Work Experience: Interview with The Work director Jairus McLeary

“Let’s be who we could be,” a leader says to a chapel full of men. It’s a fairly generic form of inspirational statement, one that could adorn a graduation card from Hallmark or be found in the pages of a mid-selling self-help book.
But this isn’t a Hallmark card. It’s Folsom Prison, and the men being addressed are maximum security prisoners about to undergo an intensive four-day programme of group therapy.
For them, the statement is more than a platitude, it’s a rallying cry, a promise. A vow to leave all gang affiliations and machismo and judgement in the prison yard; to commit fully and vulnerably to an emotionally difficult process of exploration, expression and healing.
The strength of Jairus McLeary’s intimate documentary is that the director captures both who these men are and how they want to be. Part of this sense of intimacy is down to the fact that McLeary and the entire crew of The Work participated in the programme; not as prisoners, but as the civilians who are invited to come into the prison for the programme. McLeary’s father was the first one who undertook this unique form of therapy.
“My Dad started doing this work in my family when I was 16,” says McLeary, “and I remember he came home, sat on the couch and just cried, saying, ‘I think I’ve been screwing this up, I don’t think I’ve been a good parent. I feel like I don’t know who I am, and if that’s true, then I haven’t been a good father.
‘I want to talk to you guys about how to be better.’ To me, it was so abrupt, I genuinely was like, ‘Who is this guy on my couch?’ And he had been a good father, but there had been a distance between us, and suddenly we had unfettered access to him.”
Seeing this emotional transformation, McLeary eventually participated in the programme in his twenties, and he and his brothers eventually volunteered with the programme. Over 15 long years, the family worked together to build trust with both the prison officials and the prisoners themselves, before broaching the idea of making a documentary. It was important for McLeary that every member of the crew participate, to approach the subject with sensitivity, and to understand and appreciate the great risks the prisoners were taking in undertaking such emotional work.  
“The prison yard is segregated by race and gangs,” says McLeary, “and these lines are immediately and violently enforced. You cannot cross them in the yard. Whereas in the group, these men are not only talking, they’re hugging and crying together. So the programme only works because it’s confidential.
“They need to leave it at the door. One of the prisoners describes those identities and affiliations as an armour, and the work is to shed that and be honest and vulnerable – but then they have to armour up again before going on the yard.”
Sometimes, though, that armour doesn’t protect them.
“Two men have died since we shot this film in 2009,” McLeary reveals sadly. “If you start to do work, men can get to a place where they drop out of the gangs that they’re in. Many of the men talk about the fact that after doing this kind of work, and changing how they perceive themselves and others, they can no longer do the things demanded of a criminal organisation.
“The empathy and change of perception are literally life-changing – which is why the administration lets Inside Circle do this work. They literally see a drop in violence on the yard. But changing those relationships, especially within gangs, is also dangerous for the men, so they’re really taking risks doing the work.”
One of the features of the programme is the men’s physical expression of emotion. As they delve into their trauma, feelings of grief, betrayal, abandonment and loss often manifest as physical struggles, where individual men try to push through groups as if in a rugby scrum. The programme is now trying to expand into women’s prisons, but McLeary acknowledges that these moments may not be as prevalent among women.
“One of the founders of the Inside Circle foundation described it best,” says McLeary. “He said that men are discouraged from expressing emotions, even happiness – but we are always allowed access to our anger. Guys get into fights, we get angry. And so during the work, particularly at first, it’s often literally the only way the men know how to express themselves. It feels like it’s a cork in a bottle – if you can get that out, you can get to all the other ones.”

The Work is in cinemas now.