Albert, center, in the checkered shirt, joins others last year volunteering for ManifestWorks at Skunk, a production company in downtown Los Angeles.
Albert didn’t know what he was missing.
“To someone like me, growing up in the hood, my parents didn’t speak English. Hollywood—or a good job even—was like Mars. We just never had a sense we could get there.”
Like everyone who comes to ManifestWorks, Albert just needed a chance.
“I had never been on set until you guys took me there. And then I saw it and took off running.”
And he’s made the most of every opportunity. After working for a few years as a set PA, Albert made the connections and completed the training to join Local 600, the union for cinematographers.
“That’s why I am so pro ManifestWorks: You changed my life, financially, emotionally, professionally.”
Albert’s passion is not just for the career he loves. He’s also spent the last few years speaking publicly, arguing for major reforms in the justice system.
As a 12-year old, Albert was in a large group of friends arrested after refusing to reveal to police the identity of one friend suspected of robbery.
To pressure the kids, Albert says the prosecutors charged them all with the crime, and released each kid only after they pled guilty.
Albert refused to testify against his friend and didn’t want to take responsibility for something he didn’t do. He was sent to jail, and because he was only 12, he was kept in solitary confinement for 6 months.
The United Nations considers this torture: At that time the United States was one of a handful of countries in the world allowing solitary confinement for children. California has since barred the practice.
Of course, back then, Albert had to accept guilt to be released. He has used that time to guide his thinking about justice reforms.
“I speak passionately. I am talking from my personal experience,” Albert said. He is very interested in discussions around justice reform.
“When you talk about taking money away from the police, there has to be money for psychologists. You have to make sure you provide resources for help, cause we are talking about traumatized kids who don’t have access to what they need.”
Albert believes so strongly in addressing the lack of resources for poor kids that he tries to spend his free time mentoring those coming from where he grew up, as well as guiding his own children.
“It is the most important thing for kids to see someone who looks like them doing a job like I have. I promise you, they need to realize they could be on set. It would change their whole sense of themselves.”
For Albert, representation in Hollywood matters, and he supports bringing more diversity into the industry. He is hopeful to work with Mexican or Chicano professionals like Guillermo Del Toro, Danny Trejo or Diego Luna in the future, and to use Hollywood to amplify messages about justice.
“I want to make films or work on films that tell stories like Just Mercy. If I could do that for the rest of my life, I would be happy. I don’t care about the money. I care about making a difference, about the bigger cause.”
For him, his new career allows him to marry his biggest passions.
“It’s all interconnected. Making these movies is a way of me telling my kids about solitary confinement. It’s a way of teaching them about looking out for the little guy, about how to make living, and about how to change people’s lives.
“You love what you do, but you change lives.”
Unfortunately, stories like Albert’s still happen. According to a report produced by the ACLU, children are still held solitary confinement for up to 23 hours per day. Human Rights Watch and Civil Liberties Union estimated that ten years ago, 95,000 kids were held in prisons and jail. Even as it is becoming less common, the long-lasting, negative effects of solitary confinement outlast its practice.
