vimeo | The Land of the Free punishes or imprisons more of its citizens than
any other nation. This collection of testimonials from criminal
offenders, family members, and experts on America’s criminal justice
system puts a human face on the millions of Americans subjugated by the
US Government's 40 year, one trillion dollar social catastrophe: The War
on Drugs; a failed policy underscored by fear, politics, racial
prejudice and intolerance in a public atmosphere of "out of sight, out
of mind."
The United States has only 5% of the world's population, yet a full
25% of the world's prisoners. At 2.5 million, the US has more prisoners
than even China does with five times the population of the United
States. 8 million Americans (1 in every 31) languish under some form of
state monitoring known as "correctional supervision." On top of that,
the security and livelihood of over 13 million more has been forever
altered by a felony conviction.
The American use of punishment is so pervasive, and so
disproportionate, that even the conservative magazine The Economist
declared in 2010, "never in the civilized world have so many been locked
up for so little."
The project will unfold over a two year period, beginning with the
release of this feature-length documentary and then continuing on with
the release of short films and complete interviews from each of the 100
participants in the project, meant to represent the 1 in 100 Americans
that are currently sitting behind bars.
The Exile Nation Project is made possible by a generous grant from
the Tedworth Charitable Trust and the openDemocracy group, in
association with Exile Nation Media. All content produced is
non-commercial and available for free distribution under a Creative
Commons license.
