Watch Survivors Guide To Prison

Survivors Guide to Prison is a 2018 documentary directed by Matthew Cooke that explores the disturbing realities of the American prison system. The film is an eye-opening look at the incarceration industry that is backed by corruption, greed, and racial discrimination. The documentary features interviews with several people who have experienced the horrors of prison first-hand, including former inmates, family members of inmates, criminal justice advocates, and celebrities like Danny Glover, Jesse Williams, and Susan Sarandon. These interviews offer an insightful and personal view into the broken system of justice that prevails in America.

The film is divided into several chapters, each of which covers different aspects of the prison system. The first chapter is titled "The Arrest," which looks at how the police and the justice system work together to exploit the powerless and vulnerable, particularly people of color and those from low-income backgrounds. The next chapter is "The Hearing," which examines how the system is rigged against those who are poor and cannot afford proper legal representation, and how judges are often prejudiced against defendants who come from minority backgrounds.

The third chapter, "The Sentence," is one of the most moving parts of the documentary. It tells stories of people who were convicted of minor offenses and sentenced to decades behind bars. It sheds light on how the mandatory minimum sentencing laws have contributed to the mass incarceration rates in America.

The next chapter, "Prison Life," takes a look at the brutal and inhumane conditions in prisons, including overcrowding, violence, and sexual assault. The chapter is especially poignant because it features interviews with people who have been on the receiving end of this violence, and their stories are both heart-wrenching and infuriating.

The final chapter, "Parole," is about the systematic discrimination against people who have been released from prison. Ex-cons face enormous hurdles as they try to re-enter society, including finding employment, housing, and social acceptance. The film does an excellent job of showing how this system is set up for people to fail and end up back in prison.

The film features many well-known figures who lend their voice to the cause of prison reform, including Patricia Arquette, who speaks passionately about the need to dismantle the prison industrial complex. Susan Sarandon, who has long been an advocate for criminal justice reform, also appears in the documentary and brings her unique perspective to the issue.

Overall, Survivors Guide To Prison is a powerful and thought-provoking film that raises many important questions about America's prison system. The documentary is a call to action and a plea for change. It shows how a racist and deeply flawed system that is designed to punish instead of rehabilitate is failing both inmates and society as a whole. The stories it tells are both haunting and inspiring, and this film serves as a vital reminder of the work that needs to be done to reform our criminal justice system.

Survivors Guide To Prison is a 2018 documentary with a runtime of 1 hour and 42 minutes. It has received mostly positive reviews from critics and viewers, who have given it an IMDb score of 7.1 and a MetaScore of 66.