Summary: Situated in America's heartland among acres of Indiana cornfields, Wabash Valley Correctional Facility houses not just the state's most violent offenders but also a large population of the mentally ill. This MSNBC documentary looks at the challenges of confining thousands of hardened criminals in addition to those with deep-seated psychiatric needs. Wabash psychiatrist Dr. Mary Ruth Sims...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2008
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Summary: On an island adjacent to the Bronx sits one of America's most notorious jail systems, known for much of the past century as a place of inmate-on-inmate cruelty. But violence has decreased by 90 percent at Rikers since 1999. This MSNBC documentary examines Rikers then and now, spotlighting the measures that have reduced conflict among a population of 15,000 offenders. New York City Department of...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2008
View online at AVOD
Summary: Proving that female prisoners struggle with the same conditions male convicts face, this MSNBC documentary goes inside a North Carolina facility filled with 1,100 troubled mothers, sisters, aunts, and even grandmothers. Warden Annie Harvey conveys the goals and frustrations of her job, while male officers acknowledge an ongoing challenge to maintain professionalism and objectivity. Although...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2008
View online at AVOD
Summary: You like horror movies? responds a Folsom State Prison inmate when asked to describe life in the penitentiary. "This is a horror movie." Virtually every inmate who appears in this MSNBC documentary-and perhaps a few of Folsom's guards-seems to share his opinion. Viewers are guided through the prison's antiquated infrastructure, from the general population areas to the dungeon-like Cell Block 5,...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2008
View online at AVOD
Summary: It is one of the largest women's prisons in the world, full of murderers, violent criminals, and drug dealers-but many at Valley State Prison are hoping to turn their lives around. Recorded at the jail in 2000 and again five years later, this MSNBC documentary profiles three women who contemplate the severity of their crimes-ranging from manslaughter to murder-and their chances for emotional...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2008
View online at AVOD
Summary: We do not cure anybody, the director of Atascadero State Hospital's Sexually Violent Predator unit frankly admits. Nevertheless, many in the criminal justice community admire Atascadero's relentless efforts to treat the criminally insane. This MSNBC documentary provides an inside look at the facility, which houses several types of offender-from MDOs, or the mentally disordered, to frighteningly...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2008