support the film TODAY
Contribute to The Dead Zone to shine a light on a life-and-death crisis and support a powerful tool for education and dialog.
Justice Shouldn’t Have to Wait.
Duane Lake spent six years in pretrial detention, presumed innocent, before a jury found him not guilty.
His story isn’t an outlier. Every day in the United States, two people die waiting for trial. More than 400,000 others sit in jail on any given day, trapped in a legal limbo known as pretrial detention.
The hidden crisis
Pretrial detention is one of the least understood crises in American justice. It disrupts families, destabilizes communities, and erodes constitutional rights — all before anyone has been convicted of anything. In Mississippi people have been held years without continuous legal representation in a situation called "The Dead Zone." The urgency of this moment is hard to overstate.
The story only film can tell
Rather than oversimplifying the issue, The Dead Zone humanizes its complexity. Filmed over four years across the American South, the film follows four people who hold real power inside the system: a district attorney, a public defender, a criminal court judge, and a man who lost six years of his life to pretrial detention before being found innocent.
The film breaks down silos to reveal where their interests unexpectedly align: public safety, fairness, and dignity. Weaving their stories together, the film exposes how pretrial detention actually works, and how it can change.
This is not an abstract policy film. It is a cinematic, emotionally grounded documentary that replaces fear-based narratives with truth, nuance, and accountability.
400K +
Unconvicted people detained in jail every day
2 PEOPLE DIE
Waiting for trial each day in the U.S.
4+ YEARS
Reporting and filming
your contribution TODAY matters more than ever
The Dead Zone equips audiences, advocates, and decision-makers with the understanding needed to recalibrate public opinion and help save lives.
But only if it reaches audiences.
Early supporters laid essential groundwork.
Now you can transform years of reporting and filming into a finished film with national reach and long-term relevance.
Over 90% of the vérité footage has been filmed, capturing pivotal moments that cannot be recreated. Your contribution directly funds:
Final editing
Archival licensing
Music composition
Impact planning
As a fiscally sponsored project of Women Make Movies (501(c)(3)), all contributions are tax-deductible to the extent allowed by law.
OFFICIAL FILM SUPPORTERS
Meet the contributors who have generously pledged their support to help bring it to as wide an audience as possible.
JUSTICE LEADERS
Chris Browder
FRIENDS OF JUSTICE
Olivia Dawn Rempel
Amanda Warco
Alex Chivescu
JUSTICE SUPPORTERS
Ray Whitehouse
Melanie Shakarian
Hanna Miller
Joshua Davidsburg
Erin Persley
Rajal Pitroda
Jessica Epstein
Aaron And Jenna Field
JamesShelby-Rae Jones
Joe Leach
Summre Garber
Hannah Hearn
Ariel Plotnick
John Beder
Bryan Eslinger
Natalie Cassidy
Michelle Gcola
Kathryn W.
Betsy Schindler
Jessica Hept Bailey
Todd Gurney