We are changing MetamoraTV’s focus. Over the last two years we’ve mainly covered celebrity charity events including the 2016 Sundance Film Festival earlier this year. Though this has been informative and exciting, we feel that our online TV podcast will be more beneficial by covering one of America’s biggest embarrassment: The Criminal Justice System. ‘Solitary Nation‘, hosted by Matt Duhamel, will officially launch September 20th, 2016 with interviews from professionals, organization leaders, dignitaries and everyday people. Topics will include: the prison system, probation/parole, sex offender registration, the affects of incarceration on children and families, and much more. (Note: Metamora Films will continue producing documentaries and short films with our latest project, NOT FOR RENT! planned for an April, 2017 release.)
If you or someone that you know is interested in being on the show, please contact us. Interviews require a high speed internet connection, a webcam (preferably HD), and a free Skype account.
America’s criminal justice system is broken. In World Report 2016, The Human Rights Watch reportes harsh sentencing in America: “The United States locks up 2.37 million people, the largest reported incarcerated population in the world. About 12 million people annually cycle through county jails. Concerns about over-incarceration in prisons—caused in part by mandatory minimum sentencing and excessively long sentences—have led some states and the US Congress to introduce several reform bills. At time of writing, none of the federal congressional measures had become law.”
America’s prison and jail conditions are a huge problem: “In July, President Obama ordered the Department of Justice to review the practice of solitary confinement. Several states are currently considering legislative or regulatory reforms to reduce the use of solitary confinement. In New York, a proposed bill would limit the time during which an inmate could be held in isolation, and would ban solitary confinement for people with mental illness and other vulnerable groups. California settled a lawsuit brought by prisoners and agreed to eliminate the use of indefinite solitary confinement at the Pelican Bay State Prison—a supermax facility—as well as significantly reduce the length of time prisoners in California can be kept in solitary. However, California’s legislature failed to pass a bill that would have eliminated solitary confinement for children.”
In addition to jail and prison issues, ‘Solitary Nation‘ will discuss how incarceration affects families and children. The arrest and removal of a mother or father from a child’s life forces that child to confront emotional, social and economic consequences that may trigger behavior problems, poor outcomes in school and a disruption or severance of the relationship with the incarcerated parent that may persist even after the parent is released from prison. (Hairston 2007) Furthermore, families in general are often affected negatively when a loved one is incarcerated. One of the largest advocacy organizations for families of prisoners, InterNational Prisoner’s Family Conference has drafted a mission to assist families: “The conference goal is to strengthen the entire prison family and promote successful reentry and reunification, ultimately reducing the rate of recidivism. To that end, the InterNational Prisoner’s Family Conference provides critical connections, information and resources for families and secular and faith based organizations serving prisoners and their families.
When we look at the countless problems with today’s sex offender registration system in this country, we open up numerous conversations. Should children be on the registry? What about non-violent offenders? Should the registry remain public? What about vigilantism? Harassment against families? These topics and more will be discussed on ‘Solitary Nation’.
We hope you join us beginning September 20th, 2016 when we officially launch our new video podcast.
Comments
Post a Comment