|
“The Louisiana Correctional Institute is located in the swamps of southern
Louisiana in the small town of St. Gabriel. Built in 1970 to house an
increasing population of female convicts, today it houses the state's most
dangerous female prisoners and often exceeds its population capacity of 900.
Seventy five percent of these are mothers and one fourth of them are serving
sentences of fifteen years or more. The prison compound has a surreal quality;
there are no searchlight-capped towers or barbed wire fences. Filmmaker Laleh
Khadivi delivers a striking, sensitive portrait of life in this deceptively
peaceful atmosphere, which is filled with stories of life on the streets,
abuse, freedom, childbirth and motherhood. Six women - a grandmother, a young
high school student, a pregnant woman, a recovering heroin addict, a prison
guard, and the only woman on death row - were brave enough to share their
frustrations and hopes. Produced by Academy Award-nominated filmmaker Jonathan
Stack (The Farm).” (Human Rights Watch Film Festival
Catalogue).
A Women Make Movies film. 72 minutes.
|
