''Prison Town, USA'' is a 2007 documentary film about

Susanville, California Susanville (formerly known as Rooptown) is a town in and the county seat of Lassen County, California, United States. Susanville is located on the Susan River in the southern part of the county, at an elevation of . Its population is 16,728 a ...

, a small, rural town in the northeastern part of the state that tries to resuscitate its economy by accepting construction of a state prison. The economy had formerly depended on agriculture, mining and timber, but since the late 20th century has been increasingly dependent on prisons. The city now has two state prisons and a federal prison has opened nearby in Herlong, also in Lassen County. Half of the adults in Susanville work in these facilities, and 11,000 people are incarcerated in the rural county.Taylor, Robert. "'Prison Town' a view from outside"
''Contra Costa Times'', 28 July 2007; hosted at ''The Mercury News''. The film follows four men, their families, and how they react to the new institution: Lonnie Tyler, a prisoner; Dawayne Brasher and Gabe Jones, guards; and Mike O'Kelly, a dairyman threatened by how the prison could affect the community's buy-local policy. ''Prison Town, USA'' was written, produced, and directed by

Katie Galloway Katie is an English feminine name. It is a form Katherine, Kate, Caitlin, Kathleen, Katey and their related forms. It is frequently used on its own. People Sports *Katie Boulter (born 1996), British tennis player *Katie Clark (born 1994), Briti ...

and

Po Kutchins Po or PO may refer to: Arts and entertainment Fictional characters * Po (Kung Fu Panda), the protagonist of the ''Kung Fu Panda'' franchise * Po, one of the titular ''Teletubbies'' * Po, a character in the novel '' Graceling'' by Kristin Cashore ...

. It was aired in 2007 as part of the ''

P.O.V. ''POV'' (also written ''P.O.V.'') is a Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) public television series which features independent nonfiction films. ''POV'' is an initialism for ''point of view''. ''POV'' is the longest-running showcase on television ...

'' series on

PBS The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) is an American public broadcasting, public broadcaster and Non-commercial activity, non-commercial, Terrestrial television, free-to-air television network based in Arlington, Virginia. PBS is a publicly fu ...

References

External links

* * 2007 films POV (TV series) films Documentary films about incarceration in the United States Documentary films about California Lassen County, California Penal system in California 2000s English-language films 2000s American films {{2000s-documentary-film-stub