‘Unlocked: A Jail Experiment’: Arkansas County Refuses $60,000 Check From Producers of Netflix Doc Amid Ongoing Legal Battle
variety.comSelome Hailu Earlier this month, Arkansas’ Pulaski County turned down and returned a $60,000 check sent by Lucky 8, the production company behind the Netflix docuseries “Unlocked: A Jail Experiment.” Pulaski County is where “Unlocked” was filmed, and Lucky 8 apparently intended the check as reimbursement for any costs the county incurred during production.
But in a letter sent alongside the returned check, county judge Barry Hyde wrote, “Pulaski County has no contract with Lucky 8.
As such, Pulaski County must treat this check as an offered donation. Your donation is refused.” This is not the first legal dispute to emerge surrounding the project, which was took place at the Pulaski County Detention Center (located in Little Rock, Ark.) in 2023.
Per Little Rock’s ABC affiliate KATV, the county’s quorum court in March issued an emergency ordinance requiring Sheriff Eric Higgins, who spearheads the “social experiment” depicted in the docuseries, to produce a report about the production of “Unlocked” — including relevant documents and records and answers to several questions posed by the county.
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