Up the Ridge

Nick Szuberla, Amelia Kirby. 2006. Betacam SP video. Appalshop's radio station WMMT 88.7 FM has operated the only hip-hop radio program in Whitesburg, Kentucky since the 1990s. In 1999, volunteer DJs Nick Szuberla and Amelia Kirby received hundreds of letters from inmates transferred into nearby Wallens Ridge, the region’s newest prison built to prop up the shrinking coal economy. The letters described human rights violations and racial tension between staff and inmates. The two began filming that year and, though the lens of Wallens Ridge State Prison, captured an in-depth look at the United States prison industry and the social impact of moving hundreds of thousands of people of color from cities to distant rural outposts. Up the Ridge explores competing political agendas that align government policy with human rights violations, and political expediencies that bring communities into racial and cultural conflict with tragic consequences. The film will be of interest to anyone interested in criminal justice reform, as well as to listeners of WMMT's ongoing Monday night show "Calls from Home." “The use of American correction executives with abuse accusations in their past to oversee American-run prisons in Iraq is prompting concerns in Congress. Mr. Armstrong, assistant director of operations in American prisons in Iraq, resigned last year after Connecticut settled lawsuits with the families of two Connecticut inmates who died after being sent to Wallens Ridge, a super-maximum security prison in Virginia.”— The New York Times “When I visited Wallens Ridge in the spring of 1999, it was new and as yet unoccupied. It felt like a house on moving day, all echoes and loneliness. What I found there was the perfectly evolved American prison. It was both lavishly expensive and needlessly remote, built not because it was needed but because it was wanted by politicians who thought it would bring them votes.”— Joseph T. Hallinan, author All films in the Appalshop collection are protected under Title 17 of the United States Copyright Law. The unauthorized distribution or public performance of copyrighted works constitutes copyright infringement under the Copyright Act, Title 17 U.S Code Section 106(3)-(4). This conduct may also violate the Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works and The Universal Copyright Convention, as well as bilateral treaties with other countries that allow for protection of Rights Holder copyrighted works even beyond US borders. To receive rights for public performance of our works, including educational or institutional licensing, please contact Appalshop Sales to complete the purchase at 606-633-0108 or [email protected]. You can learn more about Appalshop and our work at www.Appalshop.org