UNIT 8

When a person enters a jail is like if that person would walk into a heavy fog and would disappear from the face of the earth. No one knows about that person except their family. Some time after they walk out leaving the fog behind but, what happened in that time? The general perception is that a convict will suffer a series of bad influences that will ultimately mark them negatively and make them go back to prison. Clearly the penitentiary world is a great unknown to most people: we know little about Prisons and we seem not to care much about it.

Jails exist through the ages. We have been incarcerating and isolating temporarily persons since way back then because our society has felt a strong need for it. Nowadays there is great public pressure for the full completion of sentences and the hardening of new types of delinquents such as abusers or drunk drivers. Very few people questions or cares about what type of live any of these convicts carry on once they are behind bars. We leave that to educators and public servants as if it had nothing to do with us.
Spain has reached one of the its best moments in history regarding installations and techniques to deal with certain type of detainees, to the point of becoming a necessary example for many developed countries. Significantly the Modules of Respect (MoR), a new method of organization and treatment of the inmates developed by the professional team at the Penitentiary of Mansilla de Las Mulas, in the Castilian province of Leon.

MoR was initially applied in a Module with only 15 convicts. The experience was a success and soon extended to 8 out of 14 modules of the Center. Now more than 850 inmates (50% of the prison) work and are treated under MoR policies. This film follows two of these inmates: their concerns, dreams, happiness and deceptions. Together with other inmates and prison workers, they help to understand the reality of a Prison Center, the advantages and problems that this technique provokes, as well as the material and moral dilemmas that originates.

Contact the director and producers at: elegantmob@elegantmob.net
More infos about the films and production company at: elegantmob.net
More info on the coproducer: Canal Odisea (Chello Multicanal) odisea.es