"Time" Documentary: The Story of How the US Jail System Broke Up a Family for Over 20 Years

My biggest fear is to go to jail for something I didn't do. With being a Black man in America, stereotypes, and racial profiling, the country where I was born has made it possible for this nightmare to come true. But what if you did do the crime, does that make it okay for you to receive the hardest punishment possible? This is what happened to Rob G. Rich.

The Time documentary gives a glimpse of the fight Rob Rich and his wife Fox fought to keep their family together after Rob was sentenced to 60 years in prison. The documentary, shot in black and white, tells the story of how one mistake and the US jail system broke up a family for over 20 years. In 1997, Rob and Fox Rich were entrepreneurs who opened up their first clothing store with the intent of living out their dreams. As time passed, they began to struggle and one day Rob and his younger cousin robbed a credit union and Fox drove the getaway car. They eventually got caught and Rich was sentenced to 60 years in prison. That one action made out of desperation, split up the family and forced Fox to become a single mother raising six boys.

This film is about the prison system and how it affects Black and brown people more than any other race in America. Many times when you hear of stories involving prisoners, you hear it from either the prisoner themself or a third party. The director of Time, Garrett Bradley, says she was interested in telling this prison story "from the familial point of view." In the film, you hear from Fox as she juggles a career as a car dealership owner, a mother and devoted wife. She even moved closer to the Louisana State Peneterary where Rob was incarcerated so that she and her children could visit. Many people don't know how many prisons are tucked away in America. "All across our country, prisons are tucked off neatly inside these small towns on the outskirts of major cities. A lot of the injustices that are happening in those mirky places are unknown to the general public," Rob says.

Fox is inspiring as she is the epitome of a strong Black woman, resilient and a woman who walks by faith, not by sight. Fox hopes that people will think twice about making a bad decision. "Hopefully people will see our story and think twice before committing an offense knowing that they will be treated differently when they enter into the system, according to statistics and the facts," Fox explains. But also, there needs to be a change in our legislative process. Fox hopes time "will quick the spirit for people to see the real true everyday callousness of the people that are conducting the system and demand change from them as well." The people who are making these laws and sentencing the Black and brown community need to be fair and just. A "time" for change is here.

Time is out on Amazon Prime today! Check out the trailer below.