CANCELLED LIVES: LETTERS FROM THE INSIDE (1991)

Director: Martin Good
Screenplay: n/a
Runtime: 50mins approx
Country: USA
Rating: NR

Synopsis: Cancelled Lives is a video designed to provide an impressionistic view of prisons and jails as seen through the eyes of the inmates. Letters from male, female and juvenile prisoners are read by a group of celebrities, intercut by interviews with inmates, while scenes from a number of prisons are displayed in the background. The video is organized into four sections: arrest, booking, and juvenile hall; juvenile prison; county jail; and prison. It is designed to illustrate the negative impact of the prison experience with emphasis placed on the psychological stress, personal regret, unpleasant physical environment, and physical threat to personal safety, with the letters expressing sadness, despair, and resignation.

Letters Read By:

Matt Adler Kirstie Alley Kevin Bacon Alec Baldwin Tempestt Bledsoe Gail Boggs Max Casella Peter Coyote Ted Danson Brian Dennehy

Peter Dobson Corey Feldman Danny Glover Louis Gossett, Jr. Kadeem Hardison Neil Patrick Harris Joe Mantegna Kelly McGillis Danica McKellar Alyssa Milano

Dermot Mulroney Edward James Olmos Leaf Phoenix River Phoenix Martha Plimpton Jimmy Smits Mary Steenburgen Blair Underwood Malcolm Jamal Warner Jonathan Winters

Reviews:
Journal of Criminal Justice & Popular Culture

Walk The Line . Ladder 49 . Hotel Rwanda . The Village . Brother Bear . Buffalo Soldiers
It's All About Love . Signs . Quills . The Yards . Gladiator . 8mm . Clay Pigeons
Return To Paradise . U-Turn . Inventing The Abbotts . To Die For
Cancelled Lives: Letters From The Inside . Walking The Dog . Parenthood . Russkies . Spacecamp