AllMovie

In the wake of the 1971 Attica prison riots, a great deal of media attention was given to prison conditions in the United States and not all of it was good or conscionable. In the Event Anyone Disappears is a clear-headed, bold look at life inside men's maximum security prisons. The film provides a view of how prisoners perceive their lives and the effectiveness of their rehabilitation. While most of us have seen and heard much of this material before, the gulagesque tactics used to break down prisoners' morale never stop being shocking, even just in description. A powerful and affecting documentary.