Doing Time: Life Inside The Big House (DVD)
Directors: Alan & Susan Raymond

Don’t let the generic title fool you, ‘Doing Time: Life Inside The Big House’ is many steps above any sensational TV news magazine segment. Filmmakers Alan & Susan Raymond (The Police Tapes) spent five weeks filming inside the walls of Lewisburg Federal Penitentiary, the former home of Al Capone and Henry Hill…otherwise known as ‘The Big House’. The film focuses on “lifers”, those inmates who are beyond rehabilitation and hold no possibility for parole. With unprecedented access to the entire facility, ‘Doing Time’ gives us a unique look at prison life from both the inmates and the guards point of view.

The film begins with the slow drive into the prison, passing a series of concrete walls and chain linked fences. The narrator provides us with some facts about Lewisburg; the prisoners outnumber the staff 6 to 1, the inmates are made up of 45% Black, 30% White and 25% Hispanics, and the prison was originally built in 1932 with the sole purpose of reforming criminals. As time went on, reform took a back seat and now the population of American penitentiaries has rapidly grown. ‘Bend and spread’ is the command given to arriving inmates as they’re strip searched and prepared for incarceration. An officer holding what appears to be a large knife explains to the camera crew what a ‘shank’ is. He says that there’s no fist fights, only stabbings because ‘…it’s quick. Who wants to wrestle?’. It’s pretty amazing what a little ingenuity and a lot of time on your hands can create. I didn’t quite understand the functionality behind what one guard described as a homemade gun made from a rolled newspaper, some matches and a pencil, but something tells me they should remove McGyver from the viewing schedule at Lewisburg.

Throughout the film we’re introduced to a series of interesting characters. There’s ‘Red’, who explains that his swastika tattoos don’t necessarily represent the third Reich or the Hitler youth. They’re just simply prison tattoos that represent white culture. Red is serving time for a triple homicide, and openly talks about slitting the throats of his sister, brother-in-law and nephew (who he thought was the devil). Looking back on it now, he admits it seems a little crazy. We also meet ‘Hot Hands’, who’s busy scrubbing pots and pans throughout his interview. He says he’s accepted his problems because there’s simply nothing he can do about them. When the filmmakers connect is nickname, Hot Hands, to the fact that he’s the dishwasher, he responds ‘Well that’s one reason they call me that’. Turns out Hot Hands is doing fifty years for bank robbery. I guess that explains the other reason. He also gives us some interesting insight into prison sexuality. He speaks of a friend named ‘Tree Top’ who claims that the best sex he’s had was in prison. This raises the question, is there a third meaning to the name Hot Hands?

There are some other great moments in the film, including a mini trial within the prison involving a man who’s been accused of flooding his cell. He claims that the plumbing is so bad that his toilet overflowed, but his prison cell mate says otherwise. As punishment, the man is sent to solitary confinement to spend 30 days in a tiny cell. We see him escorted to the room only to find yet another toilet plugged with feces. An oddly humorous moment in the film. Finally, a man who was arrested for plotting to kill Ronald Reagan admits that the only reason he did it was to get into prison as an undercover investigator. (If that last sentence doesn’t make any sense, you can take it up with him.) He shows the camera large scabs on his hands and arms and says he did it with his teeth, and boy did it hurt.

Overall, Doing Time had me hooked. The film is beautifully shot and remains completely honest. The people we meet are interesting, yet you never forget the reason they’re spending their days in Lewisburg. I highly recommend this film.