It's criminal : a tale of prison and privilege
(Video)

Dartmouth College Gender Studies class: Prison Women and Performance; taught by Professor Ivy Schweitzer, Professor Pati Hernandez.

Cinematography, Charlene Music ; music, Paul Brill ; editor, Peter Rhodes, Sam Powell.

Professor Ivy Schweitzer, Professor Pati Hernandez; students of Gender Studies class: Prison Women and Performance, Dartmouth College, Hanover, NH; women prisoners in the Sullivan County House of Corrections, Sullivan County, NH.

It's Criminal highlights the economic and social inequities that divide the United States and offers a vision of how separated communities can learn to speak to each other. Poignant and personal, the feature documentary share the life-changing journeys of incarcerated women and Dartmouth College students working together to write and perform an original play that explores the often painful and troubled paths that landed the women behind bars and also shares some of their fragile visions for the future. It's a transformational movie that delves into privilege, poverty, addiction, abuse and injustice and asks viewers to think about who is in prison and why. In addition to exploring disparities, It's Criminal also captures how the students and prisoners struggle and ultimately succeed in overcoming their fears and prejudices to form hard won bonds of friendship, showing that empathy is a powerful force that can help bridge the divide.

DVD ; widescreen.

In English with optional closed captioning (CC).