VICE News Piece on Rehabilitating Sex Offenders Ends with Interviewee Sending Lewd Picture to Show’s Producer

A recent VICE news package ended on an awkward note after the subject of the investigation sent a lewd photo to one of the show’s producers.

On Sept. 18, VICE premiered their video, Why Some Sex Offenders Never Get Out Of Prison. The piece largely focused on the controversial practice of “dead-time – where sex offenders stay in prison for years beyond their sentence, simply because there is no where else for them to go.”

VICE News reporter Alice Hines hosted the special and interviewed a convicted sex offender, identified as Aishef, to discuss his experience with dead-time.

Earlier in the interview, Aishef says that he was found guilty of criminal sexual assault and served extra time in jail because there wasn’t an adequate program available to help him transfer out of jail.

Later in the interview Hines gave an update on the progress Aishef has made since getting out of jail. He was able to secure a job washing dishes at a Michelin Star restaurant and acquire housing.

“Are you hopeful for your future?” Hines asked.

“I’m definitely hopeful,” Aishef replied. “I like the position I’m in. I ain’t fixin’ let stuff stop me. Not even this or — or DNA, or a person’s opinion. Like, we all out here in this world and we all gotta make it happen and it ain’t none stopping me. So like, I’m very hopeful and confident.”

Despite now having freedom outside of jail, he said his life was still heavily controlled by the system.

“I’m not free. I’m still in they system and they control my life. They control where I can go, where I can’t go, when I can leave, when I can’t leave,” he said.

Hines then gave an update on the events that unfolded following their interaction.

“After this interview, Aishef sent a picture of his penis to our producer. He later said through his lawyer that he sent it by mistake,” Hines said. “Cyber flashing is illegal in Chicago by city ordinance.”

In a follow-up interview with another VICE reporter, Krishna Andavolu, Hines revealed that the team grappled with the decision on whether to mention Aishef sending the lewd picture in the piece.

“We went back-and-forth a lot about it because on the one hand you could argue that it’s not relevant to the story of the injustice that Aishef faced at the hands of the state,” Hines said.

“All of the years of dead-time that he served. You know, that’s really what our story was about,” she added. “His lawyers would argue that, you know, the fact of the dick pic isn’t relevant.”

“But we wanted to basically give the full story to our viewers in a piece that’s also about what it means to reintegrate successfully and unsuccessfully. As someone who’s on the sex offense registry, this seemed like an important fact to note about Aishef who is a complex person, and this is part of his complexity,” Hines concluded.

Although the segment was released on September 18th, a clip from the show went viral earlier today, garnering over 2 million views.

Vice tried to make a sympathy piece about reintegrating sex offenders into society and it ended with this lol pic.twitter.com/5ZDJSXzbSQ

— fullmetal (@jenbrained) September 28, 2022

Listen above via VICE News.

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