Vice Prison Special Featuring Obama Sets Premiere Date

HBO to air documentary on America’s criminal justice system in September

HBO and Vice will air its special presentation on America’s criminal justice system on Sept. 27, the network announced Thursday.

The special features President Barack Obama’s historic tour earlier this month of Federal Correctional Institution, El Reno in Oklahoma, where he met with inmates and prison officials. Obama was the first sitting president to visit a federal prison.

Obama toured the medium security prison housing 1,300 inmates with Vice co-founder Shane Smith.

“There’s an emerging consensus in this country — on both the right and the left-that the way we treat criminal offenders is utterly broken and weakening our society in profound ways,” Smith said in a statement when the visit was announced. “Visiting El Reno with President Obama — the first-ever visit to a federal prison by a sitting president — will give our viewers a firsthand look into how the president is thinking about this problem, from the policy level down to one on one conversations with the men and women living this reality. It’s going to be fascinating.”

The Vice special will air on Sunday, Sept. 27 on HBO.

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