino told Deadline. “I hope we can carve out a unique, interesting space in the prison genre that reflects his distinctive journey.”
Nyene Baker is another formerly incarcerated man who is using his second chance at life to the fullest. As previously reported by AfroTech, the Trenton, NJ, native was sentenced to 15 years in federal prison for drug conspiracy charges in 2010.
“Sentencing day was one of the best days of my life because I was relieved,” Baker told AfroTech. “I was like, ‘You know what, I got 15 years to get my act together, to work on my flaws and become a greater man.’ And I was like ‘I’m really going to come out and help change a lot of lives and try to stop people from going down the path that I went.’”
Now, Baker is the founder of his own nonprofit, Visionary Philanthropy Group, and is a partner with breakbeatcode, a free educational initiative that teaches middle- and high-school students how to code through beat making and music production.
“[Breakbeatcode] grasps and sparks attention from the kids compared to the conventional way of coding,” he said. “In underserved communities, them learning coding can possibly be a little challenging because it’s not something prevalent that a lot of them are used to.”