Cruel and Unusual
Janet Baus, Dan Hunt and Reid Williams/USA/2006/video/66min

What happens when a trans woman transgresses the law? This shocking and emotional documentary traces the experiences of five American women serving time in all-male prisons. Their identities ignored by a judicial system focused solely on physical "evidence" of gender, these women recount their experiences of rape, violence, solitary confinement and denial of medical care in prisons ill-equipped to ensure humane treatment. This film also explores the unique circumstances of trans women piecing together their lives after serving time, faced with the challenges of reconnecting with family and community as well as difficulties in securing jobs and housing. As grim as their situations are, the women followed in this film share their experiences with a sense of hope and a clear desire to take action for change. Filmmakers Janet Baus, Dan Hunt and Reid Williams present three years of moving interviews and stark footage in an award-winning documentary that exposes the punishment of trans women in all-male prisons as, indeed,cruel and unusual.

Winner of the Jury Award for Best Documentary at San Franciso's Frameline Festival, Best Feature at Newfest and Silvery Telly Award for Social Issue Documentary from the Arkansas Educational Television Network