THE BLUE INMATES

Synopsis

From Lebanon’s notoriously tough Roumieh prison, Daccache’s third film emerges shedding the light on inmates suffering from mental illness and facing a life sentence in prison. Indeed, the Lebanese penal code states that “Insane”, “Mad” & “Possessed” offenders should be incarcerated until evidence of “being cured” (whereas “mental illness” can be managed with proper treatment and not “cured” and in Lebanese prisons psychological and medical care for these inmates are absent). In the film, Daccache involves “regular” inmates to represent in a theatre production the stories of the inmates suffering from mental illness and convey their messages to the outside world and decision makers hopefully changing the status of these forgotten behind bars – and preventing a similar “life sentence” fate for future inmates.