Documentary
Set entirely inside Folsom Prison, The Work follows three men during four days of intensive group therapy with convicts, revealing an intimate and powerful portrait of authentic human transformation that transcends what we think of as rehabilitation.
MOVIE COMMENTS
SIMILAR MOVIES
The World's Most Luxurious Prison
Surviving Syria’s Prisons
In Paradisum
Last Days of Solitary
The Art of Incarceration
The University of Sing Sing
Prisoners of the War on Drugs
Lost for Life
Stanford Prison Experiment: Psychology of Imprisonment
52 Blocks: Show and Prove
Mr. Death: The Rise and Fall of Fred A. Leuchter, Jr.
Leaves of K.
Fresh Start: A Marcus Harvin Story
El Almafuerte
The Big One
The Execution Machine: Texas Death Row
Hard Time: The Making of Prison
Inmate #1: The Rise of Danny Trejo
Dancing in A-Yard
The Arbor
SIMILAR MOVIES
The World's Most Luxurious Prison
IMDB 7.3 | Nov , 2020
Former conservative Justice Secretary Ann Widdecombe visits a Norwegian prison that has been described as the most luxurious of its kind.Surviving Syria’s Prisons
IMDB 8 | Jun , 2025
A look inside one of the most brutal campaigns of state repression in modern history - told by those who endured it and those who enforced it.In Paradisum
IMDB 0 | Sep , 1993
In Paradisum relates two disturbing stories simultaneously. The female narrator tells her personal tale of imprisonment as the wife of the notorious Estonian serial killer, Andreas Hanni. Although her story is bizarre, it touches familiar themes that run throughout modern life: the desire to be loved and the fear of being alone. Pille Hanni's tale unfolds over cinema vérité images of life in several Estonian prisons. At times the images reflect in a literary way the events of the narration, yet they are representations and impressions, rather than traditional documentary style footage of the people involved. This opens the story to a more general interpretation, often with unsettling results. The parallel contents reveal, at two levels of story and social organisation, how the bizarre and inhuman can be tolerable and even addictive in the face of our fears.Last Days of Solitary
IMDB 0 | Mar , 2017
In 2011, Maine State Prison launched a pioneering reform program to scale back its use of solitary confinement. Bafta and Emmy-winning film-maker Dan Edge and his co-director Lauren Mucciolo were given unprecedented access to the solitary unit - and filmed there for more than three years. The result is an extraordinary and harrowing portrait of life in solitary - and a unique document of a radical and risky experiment to reform a prison. The US is the world leader in solitary confinement. More than 80,000 American prisoners live in isolation, some have been there for years, even decades. Solitary is proven to cause mental illness, it is expensive, and it is condemned by many as torture. And yet for decades, it has been one of the central planks of the American criminal justice system.The Art of Incarceration
IMDB 0 | Apr , 2021
Narrated by Uncle Jack Charles and seen through the eyes of Indigenous prisoners at Victoria’s Fulham Correctional Centre, this documentary explores how art and culture can empower Australia's First Nations people to transcend their unjust cycles of imprisonment.The University of Sing Sing
IMDB 5.5 | Apr , 2011
An inside look at the notorious Sing Sing Correctional Facility, where one of the U.S.’s only in-prison college programs, Hudson Link, offers long-time inmates an education – and a new lease on life.Prisoners of the War on Drugs
IMDB 6 | Jan , 1996
From its beginning during the Reagan years through current times, the War on Drugs has left many victims stranded in the prison system. PRISONERS OF THE WAR ON DRUGS reveals life behind bars in the nation’s prisons. Each prisoner has his or her own story, but for most, the story is predictably similar; they have been criminalized for drugs or drug related offenses, locked up with easy access to substances, and given little opportunity for rehabilitation. This film provides an inside look at the prison system, its prisoners and a war on drugs we do not seem to be winning.Lost for Life
IMDB 6.3 | Jun , 2013
A documentary about juveniles who are serving life in prison without parole and their victims' families.Stanford Prison Experiment: Psychology of Imprisonment
IMDB 5.9 | Jun , 1991
The Stanford prison experiment was a landmark psychological study of the human response to captivity, in particular, to the real world circumstances of prison life, and the effects of imposed social roles on behaviour. It was conducted in 1971 by a team of researchers led by Philip Zimbardo of Stanford University.52 Blocks: Show and Prove
IMDB 0 | Jan , 2007
As beautiful and sleek as it is deadly, 52 Blocks merits special conservation efforts as the United States' only existing native martial culture, as it is indeed, the jazz of the martial arts world. Across the African diaspora, there are manifestations of African-derived warrior-dances, capoeira in brazil, mani in Cuba, ladja in Martinique, pinge in Haiti- yet the US offshoot has remained esoteric, because it was suppressed throughout slavery, Reconstruction and Jim Crow and then obscured in the criminal justice system. The history, interviews and training of the martial arts style that created Breakdance and boxing greats like Mike Tyson.Mr. Death: The Rise and Fall of Fred A. Leuchter, Jr.
