In this chilling investigative portrait, award-winning filmmaker Kristi Jacobson gains unprecedented and unrestricted access to the supermax Red Onion State Prison in the Appalachian mountains. Through startlingly intimate interviews, we hear about violent childhoods, the dangers of prison life, and the struggle to maintain sanity within 23-hour-a-day solitary confinement in 8' x 10' cells. Interwoven with the inmates' heartrending stories are the voices of the corrections officers, who attempt to maintain their own humanity amid the dehumanizing conditions of their workplace. "Penetrating" and "immersive" (Los Angeles Times) and "intelligent, thoughtful and tough" (Flavorwire), this extraordinary documentary--nominated for this year's Truer than Fiction Spirit Award--uses evocative sound design and compelling personal stories to create a vivid and complex snapshot of crime and punishment in America today.
Post-screening discussion with director Kristi Jacobson and Uptown People's Law Center Executive Director Alan Mills and Prisoners' Rights Coordinator Brian Nelson, moderated by DOC10 curator/journalist Anthony Kaufman.
Courtesy of HBO Documentary Films.
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