A Few New Prison-related Documentaries

I love Sean Penn and I'm passionate about putting an end to wrongful convictions. Needless to say this film has me pretty excited. I wonder how I will be able to see it here in Mexico, though.

San Jose Criminal Law Examiner: Must see film on wrongful convictions: "Witch Hunt", narrated by Sean Penn, airs on MSNBC April 12

Witch Hunt, directed by Dana Nachman and Don Hardy, is an unprecedented documentary which features the stories of individuals who were wrongfully arrested, charged, and convicted of child molestation in Bakersfield in the 1980's. The documentary was produced and narrated by Sean Penn, who was moved by the compelling stories of these families whose lives were devastated by small town hysteria and government misconduct. Witch Hunt showcased the 2009 San Jose Cinequest Film Festival and the screening at the historic California Theater in downtown San Jose drew throngs of avid Bay Area film aficionados as well as those who sought to learn more about wrongful convictions.The everlasting impact of this horrific injustice is incontrovertible; on the children who were coerced into making false claims of molestation as well as their parents who spent years in prison away from their loved ones.

And while we're on the topic of films, Ryan Jenkins at the Innocence Project of Florida's blog, Plain Error, recently sent me the link to these two documentaries:

The Visitors - "An unexpected look at prison life, told through the voices of those on the outside.  This intimate film begins in New York City in the middle of the night, as lines, mostly of women, assemble to board buses headed to prisons upstate.  For these travelers the journey to see their partners has become routine, their relationship depending on a few hours’ visit each weekend and brief phone calls in between.  Some were involved with their partners long before incarceration; others met after. There is no discussion of the crimes and little of redemption; instead the conversation lingers on the length of the sentence and how intense the longing can become, on the loneliness, and on the isolation of being in a situation that family members and outsiders cannot understand. As one woman poignantly states, “I’m doing my time, too.” This moving film leaves us to ponder the aching desire for companionship and the overwhelming dedication to love, as strained as it may be."

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Unit 25 - Argentine Simón Pedro stabbed a man and has been sentenced to prison.  What make his case unusual is that Simón has a choice in where he serves his time. His family convinces him to choose Unit 25, a facility that requires inmates to embrace Christianity in exchange for relief from the customary prison horrors. While first resisting Unit 25’s evangelical demands and structure, Simón appears eventually to succumb and willingly participate in the astonishing rituals of this community of faith behind bars. Directed by Alejo Hoijman, Unit 25 brings an original perspective to an oft-explored cinematic subject—prison life—as it delves into the realm of devout inmates, where the worlds of religion and incarceration are at times paradoxical and at other times parallel.

Technorati Tags: prison, wrongful conviction, sean penn, witch hunt, the visitors, unit 25, documentary, film