19-year-old Mikko works as a summer guard in a remote Finnish prison. Spending three months in a closed facility with convicts challenges his views on human dignity.
Set entirely inside Folsom Prison, The Work follows three men during four days of intensive group therapy with convicts, revealing an intimate and powerful portrait of authentic human transformation that transcends what we think of as rehabilitation.
The Work
2017
7
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.
Out of Mind, Out of Sight
2014
6
An organic farmer in Maine sets out to transform the prison food system. Seeds of Change captures the intersecting stories of life-long farmer Mark McBrine and several incarcerated men as they harvest their own meals from a five-acre prison garden unlike any other.
Seeds of Change
2023
10
The Big One is an investigative documentary from director Michael Moore who goes around the country asking why big American corporations produce their product abroad where labor is cheaper while so many Americans are unemployed, losing their jobs, and would happily be hired by such companies as Nike.
The Big One
1997
6
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.
Preschool to Prison
2023
0
The documentary, " Death and the Judge", revolves around Iran's most famous criminal judge, Azizmohammadi. He served as a criminal judge for 45 years and issued about 4500 death sentences; a record in not only Iran, but also the world. This documentary looks into his personal and professional life as he is followed within his home with his family, in the court of law, and in his retirement days. The ultimate purpose of the documentary is to deduce the role of death in the judge's life as he either takes life away from criminals or death comes to his loved ones. During his retirement, he is once again given the choice between the life and death of a person, despite no longer being a judge.
قاضی و مرگ
2018
7
A look at the prison breakout of Richard Matt and David Sweat from Clinton Correctional facility, as well as a look back at some of the most daring and ingenious prison breaks in American history.
America's Greatest Prison Breaks
2015
6
Narrated by Uncle Jack Charles and seen through the eyes of Indigenous prisoners at Victoria’s Fulham Correctional Centre, this documentary explores how art and culture can empower Australia's First Nations people to transcend their unjust cycles of imprisonment.
The Art of Incarceration
2021
0
Errol Morris examines the incidents of abuse and torture of suspected terrorists at the hands of U.S. forces at the Abu Ghraib prison.
Standard Operating Procedure
2008
6
Retrospective documentary on the making of the low-budget horror film Prison (1987)
Hard Time: The Making of Prison
2013
8
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.
Survivor's Guide to Prison
2018
6
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 Iceman and the Psychiatrist
2004
7
A portrait of the life and career of the infamous American execution device designer Fred A. Leuchter, Jr. Mr. Leuchter was an engineer who became an expert on execution devices and was later hired by holocaust revisionist historian Ernst Zundel to "prove" that there were no gas chambers at Auschwitz. Leuchter published a controversial report confirming Zundel's position, which ultimately ruined his own career. Most of the footage is of Leuchter, working in and around execution facilities or chipping away at the walls of Auschwitz, but Morris also interviews various historians, associates, and neighbors.
Mr. Death: The Rise and Fall of Fred A. Leuchter, Jr.
1999
6
Four young girls prepare for a special Daddy Daughter Dance with their incarcerated fathers, as part of a unique fatherhood program in a Washington, D.C., jail.
Daughters
2024
8
Metamorphosis is a documentary-style film giving the true account Bill Troester and the transformation he experienced by Jesus out of a life of violence, crime and drug addiction.
Metamorphosis
7
Frequent perpetrator Tony ends up in the Pieter Baan Center after yet another violent robbery. For seven weeks, a procession of behavioral researchers passes him by. They must ultimately come to a unanimous conclusion and then advise the judge: whether or not accountable; tbs or not. Psychiatrist: "What is the worst outcome for you?" Tony: "Tbs with compulsory care." The Pieter Baan Center is a detention center with the special task of investigating persons suspected of a serious crime. It is an independent investigation commissioned by the Ministry of Justice. In a seven-week process, the suspect's personality, the possible presence of a disorder and / or a mental illness and whether it can be linked to the crime are examined. Is there a chance of recurrence?
Tony
2011
0
British documentarian Nick Broomfield creates a follow-up piece to his 1992 documentary of the serial killer Aileen Wuornos, a highway prostitute who was convicted of killing six men in Florida between 1989 and 1990. Interviewing an increasingly mentally unstable Wuornos, Broomfield captures the distorted mind of a murderer whom the state of Florida deems of sound mind -- and therefore fit to execute. Throughout the film, Broomfield includes footage of his testimony at Wuornos' trial.
Aileen: Life and Death of a Serial Killer
2003
6
A look beyond the shock and inhumanity of prison rape to the intricate social hierarchy that keeps it alive. A filmmaker goes deep inside Alabama's infamous Limestone penitentiary to uncover the long-term causes and consequences of prison rape. With a startling lack of inhibition, five inmates reveal the workings of an elaborate inner society.
Turned Out: Sexual Assault Behind Bars
2004
6
The lives of the late Bradford playwright Andrea Dunbar and Lorraine, one of her daughters, and the community of Bradford, in the 30 years since the 18-year-old Andrea penned a play about growing up in the community titled "The Arbor".
The Arbor
2010
7
The St. Valentine's Day massacre is the stuff of American legend, and the tale is familiar to nearly everyone. But the story of that bloody day in Chicago has never been told, or seen, like this before. Cutting-edge graphics and frenetic recreations accompany Johnny Fratto, son of onetime Al Capone-associate Louis "Lew" Fratto, back to Chicago, where he uncovers massacre myths and learns more about the life his father and uncles led when they roamed those lawless streets in the 1920s. Johnny gets guidance and opinions from a team of renowned Chicago gangster experts, and bridges the gap between the stories he heard as a little boy and the reality he lived growing up in a mob family. Johnny's take about what happened on Feb. 14, 1929 will surprise you.
Inside The Mob's Bloody Valentine
2011
8