Why this film?
FROM THE DIRECTOR
“Inside These Walls” began as a reflection on a decade long romantic relationship. We were in such different stages of our lives when we met that I never thought it would last. But he became my best friend and the most extraordinary partner I’ve ever had. Although he and I cared for each other unconditionally, it was a love not meant to last. Staying together would mean enormous sacrifice on both our parts, and we loved each other too much to not let the other be fully free. For years we tried and failed to go our separate ways, and I often felt stuck and somewhat “imprisoned” by this relationship.
When I chose prison visitation as a setting for this story, I came to learn of a vital yet critically endangered program of “extended family visits”. There are only four states in America which allow inmates to spend extended time with their immediate family members in a private space. Why programs like these are not more widespread is heartbreaking to me. Permitting inmates to nurture and maintain healthy family bonds is critical to their rehabilitation and reintegration in society. Rates of recidivism are significantly lower among individuals with stable families and support structures. Yet our country fights to deny them this important and healing allowance.
Over the last decade, hundreds of U.S. prisons have ceased to offer any kind of in-person visitation. Instead, families are permitted only video visits, which they have to pay for. This is not only morally reprehensible, it is counter-productive to rehabilitation and detrimental to us as a society.
The United States has just 5% of the world’s population, but nearly 25% of the world’s prisoners.
Between 1970 and 2010, as a result of the “war on drugs,” harsh sentencing, and a rejection of restorative justice alternatives, the U.S. prison population grew by more than 700 percent — outpacing both population growth and crime rates.
In 1993, 17 states had family visitation programs. By 2015, that number was down to only four. Studies show this kind of visitation program has profound benefits not only to the inmates, but also to the general public in the form of reduced crime rates and lowered taxes. One study in New Mexico (which discontinued its family visits program in 2014) found that prisoners who participated in extended family visits had a 70% lower chance of reoffending than those who did not.