The United States has the largest prison population in the world. There are currently 2.3 million people in US prisons, about 25 percent of the total number of people currently in prison or detention facilities on Earth. Those numbers don’t even include those currently in local city jails awaiting trial or sentencing.
In Kentucky, prisons are overcrowded. It is currently the sixth worst prison system in the United States, and its population grew 70 percent between 2000 and 2015. Among the felons are people incarcerated for non-violent crimes, people with mental disabilities, no bail cases, and juvenile offenders incarcerated for truancy and fighting. “Prison State” follows the lives of four Kentucky prisoners. They grew up or lived in the Beecher Terrace neighborhood, where almost one in five residents has spent time. It’s a poor neighborhood, and jail time is so commonplace that many kids hope that one day they too will serve time.
Crystal was a first-time offender. She is 15 years old and suffers from ADHD and bipolar disorder. After numerous fights and skipping classes at school, she was arrested and a juvenile court judge placed her in the HIP or home incarceration program. Less than a week later, she played truant again and was held in a juvenile detention center for 60 days.
Keith is what Kentucky prison officials call a “million dollar prisoner.” He was jailed five times, serving a total of 27 years, and the state spent more than $1 million to keep him in the system. Keith, who has been diagnosed with schizophrenia and bipolar disorder, admits he is better off in prison, where he is guaranteed structure, food and medication. With his parole looming under new state prison reforms, he worries about the challenges he’ll face outside — lack of money, jobs and medicine.
Demetria, 14, has 11 charges. She suffers from severe anxiety attacks, which started after her mother was shot dead when she was nine years old. She was in juvenile detention for beating her aunt. With tensions at home, the juvenile court locked her up because her aunt didn’t want her back.
Finally, we meet Charlie, a 67-year-old Vietnam veteran jailed for robbery. He was also a long-term heroin addict, who started his addiction at the age of 19 in Vietnam. He suffers from PTSD due to the atrocities he witnessed and unknowingly committed during the war. After he was released from the hospital and entered rehab, the treatment for PTSD finally began.
In an important area of American society, incarceration has now become the main solution to a variety of social problems—even those that go beyond crime and lawlessness. This starts with how vulnerable children are treated. If they don’t behave in school, if they have behavioral problems due to mental health issues, etc., they will be locked up. The prison system costs as much as $80 billion. It may be worth investing some of this in better social support systems to break the cycle.
Directed by: Dan Edge
