The Amygdala

A roughly almond shaped mass of grey matter inside each cerebral hemisphere, involved with the experience of memory and emotions, especially empathy, anger or fear.

“I was thinking about those shows, during my first week in jail, and just thought…fuck…they didn’t have a fucking clue. ?Cause you think that prison is where you need to be ?cause you’re so tough that society can’t handle you. But…it’s also the place you get a bed, a roof over your head…For me, right now, it’s the only place in the world where someone cares enough to check whether I’m in my bed every night. Even if they are getting paid for it.”

Kelsey is in prison serving a life sentence for murder. Thea is doing her PhD on women who kill. Thea thinks she knows everything there is to know about prison. But, as her friendship with Kelsey deepens, she realises she doesn’t know the first thing about what prison is really like. Based on true events, The Amygdala, is a brutally honest portrait of the life of a woman in prison that explores the limits of our capacity for empathy and forgiveness.