Sweet Hell on Fire

Corrections officers are told to be two people: a hardened authority on duty, and a human being outside the gate. Most officers struggle to leave what they’ve seen behind the prison walls at the end of the day. But Sara Lunsford did the opposite. She became an officer to escape her life.

A stressful divorce, her mother’s struggle with cancer, and her own dependence on the liquor bottle led Sara to immerse herself completely in The Job. Working in all-male maximum security prison, Sara came face-to-face with worst of the worst, from white supremacists to serial killers. While it lowered her into a particular circle of hell that most of us won’t imagine, it also galvanized her to change her life. Sweet Hell on Fire takes an uncensored, gritty look at the transformative effects of a year on The Job, and a woman who found courage in the most unexpected of places.