13th (film)

13th is a 2016 American documentary film directed by Ava DuVernay. It explores the prison–industrial complex, and the "intersection of race, justice, and mass incarceration in the United States". The title refers to the Thirteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, adopted in 1865, which abolished slavery throughout the United States and ended involuntary servitude, except as punishment for convicted criminals. The film argues that this exemption has been used to continue the practice of involuntary servitude in the form of penal labor.

DuVernay contends that slavery in the United States has been perpetuated since the end of the Civil War through criminalizing behavior and enabling police to arrest poor freedmen and force them to work for the state under convict leasing; suppression of African Americans by disenfranchisement, lynchings, and Jim Crow; politicians declaring a war on drugs that weighs more heavily on minority communities; and, by the late 20th century, mass incarceration affecting communities of color, especially American descendants of slavery. In addition to the prison-industrial complex, the film examines the emerging detention-industrial complex, discussing how much money is being made by corporations from such incarcerations.

The film garnered widespread critical acclaim. It was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature at the 89th Academy Awards, and it won the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Documentary or Nonfiction Special at the 69th Primetime Emmy Awards.

Synopsis

The film begins with an audio clip of President Barack Obama stating that the US has 5 percent of the world's population, but 25 percent of the world's prisoners. There follow interviews with a number of activists, academics, political figures from both major U.S. political parties, and public figures, including Angela Davis, Bryan Stevenson, Michelle Alexander, Jelani Cobb, Van Jones, Newt Gingrich, Cory Booker, Marie Gottschalk, and Henry Louis Gates Jr.