Development During Williams' incarceration, he began co-writing a series of books with
Barbara Becnel for young children about the dangers of
gang violence. The first volumes of these books were published in 1996 by a small New York company. A quote from one of books which focuses on how gangs abuse power states, "... As a teenager, I didn't know the meaning of power. I thought that by using violence to scare people, I was proving that I had a lot of power. But when you use your power to make someone do something they don't want to do, or to hurt someone, you are abusing your power." A scheduling crisis emerged as Foxx had signed on to the film
Collateral, which was due to begin filming soon. Though Foxx had the option of dropping out of
Redemption, he chose to stay on and the shooting schedule was compressed to accommodate him. Foxx spent many hours visiting with Williams at San Quentin and continued to correspond with him after filming ended. Said Foxx, "I gave him my word I was going to take care of this story. I had to do this project....I know I'm going to be successful, but with projects like this it's not the money you make, it's having the chance to touch, to get a chance to inspire. Especially for black folks....If we can get some education about some of the things we go through, it's worth more than any amount of money." == Release ==