Richard Stratton

In 1982, Richard Stratton was arrested and convicted under the kingpin statute for importation of marijuana. Originally sentenced to 25 years without parole, Stratton became a jailhouse lawyer and had his sentence voided. He was released in 1990 after serving eight years in federal prison. His novel, Smack Goddess, written in prison, was published in 1990. He co-wrote and produced the 1998 film, Slam, the Emmy-award winning Thug Life in D.C., the Showtime series, Street Time, and many other documentaries. Stratton's writing has appeared in GQ, Esquire, Newsweek, U, Spin, Penthouse, and Story Magazine. He is the founding editor of the award-winning magazine, Prison Life, and former publisher and editor-in-chief of the world-renowned High Times magazine. He is qualified as an expert witness in state and federal court in the areas of prison violence and prison culture. Stratton lives in New York.

He began his career in the film industry as a writer and
line producer on the TV documentary, Fallen Champ: The Untold Story of Mike Tyson, directed by Barbara Kopple. His other documentary film credits include Prisoners of the War on Drugs, The Execution Machine: Texas Death Row, Thug Life in D.C., which won an Emmy in 1999, and Gladiator Days: Anatomy of a Prison Murder, all produced for the America Undercover series on HBO. Crude premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in 2009 and has won numerous awards around the world including the Peace
Prize at the Berlin Film festival in 2010. O.G: Joe Stassi, Original Gangster, is currently in production. Godfather and Son: The Legacy of John Gotti Junior is in development. Stratton served as technical consultant on the first season of HBO’s dramatic prison TV series, Oz. He was the creator and executive producer of
the dramatic TV series, Street Time, which aired on Showtime; he wrote and directed The Whole Truth, the Season Two finale of Street Time.