The Criminal Man DVD (San Quentin in the 50's)

THE CRIMINAL MAN: Some very interesting 1950's interviews here with convicted murderers inside their prison cells at San Quentin prison in California. Long before the real-life "prison stories"you see on late night cable TV, this documentary purports to be the first interview film inside a federal prison. After a long opening discussion on the psyche of the criminal mind, Professor of Criminology Douglas M. Kelley goes "inside" to ask the prisoners what crime they committed, and, more importantly, what they're doing to better their lives so they can successfully re-enter society. The film also looks at the modern features of San Quentin -- especially the opportunities for prisoners to better themselves -- that will help them again someday, on the "outside". USA, 1958, B&W, 30 minutes.

DESIGN FOR CORRECTION: John Gotti would eventually call the Marion Federal Prison in Southern Illinois home, and this documentary looks at how Marion came to be in the early 1960's. Marion was devised as a place where even federal criminals could be rehabilitated through a library, a chapel, a gym, a hospital, and a general plan to treat prisoners more humanely than at the federal prison at Alcatraz. USA, 1964, B&W, 19 minutes.

Two films on one DVD. Total running time 49 minutes.

NTSC Region 0 encoding (Entire World)