Every day in the United States, an estimated two people die waiting for trial. More than 400,000 others sit in jail on any given day - presumed innocent, yet trapped in a legal limbo known as pretrial detention. Four daring insiders across the South strive to solve America’s deadly jail crisis from the inside and keep hope alive in a race against time.
SYNOPSIS
The presumption of innocence is a cornerstone of American justice. But what happens when you are presumed innocent and still spend years behind bars?
From the muddy roads of the Mississippi Delta to the rolling hills of Kentucky’s Bluegrass, THE DEAD ZONE is a groundbreaking feature documentary exposing the hidden world of America’s deadly pretrial detention system.
Filmed over four years, the film follows four people with the power to reshape the system from within.
Duane Lake spent more than six years in pretrial detention in Clarksdale, Mississippi, at one point facing the death penalty before being acquitted. After losing his home, family, and livelihood, he works to rebuild his life and reunite with his children while advocating for change. Public defender Chris Routh fights for indigent clients in Jackson, Mississippi, amid crushing turnover and life-or-death cases. Having himself been accused of murder as a teenager, Chris is fiercely committed to the presumption of innocence, but an unraveling defender system forces him to question how long he can continue.In Memphis, District Attorney Steve Mulroy pursues reforms in one of America’s most dangerous cities as fears of rising crime fuel fierce opposition to his approach.In Houston, Judge Genesis Draper works to reduce jail deaths through bail reform while facing political backlash and misinformation campaigns.
Woven together, these vérité stories reveal the hidden machinery of pretrial detention and the human cost when it fails. As constitutional protections erode, THE DEAD ZONE asks whether the presumption of innocence can survive, and what it will take to restore fairness, safety, and humanity in America’s justice system.
Director Statement
Driven by anger at the hypocrisy of the justice system, a deep curiosity about how the cash bail system evolved and why jail populations were skyrocketing, a years-long personal investigation was ignited resulting in over 100 interviews with people involved in the pretrial system. I also trained as a court watcher, attending bounty hunter boot camp and public defender conferences. Through these experiences, I earned the trust of our protagonists and learned of the gruesome realities of this profit-driven purgatory that goes beyond bail most Americans have no idea exists yet goes against the values we hold most dear.
I am sickened that we live under a system allowing people to die in jail and no one is held accountable. It fuels a calling to bring this story to light to expose how the system punishes the poor and how America’s fundamental principle of the presumption of innocence no longer exists (and may not have ever). I hope to bring pretrial detention to the forefront of American political discourse by unveiling how our local judicial systems and overflowing jails operate, the need for equitable funding for public defenders, opportunities for prosecutorial accountability, and empathy for the forgotten human beings society is often afraid to look at up and close. Our protagonists likewise believe in the urgency of sharing their stories and solutions to show what’s happening in each of their respective regions and bring momentum to a movement in which money has no place in determining one’s freedom.
Supporter Statement
"No one is talking about the crisis of pretrial detention, this film needs to be made now" - Cliff Johnson (MacArthur Justice Center, partner on THE DEAD ZONE)
ABOUT FILMMAKER(S)
Director Emily Thomas
Director Emily Thomas is a documentary filmmaker, cinematographer, and founder of Lemon Tree Productions. Her work is rooted in intimately documenting the human experience to bring light to pressing social justice and environmental issues with nuance, visual evidence, emotion and hope. Her work has been supported by the Sundance Institute, the California Humanities, Saul Zaentz Innovation Fund and the Berkeley Film Foundation. Her award-winning films have been featured on PBS, the New Yorker, Vimeo Staff Picks and screened at SF Film Fest, Big Sky, Hot Springs, among others. She recently directed LAST DAYS AT PARADISE HIGH (The New Yorker), produced THE GREAT THIRST: WILLIAM MULHOLLAND (PBS) and directed the story of Betty Kilby, who led the desegregation of Virginia schools, for the docuseries, STORIES OF A GENERATION (Netflix). As a DP, she has worked on films for VICE, The New Yorker, CBS, The Guardian, PBS, Peacock TV, and Frontline. Previously, she was a journalist reporting on crime, politics and breaking news for VICE and The Huffington Post, and was a human rights investigator at the Human Rights Center and Storyful. She is a graduate of UC Berkeley’s Graduate School of Journalism and lives in Baltimore, MD.
Producer Nicole Docta
Producer Nicole Docta (she/her) is an award-winning documentary filmmaker who has focused her career on producing socially provoking BIPOC stories and managing their impact campaigns. She offers her unique lens as a Korean-American transnational, transracial adoptee who grew up in Wisconsin. Nicole was part of the producing teams on Peabody Award-winning and Emmy-nominated THE JUDGE (TIFF 2017) and Emmy Award-winning BELLY OF THE BEAST (HRWFF 2020) with Director Erika Cohn, and duPont Award-winner THROUGH THE NIGHT (Tribeca 2020) with Director Loira Limbal. Not only does Nicole work to improve outcomes for the communities in her films, she strives to enhance the documentary industry. Nicole served as the Special Initiatives Producer at Firelight Media for three years co-curating the Beyond Resilience Series and helping to implement new artist programs to support BIPOC filmmakers. Her latest work includes producing THE DEAD ZONE about the little known pipeline to prison, the pretrial detention system and her directorial debut, ADOPTING, which explores the systemic changes needed in adoption after cutting ties with her own adoptive parents. Nicole is also a USC CPD NextGen Creative Fellow, one of DOC NYC’s 40 Under 40, a Sundance Producer Fellow, and Impact Partners Producer Fellow.
Producer
John Toner
John Toner is co-founder of Baltimore-based Lemon Tree Productions. He has led community-based innovations to address racial injustice through the United Nations and led homelessness and youth diversion efforts in Charleston and Kentucky. He has worked on films for Frontline and The New Yorker as a consulting producer and part of the development and production team. As an expert in equity-based policy and storytelling, as well as a native Kentuckian with a deep understanding of the South, he brings both creative and cultural expertise to this story, building and strengthening relationships with participants in both field and creative producing roles.
RELATED LINKS
PROMOTE THIS PROJECT
Put a donation widget on your site. Click here for code.
ABOUT YOUR DONATION
Women Make Movies (WMM), Inc. is a 501(c)(3) non-profit media arts organization registered with the New York Charities Bureau of New York State and accepts charitable donations on behalf of this project. Your donation will be spent by the filmmaker(s) toward the production and completion of this media project. No services or goods are provided by Women Make Movies, the filmmaker(s) or anyone else associated with this project in exchange for your charitable donation.
Your contributions are tax deductible to the fullest extent of the law, and a confirmation of your donation will be sent via email. WMM will send you an acknowledgement letter in the mail to the address listed for tax purposes.