IMDB 6.9 | Dec , 1999
A portrait of the life and career of the infamous American execution device designer Fred A. Leuchter, Jr. Mr. Leuchter was an engineer who became an expert on execution devices and was later hired by holocaust revisionist historian Ernst Zundel to "prove" that there were no gas chambers at Auschwitz. Leuchter published a controversial report confirming Zundel's position, which ultimately ruined his own career. Most of the footage is of Leuchter, working in and around execution facilities or chipping away at the walls of Auschwitz, but Morris also interviews various historians, associates, and neighbors.Leaves of K.
IMDB 8.5 | Jun , 2022
In 2018, the Nicaraguan police brutally repressed anti-government protests organised by high school students. K., a 17-year-old girl who was arrested, recounts the horrors of her time in jail.Fresh Start: A Marcus Harvin Story
IMDB 0 | Jun , 2024
“Fresh Start: A Marcus Harvin Story” presents an intimate portrayal of Marcus Harvin’s journey as he transcends his past to make a profound impact on the lives of those around him. The documentary offers a rare glimpse into Marcus’s daily life, capturing his heartfelt mission to share not only food but also compassion through his innovative non-profit organization, Fresh Start. Through candid interviews with key figures in Marcus’s life, including Stephanie Harvin, Babatunde Akinjobi, and Bradley Woodworth, the film illuminates Marcus’s unwavering determination and the vital support system that has helped him achieve his dreams. Viewers are invited to follow Marcus for a day, witnessing his dream project in action—an extraordinary restaurant concept where the only payment required is one’s presence.El Almafuerte
IMDB 10 | Apr , 2026
The youngsters housed in the "Almafuerte" Maximum Security Juvenile Institute have their first approach to audiovisual recording. A film and documentary video workshop serves as an excuse for them to make a short film inside the prison. The camera is a rabid toy that generates fascination in them and rescues a sheltered, innocent smile that seemed forgotten under the shadows. While inside libertarian cries bounce against the walls, outside sounds fanfares of an iron fist.The Big One
IMDB 6.6 | Sep , 1997
The Big One is an investigative documentary from director Michael Moore who goes around the country asking why big American corporations produce their product abroad where labor is cheaper while so many Americans are unemployed, losing their jobs, and would happily be hired by such companies as Nike.The Execution Machine: Texas Death Row
IMDB 0 | Mar , 1997
Explores the realities of death-row inmates inside Huntsville (Texas) Unit, a prison with the highest number of executions in 1997. Features interviews with prisoners, guards, officials, lawyers and victims' family members.Hard Time: The Making of Prison
IMDB 8 | Feb , 2013
Retrospective documentary on the making of the low-budget horror film Prison (1987)Inmate #1: The Rise of Danny Trejo
IMDB 7.1 | Sep , 2019
71 years in the making, this feature documentary experience reveals the extraordinary life journey of Hollywood's most unlikely hero, Danny Trejo.Dancing in A-Yard
IMDB 8 | Sep , 2023
In prisons ruled by toxic masculinity, dancing is an absolute taboo. But at Lancaster’s A-Yard, near Los Angeles, a group of young men, willing to take a chance to be mocked in the yard, start a dance class led by French choreographer Dimitri Chamblas. This class quickly becomes an intoxicating escape from their grim reality so they decide to create a dance show. In this exceptional context, the inmates engage with overwhelming sincerity, evoking their childhood, ganglife, the crimes, the prison, and their desire for transformation. Beyond damaged lives and a prison system on the edge of the abyss, DANCING IN A-YARD explores redemption and the capacity of human beings to reinvent themselves, when given a chance. And more importantly, how art and introspection can help see the light.The Arbor
IMDB 7.2 | Oct , 2010
The lives of the late Bradford playwright Andrea Dunbar and Lorraine, one of her daughters, and the community of Bradford, in the 30 years since the 18-year-old Andrea penned a play about growing up in the community titled "The Arbor".