No one was listening to the voice locked in solitary except for the few who would save his life, Mrs. Hughes, who was too camera-shy for an interview, and, in detention, Priscilla Piñeiro-Jenkins.

Priscilla Piñeiro-Jenkins: This kid was small, angry, full of just hate. This eloquent man that's sitting here next to me was not who I first met. Every other word was foul. Every other word was negative. There was nothing positive coming out of him.

Piñeiro-jenkins' was a caseworker in the detention center.

Ryan Speedo Green: It was the opera, "Carmen" with Denyce Graves, who was the title role.

Ryan Speedo Green: At that point in my life I thought opera was, like you know, for white people. And the lead character, the title role was a person who looked like me, was a person of color. It completely just shattered all my preconceptions of what I thought opera was.

Denyce Graves seduced a soldier on stage and Speedo in the audience.