‘The Strike’ gives a behind-the-scenes look at solitary confinement

In 2013, nearly 4,000 inmates in California went in long -term solitary confinement (for decades, in some cases), which would become a strike for months. The collective action is designed to attract the attention of the Ministry of Reform in California, rehabilitation and protest against the conditions of those in the spacious solitary confinement. At the negotiating table, the Department of Corrections was met by a unified front of the prisoners who decided to oppress their terrible circumstances, that they would try to change the policies that left them “buried” in concrete cells.

“The Strike”, which was first shown on a “independent lens” on Monday and is currently available pbs.orgPBS and PBS ‘ YouTube channelRecords of this feat organized by the activist. In the hands of filmmakers, Jobil Monoz and Lucas Gelaki, the documentary lights up the highlight of men who helped organize and mobilize their prisoners. But it is also a living record of the modern history of the sacrifice in the United States in general and California in particular.

“We wanted to follow the arc of a group prison on a very personal and intimate level,” Gilki said. But also, this is not an individual story. It is a group of collective solidarity. It is a story of organizing across racism. “

Since the address cards inform the viewers at the beginning of the movie, the Pelican Pay State Security Unit, which was once detained hundreds of prisoners for more than a decade. Now, it’s almost empty. The film tells the story of how Huyger helped the 2013 strike in this.

Former prisoners like Jack L. Morris (Cikano man who has served 40 years in prison, with more than 30 years in solitary confinement) and Michael Savidra (who served nearly 20 years, many of them in solitary).

Through them, “The Strike” offers an insight into what caused these inmates in California to organize the biggest hunger strike in prison in the history of the United States. With limited access to their families, the outside world, and even each other, Morris, Savidra and other Bilkan Bay prisoners found increasingly creative ways to communicate with those who could not see him face to face. These notes included in libraries books and conversations on toilets and openings.

“We all did actively, collectively, what we did,” Morris says. “But in reality, we were living from others. We did not know what happened. I just had to believe what I was doing, and others were doing. Seeing him on the movie, inspired me. But he disappointed me too. Because I could not do much as I saw many From others they do so.

For his wife, Dolores Kanyeis, co -founder of California families against solitary confinement, the film provides an opportunity to address the speech to pressure for solitary confinement in the first place.

“The narration was: this is the worst of the worst,” she says. “We keep you safe. We keep the guards safe. Everyone is safe because we do this. But I feel that this film contradicts this narration and reaches the depth of humanity.”

Morris and Savidra participate in how she feels the abstraction of humanity to hear the speech during prison. They were among the men (many of whom were very young when they entered the system for the first time) described them as violent violent members. This was often sufficient to strip them of the little freedoms granted in prison, and the decisions that the judges did not make but by reform officials, and it was very difficult to retract them.

“I hope the film will help the general public – people abroad – to see that people can change and grow,” says Savidra, who has been following a certificate in the law since its release. “I hope the masses will give a different look at us. Not only we are people. But then it is also looking deeper into the system. That’s your system.

Pilkan Pay State, which opened in 1989, was operated as limits for solitary confinement. As the documentary shows, the construction of the “newer” prison in the middle of the Redwood forest in the northern part of California helped to cancel their humanity inside its walls. They have been far from their loved ones, but also from general scrutiny.

“This is mostly men – Latin, Chicano, men from Los Angeles, most of them – on the borders of Oregon in this cell of the concrete castle, in this huge institution designed to hold more than a thousand people in solitary confinement,” explains Guilkey.

Such a context makes hunger a more clear hit. This made the production of “strike” very difficult in the first place.

“It is a protest that takes place in the most security prison that you can imagine,” says Monuz. “How can you assemble this visually together? How do you tell this story?”

Mostly, it is necessary to get the recently released guests such as Savedra and Morris to exchange their experiences, then dismantle their stories with archive clips of the historical context. But “The Strike” viewers also get a tense meeting between the Correction Department and the Leadership Alliance who organize hunger. Guilkey and Muñoz will not reveal how they get these shots secretly, but it is a explosive moment when these prisoners quietly submit their requests. They explain that they have little to lose: What will the corrections section do?

“When we think about the prison system, we usually think about the authority belonging to officials,” Monuz adds. “To the guards. For people who decide policies. To prisoners. What is unusual about these protests, especially these shots, is that everything was turned on his head. Now, this group of imprisoned players gathered and represented a set of strength. The entire system was on His head.

The documentary may focus directly on the battle to cancel solitary confinement as it exists and is now applied. But for movie factories, “The Strike” offers a broader road map of how to confront the current political scene.

“This is multi -ethnic, working class, collective solidarity,” says Guilkey. “This is the organization of a social movement and what is necessary to do a direct collective work to bring about changing materials in your life. This indicates how to fight authoritarian authority.”

As “The Strike” appears, that requires work; One person at one time.

“The activity does not necessarily have a thousand people with you immediately,” said Morris, who summarizes the movie. “He takes steps by yourself and brings people while you are moving.”