What you can expect from tonight’s episode of Vice
By Grant Butler
Tonight at 11 PM EST, season 6 of Vice premiers on HBO.
In the past, the show has explored various national and international issues and themes like North Korea, the 2010 Oil Spill in the Gulf, Illegal Drug Trafficking, and Terrorism.
Often times the show will take a broad issue like drugs and break it down to a more specific issue. For instance, how the opioid crisis is affecting a certain region. The episode premiering tonight is a look into the juvenile prison system.
This is what distinguishes Vice from other news shows. It doesn’t just report the facts, but the series also puts it into a context that gives some substance to the viewer. In this, it is more like a series of short documentaries than a general news program.
The specific angle for this episode is “Raised in the System.” So not only does this explore the subject of mass incarceration, it seems to seek an answer to the question; “Why does someone become incarcerated as a juvenile?”
But perhaps even more important is “Why do they grow up in the system?” Your teenage years are when you are raised to function as an adult and learning your place in the World.
From this, we will see how growing up incarcerated will affect someone’s emotional and mental development.
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Featured in this segment is the actor Michael Kenneth Williams, known for his role in the acclaimed HBO drama The Wire. Williams also has a personal connection to the topic, as his nephew was sentenced to prison at 19.
The Vice season 6 premiere airs on April 6 at 11 p.m. EST on HBO.