I am a part-time resident in Canon City, Colorado.   Most of the people I interact with are retirees and rafters.  I was anxious to see Prison Valley, as I rarely have interaction with prison employees and was hoping for an in-depth viewpoint on how the prison system works in it’s day-to-day operation.  Instead, I am shaking my head in disbelief at the atrocious inaccuracies of the film.

To document every non-truth in the film would take too much time away from my week, so let’s dig into the first three minutes.

Let’s start with the title of the film, Prison Valley.  It is stated emphatically in the film that the area is known as Prison Valley.  I have hundreds of clients in the Canon City area and spend most days talking with them and local residents.   Never — and I mean NEVER — have I heard Canon City referred to as “Prison Valley.” A quick Google search of “Prison Valley” results in links to the film, not the city.  Billions of web pages, yet not one page refers to Canon City as “Prison Valley.”

The woman who coins the term “Prison Valley” in the film is a prisoner’s wife from out of state.  She also declares in the first three minutes of the film, “if the prison was not here there would be nothing, and nobody, because they have nothing else to offer.” Scathing?  Yes.  Accurate?  No.

Canon City is a historic town along the Arkansas River that happens to be one of the most popular white water rafting destination in the world!  This is a tourist town that is also home to the Royal Gorge.  Rock climbers from around the world travel to Canon City to climb the legendary walls along Shelf Road.  Tremendous hiking abounds in Red Canyon Park, Garden Park Fossil Area, Phantom Canyon, Tunnel Drive, Temple Canyon, and the Sangre de Cristo mountain range.  You can go horse back riding, soak in hot springs, golf at one of the best courses in Colorado, camp in the breathtaking Rocky Mountains…  Nothing to offer?

OK, still in the first three minutes… The narrator says “we are in some god forsaken place in the middle of Colorado… Canon City.”  And yes, he really does say this.  It implies that God truly forsakes Canon City, or Canon City is in the middle-of-nowhere.   I’ll assume the filmmakers meant the latter.  Canon City is 46 miles from Colorado Springs, 41 miles from Pueblo, 59 miles from Salida, and right smack dab in the middle of the Royal Gorge Region, one of the top tourist destinations in Colorado.

Still in the first three minutes… This next statement from the film is absolute misleading, erroneous journalism.  Narrator: “Canon City is the clean version of hell.”  And once again, yes, he really does say this.

The narrator is misquoting from a CBS report in which the former warden of Supermax, Robert Hood, refers to the prison as
“a clean version of hell.”  Supermax, located in Florence, Colorado, is a federal prison holding the most notorious prisoners in the country.  The filmmakers, however, erroneously mislead viewers by misquoting the CBS story by stating “Canon City is the clean version of hell,” not the prison in Florence.

Still in the first 3 minutes… The filmmakers introduce us to the Riviera Motel in Florence, Colorado.  The narrator states the motel “is two blocks from Canon City.”  As you can see from the Google Map embedded below, the Riviera Motel is 8.6 miles from Canon City, not two blocks.  But again, we’re just in the first three minutes of the film.

View Larger Map

And the inaccuracies continue throughout the film…

The French filmmakers had an agenda to paint small town America as despicable, white trash.  They succeeded.   Their footage of alleyways, liquor stores, thunder clouds, prairies, trashcans, trailers, and a prisoner’s wife at a run down motel in Florence, Colorado in a hoodie and flip-flops was well executed. If I had no reference to Canon City or the people, I could blindly believe this “god forsaken” American small town is a “clean version of hell” that “offers nothing.”   Fortunately, I know the truth.

Unfortunately, this is the only aspect they succeed at — throwing an entire community under a bus.  Nothing of relevance was brought to light about the prison system.   They  briefly touch on Private Prisons, which Canon City does NOT have, and the problems associated with them.  They give some statistics about minorities and their likelihood of going to jail.  They also show pictures from a prison riot in Crowley County, Colorado.   Ultimately, though, the filmmakers drop the ball on what could have been an informative film about the prison industry, and instead find it easier to attack a tourist town and it’s residence.  Bravo.

Here’s my question to the filmmakers:  If you are not truthful in every aspect of your journalism, how does one believe anything you report?

I first met John Reidy about ten years ago when he approached me about a radio talk show idea he had called Pop Autopsy. I was familiar with John’s work as Editor of the Denver underground ‘zine, the Hooligan, and was anxious to hear a “demo” of the show.  At the time I had an Internet radio station and was always on the lookout for good talent.  John definitely has talent. The demo was a bit rough, but it was a no-brainer to give him a slot on the station.

Pop Autopsy Intro: Pop Autopsy Intro

John had the only talk show on the now defunct Alpha Radio. At every show he had a room full of people, five or six guests at a time, and would lay to waste any-and-all pop culture figures. It was quite entertaining.  My favorite segment of Pop Autopsy was the movie reviews based on the trailer.  I loved that.  They were spot-on with every review, all based on nothing more than a 2 minute trailer.

South Stands Denver Fancast

John recently started a new radio venture at South Stands Denver.  And it’s very good.  John hosts a podcast every week with Colin Daniel and producer Aaron X (who also produced Pop Autopsy).  It is a Denver Sports podcast, or as they call it… the Fancast.  Most of the talk so far has been dominated by the up-and-down season of the Denver Broncos, but they also discuss other Denver area sports teams like the Nuggets, Avalanche, Rockies, DU Pioneers, and CSU Rams.  It is the only area sports podcast that despises the Colorado Buffaloes, which earns them extra points in my book.

In addition to the sports talk, they delve into pop culture.  Perhaps my favorite segment of the South Stands Denver Fancast is “Raiders Fan or ICP Fan”.  I have learned it is very difficult to tell apart a Juggalo from a Raiders fan.  I also enjoy the conversation about commercials.  Local Yokel is always fun, too.   They came up with my favorite new sports nickname recently, which is BM “The Turd” for Brandon Marshall.   It’s a clever, entertaining show and one of the few podcasts I listen to every week.

South Stands Denver posted their 18th show this week which features the fantasy football guru, Cecil Lamey from Footballguys.com and 9News.  Surprisingly, there wasn’t much fantasy football talk.  But that’s what I like about the Fancast.  I find my self laughing out loud (the kids do the LOL) while driving to work.  By the way, the South Stands Denver Fancast is available for download at iTunes.  The only trick is that they break up the podcast into two segments, so you must manually add the second segment to download the entire show.  Here is a link to the latest show:

1st half of the Fancast:  Part One

2nd half of the Fancast: Part Two

I must add that the Fancast is not appropriate for all ages.  The language can be a little rough.  The topics can also can be a bit suspect, especially the talk about what happens to young men in prison.  But hey, it is certainly not your average sports podcast.  Give it a listen!