Three Thousand Years and Life
1973 American film
Three Thousand Years and Life (also styled 3000 Years and Life) is a 1973 American documentary short film written, produced and directed by Stephen Ujlaki. Filmed inside Walpole state prison (MCI–Walpole) during the 1973 prisoner takeover, the film examines the misuse of authority in correctional institutions in New England and gives inmates a platform to describe abuse by guards and administrators.
Background
The film documents events at MCI–Walpole, which at the time was Massachusetts's highest-security prison and was known as among the most violent in the country, with regular stabbings and murders and severe psychological stress for inmates and prison officers alike. In the fall of 1972, inmates organized a democratically elected labor union, the Walpole chapter of the National Prisoners Reform Association (NPRA). After a prolonged dispute between the prison officers' union and Corrections Commissioner John O. Boone, the officers staged a mass walkout in March 1973. Rather than send in the state police, Boone turned over the internal running of the prison to the NPRA, aided by a skeleton crew of officers and trainees and by citizen observers.
Between 15 March and 19 May 1973, the NPRA was the central force governing daily life inside Walpole. Prisoners ran the prison's security, policy, kitchen and foundry, and handled new-inmate intake through elected committees. There were no murders and violence was minimal, and civilian observers logged some 10,000 hours documenting the prisoners' self-governance. Instead of the chaos and violence officials had expected, the three months marked what has been described as the most peaceful, nonviolent and productive period in the prison's history.
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