You're about to see a clip from one of my best documentaries.

Time is 1973 New York Sing Sing Prison, Built in 18 26.

The electric chair.

I think there's 60 or 70 people died in the electric chair.

A classic maximum security, tough place.

So why don't I go into sinks in prison to make this movie?

Back in 1972 there was a riot in one of New York's toughest prisons, Attica.

I think 2300 inmates rioted, took over the prison the governor sent in the troops and something like 43 people died got shot, plus some guards.

It was awful hideous.

And I lived right next to sing seen prison.

So I said, I'm going in there me and my partner at the time.

And we went in to teach a class in storytelling movie making to the inmates, and the warden said, okay as wardens with doing at that time.

So who comes to the class?

Well, the young lords, a Puerto Rican street gang filled with all kinds of talented and creative people who did really bad stuff.

I remember Charlie 37 x.

He was not a young lord.

He was a black guy.

They called them 37 x because I think he had shot 37 people.

But he was pretty scary guy.

Anybody could come in as long as you took the attitude of you wanted to learn storytelling.

And when my partner and I worked with these inmates, we got the idea to do a concert on Thanksgiving Day.

Called it Sing Sing Thanksgiving.

We asked the warden, and the warden said, Well, this is maximum security is gonna be really tough.

Where you going to invite?

Well, I was not too good at asking people big shots to be in movies, but my partner had this incredible skill of just asking anybody for anything.

And he has BB King to come with his full band at no cost.

Joan Baez, Jimmie Walker.

He was a comedian at the time, and this young upstart group called Voices of These Harlem, which you are about to see what an incredible moment that inmates already charged up because they've just seen B B King stick with me till the end because I'm gonna tell you what happened to the young lords.

What happened to this movie?

What happened to the voices of East Harlem?

Wait, So what happened to me in the Young Lords?

While the head of the young lords was Tony backbone, 17 years in prison for nonviolent crimes, stealing things from refrigerators, two television sets breaking into homes and stuff like that.

He'd been a lifelong sing sing guy, and I asked the warden to let him out on my reconnaissance.

I think we put up a $5000 bail or something like that, and Tony Boom Boom became part of my crew, so just give you an idea.

I'm on the road late at night, having just shot a very important scene for another movie.

And we leave the film the exposed film in the airport going forever, you say?

I mean, where did it go, Tony?

But Boone says, Let me take care of it.

David, give me 20 bucks.

So I give him 20 bucks.

He's going for the night, comes back in the morning.

There's our stuff perfectly safe.

What'd you do, Tony?

Well, he went into the luggage thing.

He went down the luggage thing to believe that and went down there and talk to some other Puerto Rican guys, said, Hey, I got to get this guy's film back is 20 bucks an hour or two later there's the film perfectly untouched.

He was a really great character.

I loaned him money to start a magazine, and he flew off to Puerto Rico and we never saw him again.

We never heard from him again.

I still admire the guy after all these years.

You know, it's been like 37 years since I've made that movie, and I suspect some of those guys are still there.

While I learned inside the joint was this.

They were good folk.

They were bad folk.

It was a very dangerous place with a lot of very dangerous people who I learned should be in prison.

Other folks got there for just some stupid sad reasons.

Very complicated system.

I still reflect on the nice folks that I met there and how I could not have made that movie without the support of so many people inside the joint.

I hope you enjoyed it.

David Hoffman, filmmaker Please support me on Patri on If you're a subscriber.