Out of State

Directed by Ciara Lacy

Exiled to a private prison deep in the Arizona desert, native Hawaiian inmates discover culture and community behind bars. In 2007, the state of Hawaii outsourced the care of roughly two thousand of its male prisoners to a private, for-profit prison on the continental US. Now deep in the desert of Arizona, exiled thousands of miles across the ocean from their island home, a group of indigenous Hawaiian inmates have discovered their calling on the inside: teaching each other their native language and dances while behind bars. The film follows several of the men as they complete their sentences and reintegrate back home in Hawaii.

Out of State explores complex questions of cultural and religious identity; the disproportionate incarceration rates of native Hawaiians and other ethnic minorities in the prison system; the cycle of criminal behavior and its impact on the family; and prisoner entitlement.