Not To Be

A short film written and performed by the Incarcerated Mass

Formed in 2018 at Stateville Correctional Center in Joliet, IL, the Incarcerated Mass was more than just a theatre troupe of men serving de facto life sentences. It was a community where movement, storytelling, and study made possible—even for a moment—collective dreams of liberation. Not To Be documents their first and last public performance in July 2023, shortly before Stateville shut down and the group was scattered across other facilities. The film is a powerful reminder of how prisons retraumatize and reinscribe racial violence, adding to a growing movement to bring back parole in places like Illinois.