Film Analysis: Prison State

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Have you ever wondered why criminals commit crimes to go back to jail? In the documentary Prison State it is explained that there are thousands of people in Kentucky jail system today because of serious and simple crimes. In this essay, juvenile detention and mental illness will be discussed because these are some of the factors that have to do with people being incarcerated.

There are three people from the documentary that will be disused because their stories will answer the big question, why criminals commit crimes to go back to jail. The first person that will be discussed is Keith Huff. Keith has been incarcerated over forty times through out his life, and was diagnosed with bipolar. When Keith is in jail, he does fines because he has all the necessary needs to survive including his medication, but when the prison release him he has nothing. The jail system do not try to get Keith any help, no guidance, money, nor clothing, so he has no choice but to against the law. Some people that are released from jail come out of jail only with the clothes on their backs and shoes on their feet, so therefore some of the former prisoners end up homeless, on drugs, or back in prison.
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Demetria has anxiety disorder, she lost her mother, and no guidance.In the documentary she is in a juvenile detention center with eleven charges at the age of fourteen. Her aunt and the system is constantly throwing her away instead of getting her the help she needs. Through out the documentary you see that the imprisonment does not work. The system only sees that a person does wrong ,and do not see what is causing the person to do wrong. If someone tried to be a role model towards her and got her around positive influences, then she may become a better individual in

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