SERVING LIFE documents an extraordinary hospice program where hardened criminals care for dying fellow inmates. Narrated and executive produced by Academy Award®-winner Forest Whitaker, the film takes viewers inside Louisiana's maximum security prison at Angola, where the average sentence is more than 90 years.
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The Consequence (1977)
Thomas, the son of a prison warden, falls for Martin, one of the prison inmates. After Martin is released, they try to build a relationship and a life together but, no one will leave them alone.
Story of Annette Zelman (2022)
1942 Paris. Annette is 20 years old, Jean is barely older, they love each other and the future is bright for them. But the deportation of the Jews of France will change their destiny. Upset at the idea of their only son marrying a Jewish woman, Jean Jausion's parents decide to keep young Annette Zelman away from them... and denounce her to the Gestapo. The machine was launched, but it was too late. Annette was deported to Auschwitz on June 22, 1942.
Standard Operating Procedure (2008)
Errol Morris examines the incidents of abuse and torture of suspected terrorists at the hands of U.S. forces at the Abu Ghraib prison.
The Great Escape (2017)
On March 24, 1944, in the heart of Nazi Germany, 76 British, Canadian, Norwegian and French pilots who were held in Stalag Luft III, a prison camp of the Luftwaffe, escaped. Unique testimony from the last survivors, recreations and today’s digital images sheds new light on the audacious escape.
My Life Inside (2007)
Rosa is a Mexican woman who, at the age of 17, migrated illegally to Austin, Texas. Some years later, she was jailed under suspicion of murder and then taken to trial. This film demonstrates how the judicial process, the verdict, the separation from her family, and the helplessness of being imprisoned in a foreign country make Rosa’s story an example of the hard life of Mexican migrants in the United States.
Prisoners of the War on Drugs (1996)
From its beginning during the Reagan years through current times, the War on Drugs has left many victims stranded in the prison system. PRISONERS OF THE WAR ON DRUGS reveals life behind bars in the nation’s prisons. Each prisoner has his or her own story, but for most, the story is predictably similar; they have been criminalized for drugs or drug related offenses, locked up with easy access to substances, and given little opportunity for rehabilitation. This film provides an inside look at the prison system, its prisoners and a war on drugs we do not seem to be winning.
Cruel and Unusual (2006)
Five transgender women share their prison experiences. Interviews with attorneys, doctors, and other experts are also included.
Out of Mind, Out of Sight (2014)
Four-time Emmy winner John Kastner was granted unprecedented access to the Brockville facility for 18 months, allowing 46 patients and 75 staff to share their experiences with stunning frankness. The result is two remarkable documentaries: the first, NCR: Not Criminally Responsible, premiered at Hot Docs in the spring of 2013 and follows the story of a violent patient released into the community. The second film, Out of Mind, Out of Sight, returns to the Brockville Mental Health Centre to profile four patients, two men and two women, as they struggle to gain control over their lives so they can return to a society that often fears and demonizes them.
Hard Time: The Making of Prison (2013)
Retrospective documentary on the making of the low-budget horror film Prison (1987)
Preschool to Prison (2023)
Preschool to Prison is a compelling examination of how the United States public school system is built and operated like prisons. Zero-tolerance policies are used to justify suspension and arrests that set up a pathway to send children of color and children with special needs from school to prison. Children are being suspended, restrained, dragged, physically manhandled, and subsequently arrested for minor offenses such as throwing candy on a school bus. These personal accounts from people affected by the school-to-prison pipeline give riveting tales about the generational impact on society.
Promised a Miracle (1988)
True story of a couple charged with manslaughter when their rejection of modern medicine in favor of religion to treat their diabetic child resulted in his death.
The Iceman and the Psychiatrist (2004)
For the third time, HBO cameras go inside Trenton State Maximum Security Prison--and inside the mind of one of the most prolific killers in U.S. history--in this gripping documentary. Mafia hit man Richard Kuklinski freely admits to killing more than 100 people, but in this special, he speaks with top psychiatrist Dr. Park Dietz in an effort to face the truth about his condition. Filled with more never-before-revealed confessions, it's the most chillingly candid Iceman special yet as it combines often-confrontational interview footage between Kuklinski and Dietz with photos, crime reenactments and home movies that add new layers to this evolving and fascinating story.
The Unspoken Truth (1995)
Despite her parents' misgivings, Brianne marries Clay, and the couple soon have a daughter. It's then that Clay begins to show the first signs that he's unhinged. When he sees Brianne innocently talking to a man, Clay shoots him dead. At first, Brianne believes that her love for her husband can prevail. But when authorities threaten to take away custody of her daughter, she learns a horrible truth about her past.
The Last Days (1998)
Five Jewish Hungarians, now US citizens, tell their stories: before March 1944, when Nazis began to exterminate Hungarian Jews, months in concentration camps, and visiting childhood homes more than 50 years later. An historian, a Sonderkommando, a doctor who experimented on Auschwitz prisoners, and US soldiers who were part of the liberation in April 1945.
Andersonville (1996)
This lengthy docudrama records the harrowing conditions at the Confederacy's most notorious prisoner-of-war camp. The drama unfolds through the eyes of a company of Union soldiers captured at the Battle of Cold Harbor, VA, in June 1864, and shipped to the camp in southern Georgia. A private, Josiah Day, and his sergeant try to hold their company together in the face of squalid living conditions, inhumane punishments, and a gang of predatory fellow prisoners called the Raiders.
The Shocking History of the Death Penalty (1977)
Do humans have the right to judge and kill other humans? This program includes a history of capital punishment around the world through documentary footage and commentary. The electric chair, firing squad, hanging, poison gas, beating to death, slow execution, crotch-splitting, iron maiden, guillotine, execution by running, and beheading... It features a military execution in a South American country, obtained from a former prison officer. It also includes footage of the reality of life in Japanese prisons, death row inmates facing death, the parents of death row inmates, the families of their victims, and the gallows.
Survivor's Guide to Prison (2018)
Today, you're more likely to go to prison in the United States than anywhere else in the world. So in the unfortunate case it should happen to you - this is the Survivors Guide to Prison.
Escape (1980)
The true story of Dwight Worker, an American who was caught smuggling drugs in Mexico, and sentenced to fortress-like Lecumberri Prison where he endured brutal conditions. With the help of his wife, Barbara, he escaped the prison by disguising himself as a woman. He was the first prisoner to escape Lecumberri since Pancho Villa.