The United States is the world's leader in incarceration with 2.2 million people currently in the nation's prisons and jails — a 500% increase over the last 40 years. Changes in sentencing law and policy, not changes in crime rates, explain most of this increase. Consider these facts:
- The United States has 5% of the world's population, but 25% of the world's prisoners.
- One in every 108 adults was in prison or jail in 2012.
- One in 28 American children has a parent behind bars.
- Currently, 65 million Americans have a criminal record.
- There are more people behind bars today for a drug offense than there were in 1980 for all offenses combined.
- The U.S. spent $80 billion on incarceration in 2010 alone.
— Statistics from The Sentencing Project
There is very little talk in today's society about the value of rehabilitation or the need to develop emotional literacy as a healing process for those in prison and others outside who are locked in their own cells of anger, loss, and guilt. That's why this documentary is so welcome.
The Work, directed by Jairus McLeary and Gethin Aldous, revolves around a group of prisoners serving time in northern California's maximum security Folsom Prison and three volunteers — a bartender, a teacher's assistant, and a museum associate. Together they embark upon a four-day quest to deal with the demons that have dogged them and dragged them down.
The retreat begins with an older man leading the large group in a call- and-response chant which sounds like it's from a ritualistic bonding ceremony of indigenous people. What follows makes for an extraordinary mix of therapy sessions during which the men dredge up long suppressed emotions. Feeling safe in this circle of healing and supportive help, the first convict undergoes crying and a primal scream accompanied by a violent outburst during which he is cradled in the arms of seven or eight others.
Witnessing these men confronting their absent or tyrannical fathers or recalling instances in their lives when they were betrayed by others is an immersive experience. We remembered what Catholic teacher Richard Rohr wrote in Quest for The Grail:
"In the spiritual life, nothing goes away. There is no heavenly garbage dump. It's all here, wherever we are. Everything belongs. Even forgiveness does not mean it goes away. It means we forgive it for being there, nothing more. Even our demons do not go away. As Robert Bly wisely said: You don't get rid of demons, you just educate them."