Survivors Guide to Prison

I watched this movie expecting a gritty how-to for surviving in prison but the longer I watched the more it felt like an advertisement for a politician during reelection. Lots of percentages and statistics thrown at you with very little in regards to the sources of where they came from. It also felt very imbalanced in its portrayal of prison and prisoners, on one side talking about how terrible prisoners are but then talking the next about how they all shouldn't be there. They didn't seem to be very clear to what exactly they were trying to say. One woman in particular struck me as being in complete denial that murder is bad. I would have liked to see both sides of this issue not just the one that they seem to want to shove down your throat.

Survivor's Guide to Prison (2018)

* (out of 4)

Danny Trejo partially narrates this documentary that, from the various covers out there, appears to have the former prison inmate telling you how to survive prison. Seems like an exploitation movie, huh? Well, to be honest this here is a Left-wing propaganda piece that has countless celebrities reading from cue cards and explaining why the prison system is evil.

Look, there's no question that there are issues in our legal and justice system and I'm sure a large political debate could break out about this documentary but to be fair it would be rather pointless simply because this thing is so poorly made. I mean, while watching this film I really forgot I was watching a movie because it had the professionalism and quality of something below an infomercial that you'd see at four in the morning.

There are countless problems with this movie but the biggest is the fact that you've got a lot of celebrities on hand and they're obviously reading from cue cards and you really can't help but somewhat laugh at this. It's clear that the famous folks just read their lines and then it was edited together to try and bring more style to the picture. This certainly doesn't work and the various techniques that are used here just come across cheap and they don't pack any sort of punch.

Again, you could get into a political debate about the various things that are said here. This is a very "Left" documentary as it's clear that these famous people want not only justice for innocent people but they also want rapists and murderers to have a good time while in prison. They want them to be educated, have great health care and of course not be used to various jobs. I wonder why they don't invite them to stay at their own homes?

Patricia Arquette, Susan Sarandon, Quincy Jones, Danny Glover, Ice T, Warren G, Q-Tip, Chuck D, Busta Rhymes, Tom Morello and Russell Simmons are just a few of the famous people who are on hand to read the cue cards and attack the police, the judges and the various prisons yet they offer up very little advice on what we could do differently outside of one certain experiment that wouldn't possibly be logical considering how many people are locked up for violent crimes in this country.

If you want to open your mind take a look at US incarceration rates trends over the past 25 years AND violent crime rates which have plummeted. google some charts on incarceration rates and violent crime/murder rates and superimpose them in your mind. AS incarceration rates rose, US murder and violent crime plunged. US murder is down 55%, gun murder rate down 59%. shortly after Us incarceration rates started falling again (and they have fallen the last four years) , murder started to creep up again News coverage of murder has increased, but murder has decreased (yes even mass shootings are down by 40%) . The peer reviewed science using anonymous surveys of prisoners shows on average they commit 20 serious crimes for every crime for which they are caught. 93% of all US murder is committed by prior criminals, 80% by prior felons or persons with 10 or more arrests (meaning 100 crimes). I don't care about people who live in buildings with heavy security like Cynthia Nixon, Danny Glover, have to say, they have not been victims of violent crimes. Russel Simmons? So now we have people with sexual assault allegations? Who will be lecturing us next? Harvey Weinstein?

As far as drug offenses the number of people in prison solely for recreational drug use is under 0.1% . This game has been played before bringing out as an example someone arrested for drugs, but not mentioning they were mugging people or beating people or also selling to children.

As far as comparing us to Japan-- come on. The confession rate for crime in Japoan is 95% the conviction rate is 99%. That is not exaggeration just google japan confession rate or japan conviction ate. In japan they can hold you in jail for a month without charging you and interrogating you 12 hours a day. If you want to get rid of the fourth and fifth amendments you can then talk about comparing the US to other countries. Even in Canada and Australia OJ Simpson could have been criminally tried a second time, something forbidden in our criminal defense system. Across the board in other developed democracies it is easier to get warrants, easier to wiretap, more evidence not specified on warrants is allowed in court. In most counties police do not need reasonable suspicion to search your car at all. In Germany and half of the developed world there is no such thing as a jury trial Criminals get away with more crime, we have more crime and therefore we have more people imprisoned. If you want to copy systems where prospective criminals are more certain to go to jail, therefore lowering crime before it is committed, then fine. Tell the ACLU they have to accept what they would call a police state

I never do reviews..but ..

After watching Wendy Williams interview with David Arquette.. And having experience working in the prison systemi thought I would check this out.... given the cast, many whom I like and respect ,I found this to be very good and honest for the most part. A large part of the American Criminal justice system , particularly corrections are employed by average people who are ethical and not corrupt and who are just trying to make an honest livings to support their families who really do put themselves on the line to protect the public. But it is a large money making enterprise.. But a lot of these officers come face to face with people that you would not ever want to meet .or have around your family .. They should be commended for that !! Most American inmates also live bette than many people living in third world countries .. ! Unfortunately no system is perfect and hence this documentary does touch the surface and shows some excellent examples this other unfortunate side, as well as provide good examples of cautionary tales of those newly incarcerated that have no clue about the system. The story of the wrongly convicted gentlemen were very heartbreaking..but it is a stone cold reality . I noticed that most of the interviews of the inmates were done with Caucasian inmates who were released because I'm quite sure it would be difficult for them to find any inmates who would be filmed in California unless their identity is hidden, as the unwritten rules of gang politics prohibit being filmed normally. Everyone that participated on camera seemed to have been very knowledgeable about what they were speaking about , but I'm sorry the lady at the desk who was over the educational system really seemed a bit clueless .?.and seemed a bit out of place for such an excellent documentary ..I I don't want to be offensive .. as I'm not quite sure what unicorn filled cup of sunshine she was drinking during this interview, but at the end of each murder , you still have a victim. To say that most murders are" situational " shows a very diminished understanding an insensitivity of the impact that murder has on its victims and those left behind, as well as a lack of basic fundamental knowledge of the type of brutality that occurs everyday among inmates while incarcerated. I would think as the head of the educational prison program, she should have had a more educated insight about what goes on.. clearly she has no clue and it might have been better to edit her part out. But then again perhaps they left her part in just for that very reason.

Except for that part ..great overall. Would have like to see perhaps a part II or III ..

I took a lot out of this documentary in terms of seeing things from a different perspective. It's Heart breaking and horrifying and I do agree that there should be other, more civilized means of rehabilitating people, I also have to point out that there really are EVIL people out there. I'm not referring to the guys who killed someone in a moment of rage, I'm referring to serial rapists, serial murderers, serial child predators. These people cannot simply walk the streets and they certainly don't deserve any "sugar coated rehabilitation". These people are rotten and deserve as much pain and suffering as they inflicted upon their victims. I do not believe prisons should be done away with altogether but merely reserved for the true evil members of society. The difficulty comes in in drawing the distinction though. It's a complicated and very distorted mess.