When you’re watching TV and you hear “inmate,” what words immediately pop up into your head? Probably something along the lines of a violent thug, a robber, or someone villainous. Before watching the Op-Doc Huntsville Station, I would most likely use those words to describe someone locked up in prison. Produced by filmmakers Jamie Meltzer and Chris Filippone, Huntsville Station examines the positive interactions with newly released inmates. The documentary goes against many stereotypes placed on interactions and the personalities of inmates. They depict this by showing the inmates making an attempt to rehabilitate back into society by purchasing clothing at the nearby Huntsville, Texas bus station, borrowing phones to call their families, and scheduling a bus ride out of the city to meet up with their families. Their efforts prove they are ready to reintegrate back into society, but statistics show otherwise as roughly 40% of freed inmates will return to prison someday. Meltzer and Filippone also show a side of the inmates you might expect. Many of them are excited and overwhelmed by the freedom, and at the end of the film, the camera pans on a man sitting and crying. Suspending my judgment on inmates allowed me to change my views from mostly negative to a more positive perspective.
Click here to watch Huntsville Station.
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