Salaam was 15 years old at the time of his arrest, and spent more than six years in prison. He is now a motivational speaker.

HERISSE I knew nothing [about these events before I was cast]. When I watched the [Ken Burns] documentary [“The Central Park Five”] I was shocked, because I had no idea that something like this could happen to anyone — especially people who were my age at the time. I tried my hardest, from the audition on, to bring out that anger and disappointment in the justice system that I felt.

I’m at a different place now, where seeing that this thing happened and is still happening, even now — if I were going to be put anywhere near our system, I wouldn’t feel completely safe.

SALAAM We had all gone through hell. But when I saw this series, I immediately realized that we were in paradise compared to the hell that Korey was in. His was unrelenting. I went to jail and I was able to get a college degree. He never got an opportunity to breathe, to meditate, to just say, “Phew, man, that was really crazy today. Let me kick my feet up a little bit and read this magazine.”

That reality — that pain, I think, is a better word — is knowing that he came because of me. Offering an “I’m sorry” doesn’t seem adequate. And I’ve been able to say that to him, but I also realized that that’s not adequate enough to know what he went through, or that he could have been killed in prison. He almost was. It’s not enough. And I have a direct role to play in that.

HERISSE It was emotionally taxing at times [to embody that weight]. I feel like I speak for all of us when I say that we just wanted to get it right. We really want to tell their truth as best as possible for these men, for this story. This is the justice that they didn’t get in ’89.