Central Park 5 To Be Focus Of Netflix Miniseries

CENTRAL PARK, NEW YORK — The miscarriage of justice that left the Central Park Five accused of a brutal rape and wrongly jailed for 13 years is being made into a Netflix miniseries.

Filmmaker Ava DuVernay will be adapting the story for the streaming channel, according to Hollywood Reporter. DuVernay previously directed the documentary 13th, which focuses on the criminal justice system and the mass incarceration of black men in the U.S.

The Central Park Five are five black and Hispanic teenagers, Anton McCray, Kevin Richardson, Yusef Salaam, Raymond Santana Jr. and Kharey Wise, who were convicted of the attack that took place in 1989.

The verdict was vacated in 2002 after DNA evidence proved that the victim had been beaten and raped by another convicted rapist and murderer.

The miniseries will be in five parts spanning from 1989 t0 2014. It will examine how the judicial system handled the case, with each episode revolving around one of the wrongly convicted teenagers, according to Hollywood Reporter.

"The story of the men known as the Central Park Five has riveted me for more than two decades," DuVernay told Hollywood Reporter.

"In their journey, we witness five innocent young men of color who were met with injustice at every turn — from coerced confessions to unjust incarceration to public calls for their execution by the man who would go on to be the president of the United States."

Lead image via Chris Goldberg/Flickr