Last spring, a group of five University students discovered what being in prison feels like. They walked the halls with inmates, talked to them about their histories and tried to understand what life will be like once they are released.
While filming their award-winning documentary, these students learned about everything working against inmates, and a program that’s giving them the possibility for a real second chance when they get out.
After visiting three Oregon prisons, the students in the advanced documentary production class created a 12-minute documentary, “Behind These Walls,” exploring the real life effects of Oregon Corrections Enterprises, which provides skill-building work experience for Oregon inmates.
“It shows what they can be instead of punishing them for what they were,” said Michelle Thomassian, the film’s producer, who will accept the National College Television Award on March 31.
Thomassian, a University alumna, won’t know if the film has placed first, second or third until the ceremony.
Oregon Corrections Enterprises provides inmates with full-time jobs building furniture, welding or even learning hair design at the women’s prison, although it’s only offered to those with a perfect record within the prison.
Those in the program earn about $1 per hour, but Thomassian said the skills they learn and the experience they gain are the most beneficial parts.
“Once they experience a set schedule for the first time and have to be productive, I think that gives them hope,” she said.
Thomassian said many inmates have never had a full-time job, and once released, many will go back to a life of what they know, which is what placed them behind bars in the first place.
Filming in a prison is very complicated because of privacy and security laws, and the students had to plan out every shot before they arrived so the guards could be prepared for any possibility.
“When you walk around the prison, you are walking around (the inmates) like you do students at school.” said Allan Luebke, a University senior who edited the film, went on most of the visits, and did some filming.
All inmates had to sign a release form to have their faces shown on camera, although access was still difficult in some areas.
“We wanted to film in the cafeteria, but nobody can film or even go in there because there are so many inmates and very few correctional officers,” Thomassian said.
Throughout the three months of work, the five students spent about nine Fridays at the prisons, traveling to Oregon State Penitentiary in Salem; Oregon State Correctional Institution, also in Salem; and Coffee Creek Correctional Facility in Wilsonville.
Luebke said the most difficult part of production wasn’t being afraid he might get hurt, but saying good-bye after they finished filming.
“I felt like I really made friends with some of these people and it was tough to leave because I knew I was going home and I knew they were staying there and didn’t have any choices,” he said.
Thomassian also said the experience broke her stereotypes of what a prison and its inmates are like.
“I think the biggest learning experience I had with this film is not everybody in prison is a bad person. Some people deserve a second chance,” she said.
A lot of people didn’t understand why Thomassian was making the film and told her these people are in prison for a reason, she said.
“There are certain crimes I can’t look past, which might be hypocritical, but I do feel this is a good program for people who commit crimes I can’t understand,” Thomassian said.
Luebke said the intimate stories from the inmates created creative conflict around what the main focus of the film should be: the inmates or the program.
Ultimately the group decided the focus should be on the program.
“But towards the end of the documentary we do have a four minute piece on how it did help people change their lives,” Luebke said.
After the film was shown on campus in the beginning of last summer, the course’s professor, Dan Miller, approached Luebke about submitting the film to the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences Foundation, instead of a regional competition, at which the University has won four awards in the past.
“We knew we had a good story and the access we had to the prison was unprecedented,” Luebke said, although he didn’t expect to win while competing with hundreds of other films from universities across the country.
The academy’s black-tie award ceremony will be held on March 31, and the students who have worked on this project will then know where they placed.
“The school is thrilled that we have another group of documentary students winning an award,” said Tim Gleason, the dean of the School of Journalism and Communication. “I’m very pleased that it’s happened.”
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