The penitentiary system does not work very well. The number of repeat offenders is extremely high, and all studies state that any combination of therapy and medium-to-long-term follow-up, along with sociopolitical measures that address the issues leading to crime, works better. This does not prevent prisons from being one of our sad daily realities. And it does not seem that this will change anytime soon. That is why Netflix wondered, what would happen if there were a prison that did not confine its inmates? The result was the documentary “Sin cerrojos,” a prison experiment.
The sheriff of Arkansas, Eric Higgins, aware of the inhumane conditions in which the inmates of the Pulaski County Regional Detention Facility lived, decided to try an experiment. For six weeks, the cells in certain sectors of the jail would not be locked, allowing prisoners to have greater control over their daily lives. To ensure there was motivation for cooperation, Higgins added a reward system based on good behavior, drawing on ideas from cognitive behavioral therapy.
Does that mean they opened the doors overnight and let them do whatever they wanted? No. They discussed it beforehand with the inmates, explained the conditions and how it would be carried out, and from there, they were given free rein to live their daily lives. However, with television cameras filming them 24 hours a day.
An experiment with unexpected results
The result of this was that, although there was no radical change, there was a certain improvement. The cleanliness was much better, the behavior of the inmates improved significantly, and, overall, it achieved a safer place.
All of this is shown in Sin cerrojos, a prison experiment. How under the right conditions, inmates behave more appropriately. Something that led Higgins himself to decide to expand this approach to more parts of the prison, and with more privileges. Making the life of the inmates simpler and more humane, even if it nearly got him in trouble with the Pulaski County he works for: state representatives considered that Higgins had no responsibility over the prison to allow filming inside, endangering not only the production of the documentary series but the experiment itself.
Moreover, it is an experiment that has not happened without controversy. Many people have seen this as a way to make individuals who should be punished in the most brutal way feel more comfortable. A perspective that does not align with what is supposed to be the function of prison: rehabilitate and punish. Similarly, prison abolition activists have criticized the violation of inmates’ privacy that involves placing cameras to record their lives without their ability to decide about it, and how, although they adapt to their lives, this hardly does anything to address the real problems of the prison system.
This criticism, legitimate, has been responded to by stating that they also do not have the budget or the authority to make more significant changes in the prison. This is how they have been able to carry out this experiment: with the willingness of all those involved and little more.
Now this documentary series arrives on Netflix to demonstrate that prison doesn’t have to be a filthy hole where people are locked up and the key is thrown away.Because even if this is not enough to improve the failed penitentiary system, it is a first step to show that it is possible to do better than we are doing. Although for that, in addition to the will of all those involved, the resources of the states will be needed to change an unjust system.
