Prison State Rhetorical Analysis

Emily Lennon
Ms. Walsh
English 109H
23 September 2014
The Cycle of Re-incarceration in Beecher Terrace
The documentary Prison State provides a thorough investigation into the cycle of re-incarceration in the community of Beecher Terrace, KT. In 2010, the state of Kentucky issued a series of reform programs intended to shorten the sentences of non-violent criminals and grant an earlier parole to those who qualified. However, even individuals released early from prison have high risk of returning within the year due to monthly fees, parole dates, employment expectations, and inability to freely move to other towns to pursue more wholesome endeavors. The conditions imposed upon released convicts create a sense of pathos on behalf of those not
necessarily deserving of prison yet are statistically destined for it because of their association with Beecher Terrace. Prison State constructs this emotional appeal through the primary and professional accounts of Keith Huff, Charles McDuffie and Michelle Alexander, the rhetorical strategy logos, and specifically designed film elements and techniques devised to direct the audience towards a targeted emotional response.
To construct a foundation of pathos in regard to the obtrusive rules and restrictions imposed upon freed convicts, the documentary Prison State focuses on the primary accounts of Keith Huff and his counterpart Charles McDuffie.
Keith Huff exemplifies how the parole conditions placed on released criminals negatively affects their re-acclamation into society and how these laws ultimately send these people back behind bars within a year of release. He was put under the strict guidelines that forced him to live in temporary housing with other recently released criminals in transition instead of moving to a more stable environment. Given no aid to promote his acclamation into society after over 25 years in prison, Keith was unable to meet the high demands of his parole. With no money and no job prospects, he stopped taking his medication and missed consecutive meetings with his parole officer. His counterpart Charles McDuffie was given proper rehabilitation treatment after his release and was able to make a smoother transition into society because of this additional aid. Both men were incarcerated for relatively similar crimes, yet their outcomes were drastically different. Keith Huff was eventually returned to prison, whereas Charles McDuffie completed his rehab and remained clean. The rules and restrictions placed upon Keith Huff put him at exponentially higher risk for re-incarceration than Charles
McDuffie.
The film Prison State appeals to ethos through the professional account of Michelle Alexander, a Professor of Law at Ohio State University, by turning the focus to the “destiny” that those incarcerated and released will eventually return to prison.
In the filmed discussion with Alexander, she stresses the importance of the pronoun “you” and the repetition of situations seemingly beyond individual control. She uses multiple phrases such as: “your parent,” “you’re likely to,” “just like your father…your brother…your uncle,” “your destiny,” etc. to emphasize the shared feeling of predestined re-incarceration in Beecher Terrace. Her parallel sentence structure is seen in her repetition of expressions such as “where (situation) leads to (fated consequence)” and her implied cradle-to-grave mentality. Michelle Alexander’s voice is authoritative and commanding because of her expertise in the topic, yet she manages to come across delicate in tandem with her firm
stance.
In addition to presenting pathos through the primary and professional accounts of Keith Huff, Charles McDuffie and Michelle Alexander, the documentary employs the rhetorical strategy of logos by applying national percentages and statistics of Beecher Terrace in order to achieve a more solid emotional foundation in Prison State. From 1999-2010 Kentucky quickly become the “epicenter for prison growth in the United States, with increased spending of almost 220 percent”. The state of Kentucky spends more than $15 million a year to incarcerate people from Beecher Terrace alone. With 1 out of every 6 residents put behind bars each year, it is no surprise that the neighborhood might consider imprisonment to be their ultimate fate. Even after release, the situation remains rather bleak for most. Those released from prison have high risk of getting sent back within the same year not for committing new crimes but because the set of conditions upon release are often impossible to follow. The monthly fees, parole dates, employment expectations, and inability to move or travel out of certain boundary limits are only a few of the many constraints that released prisoners must abide by in order to remain free. These men and women are discharged from prison with the clothes on their back and often no financial support or home to return to. Without these necessary amenities, the options become scarce: either returning to criminal activity or being unable to meet parole requirements.
Prison State creates a sense of pathos through tracking shots and certain dimensions of repeated locations to present the audience with clear associations between the community of Beecher Terrace and the inevitable cycle of re-incarceration. The film often portrays fences as prison bars and includes long-range shots behind them of common houses and children playing in schoolyards. Depicting young children behind these “prison bars” indicates that people in this community are identified as having criminal potential from even the earliest, most innocent moments in life and implies that they are potentially the next generation of criminals in the prison system. The film also implements tracking shots in order to better gain context into the cyclical lives of the characters. A strong example of this technique was Keith Huff’s release from prison and his arrival at the transitory housing project. The audience visualizes the shaky nature and abrupt shifts of a handheld camera as possibly being in the situation themselves and able to better empathize with the characters. These film elements and techniques are devised to direct the audience towards a targeted emotional response and increase the awareness that this community is beset with a cycle of re-incarceration; even the playgrounds of the community are suspect of unlawful potential. The PBS Frontline series successfully targets their primary audience by incorporating emotional appeals that address progressive, liberal individuals. Interested in the social justice and community issues that encompass their audience’s values, the documentary concentrates heavily on the corrective system’s bias against Beecher Terrace and the communal cycle of re-incarceration. Which party is more to blame for this serious concern: the criminal justice system for its inability to reserve the penal population for dangerous offenders or the community for its inability to reform and prevent the cycle in the first place? After viewing this film, the primary audience of social activists will feel compelled to learn more about the issue and draw their own personal conclusions.
By focusing on the societal inequalities of Beecher Terrace, the documentary relates the primary and professional accounts of three notable characters, the rhetorical strategies of logos and ethos, and film techniques to effectively direct the audience towards a targeted emotional response of sympathy and compassion. These emotional appeals of pathos are directed at a primary audience that will hopefully view this film and encourage these activists to make positive contributions in communities experiencing similar struggles as Beecher Terrace. The cycle of re-incarceration is not the fault of a single system, but the culmination of many factors vying for simultaneous control. Finding a balance and working together can establish commonalities between the corrections system and the community and justice can once again be restored.

Works Cited
“Prison State.” Frontline. Dir. Dan Edge. PBS, Apr. 29, 2014. PBS.org. Web. Sept. 3, 2014.