Found not guilty by reason of insanity, Lew, Calvin, Jimmy, and Kevin reveal their stories and share what it's like to have spent a collective 160 years in one of the nation's oldest mental institutions.
"Voices From Within" brings you into a world most people never see - a mental institution housing the "criminally insane." For the first time in the history of Saint Elizabeths Hospital, cameras were allowed inside and placed directly into the hands of four individuals in care: Jimmy, Lew, Kevin and Calvin, who have been residents for a combined 160 years. All of them have serious mental illness, all have committed violent crimes, and each courageously reveals his story through the intimacy of video diaries. Turning the camera onto themselves, they change from the examined to the examiner, allowing us to bear witness to their daily struggles with mental illness, isolation, and the seemingly impossible step-by-step process to reintegrate into society.