The Land of the Free punishes or imprisons more of its citizens than any other nation. This collection of testimonials from offenders, family members and experts in the criminal justice system in the United States puts a human face to the millions of Americans enthralled by the year 40 the U.S. Government, a billion U.S. dollars social catastrophe: The war on drugs, a failed policy stressed by fear, politics, racial prejudice and intolerance in a public environment out of sight, out of mind.
The United States has only 5% of the global population, yet 25% of prisoners in the world. At 2.5 million, the U.S. has more prisoners than China does with even five times the population of the United States. 8 million Americans (1 in 31) languishing under some form of supervision of the state known as correctional supervision. Above all, safety and livelihoods of more than 13 million has been altered forever by a felony.
The U.S. use of the punishment is so pervasive and so disproportionate that even the conservative magazine The Economist said in 2010, never in the civilized world has been locked so many for so little.
The project will run for a period of two years, beginning with the launch of this feature-length documentary and then continue with the release of the films and interviews Complete each of the 100 participants in the project, intended to represent the 1 in 100 Americans are currently behind bars.
