Custodians (2018)

Directed by: Marc Schmidt | 76 minutes | documentary

In 2012, filmmaker Marc Schmidt became known for his award-winning documentary ‘The Rules of Matthijs’, about his autistic childhood friend Matthijs, who lived on his own, but did not fit into the picture of the average self-reliant citizen and therefore constantly clashed with authorities. In a sense, the link with Schmidt’s new documentary ‘Bewaarders’, about the ins and outs of the Zaanstad Judicial Complex, is quickly made. There, the self-reliance of the detainees is of paramount importance, even though there are enough detainees who cannot deal with it at all.

The Zaanstad Judicial Complex, completed in 2016, is the largest prison in the Netherlands, with space for more than a thousand inmates. It is a hypermodern complex, which is completely filled with cameras and where almost everything is arranged with cards. Detainees also have a pass, with which they are expected to arrange as much as possible themselves. They schedule their own appointments, do their own shopping and are also fully responsible for cleaning their cell. The wardens (officially PIWs: Penitentiary Institutions Workers) are mainly active as social workers. They do conflict management all day long. It is from their point of view that Schmidt filmed the first year of the Complex’s commissioning.

At the beginning of the documentary, for example, you can see the guards getting used to the maze of the corridors. The Complex is mainly built in width and not in height, so considerable distances can be bridged. Although detainees are allowed to move fairly freely with their pass, strict rules apply to who can go through which door. When a guard with an infirm crook turns out to have taken a wrong turn and wants to take an inland route, the two are told in no uncertain terms that they have to make the entire trip back and take the other exit.

The bureaucracy is sometimes grueling for the custodians in other ways as well. Someone who promises to help a detainee bring forward a visitation appointment realizes too late that appointments can only be rescheduled up to an hour in advance in the computer system. Despite all good will, a new conflict with the crook in question is almost inevitable. However, it is not really clear whether the frustration diminishes during the year that Schmidt has filmed. Whether the guards (and the detainees) have been able to adapt a bit to the system.

The documentary is interspersed with voice-overs. Musings taken from interviews with various guards (but always spoken by the same voice actor). In which, for example, the question is openly asked whether the new approach is such an improvement for the detainees, or whether it is purely a matter of cost savings. Or in which someone remarks that he hardly tells anyone, not even his wife, where he works. For protection. The custodians are, however, shown in a fully recognizable manner. In contrast to the detainees, who are given a colored motif, so that they remain recognizable in relation to each other.

There are a few prisoners who frequently figure in ‘Guardians’ and these are the residents of the so-called ‘Extra Care Facility’ who, in contrast to the regular two-person cells, are given a cell for themselves. This is especially the case for people with psychological problems, and there are quite a few of them. They benefit from extra guidance and seem to be drowning in the desired self-reliance. However, how they themselves experience the approach of the Zaanhof Judicial Complex is not explicitly discussed, because the focus is simply on the guards and their interaction with the prisoners.

For example, ‘Bewachters’ provides a penetrating picture in five quarters of an hour of what is happening within the walls of the Zaanhof Judicial Complex, but there is also enough left open. For example, what happened to the issue where a custodian wanted to know what the camera protocol is when it comes to employees? Can anything be said about whether the new approach actually appears to result in less recidivism? And how is the approach evaluated by the penitentiary staff after the first year? The first look that Schmidt gives, in any case, tastes like much, much more. It is hoped that there will be a sequel.