Documentary workshop - Grade: 95 PDF

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workshop for documentary essay...

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The documentary that I chose is called “Alone”. This short documentary tells the story of teens being sent to solitary confinement at Rikers Island in New York, what that does to their mental health and growth, and he correction officers' point of view on the situation. I heard about this documentary from a friend back home while talking about incarceration and solitary confinement and it has stuck with me ever since. As a Child Advocacy major, I have always been interested in things concerning adolescence and how they are treated in various settings, this setting being solitary confinement. The whole documentary makes me feel sick, seeing pictures of the confinement rooms and hearing the descriptions of what life is like in there for a CHILD. I personally believe in solitary confinement, however I draw the line with children and I do believe that the jails and prisons are too easy to put people into solitary confinement. One scene that really stuck out to me was when a former Riker’s correction officer spoke out about the life of inmates and describes the ‘rules’ that Riker goes by to determine who to send to the box. Some of these rules being if the inmate; is too noisy, is involved in horseplay, wears “unauthorized amounts” of clothing, or simply annoys the staff. This scene stuck out and bothered me because teens are KNOWN for making noise, horseplay and “annoying” people. Ismael Nazario, who was send the jail and put in solitary confinement (without being charged) at the age of 16, was in solitary confinement for over 300 days. What bothers me most is that is an average citizen held another in a small box for over 300 days, it would be illegal and they would be send to prison. However, if jails do it, it is said to be the right thing to do.

Questions 1. Do you believe solitary confinement is the right option for teens? 2. Why do you think that this is not talked about in society?...