In Netflix's The Quilters, prison inmates find escape and community in quilting

South China Morning Post

16-05-2025

Independent filmmaker Jenifer McShane travelled to the US state of Missouri to make her second documentary about prison life, focusing on an unusual group of men at South Central Correctional Centre south of St Louis.
The access she was given inside the maximum security facility included permission to screen the film for the inmates. Along the way, she learned an important lesson about what not to do when showing a movie inside a prison.
In a 'rookie moment', McShane said in an interview last year, 'I accidentally started to go up to turn off the lights – because you always watch a movie without lights on. Well, not in a max prison. So they all rush, 'Jen! No, no, no.''
'Aside from that rookie mistake, it was probably the most moving [screening] I've ever done because they were riveted, and they loved it and understood what I was trying to do.'
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The Quilters debuts on Netflix on May 16 after scooping up several awards at film festivals since last year.
McShane reveals the healing power of art in the daily lives of inmates who have formed a quilting circle inside the Level 5 prison in Licking, Missouri. They work in a special sewing room where they make quilts for foster children in the surrounding counties.