Rudy Valdez

In the searing new documentary The Sentence, we discover that the casualties of the “War on Drugs” extend beyond the millions of Americans harshly punished with prison time—their families suffer the brunt. Director Rudy Valdez, an American of Mexican descent, began filming his three nieces for his sister Cindy Shank because she was sentenced to 15 years in federal prison. It was her first offense. She was labeled a conspirator.