At the beginning of the pandemic, none of the 3500 people incarcerated in San Quentin prison in Northern California had tested positive for COVID-19. Six weeks later almost 50% of the population was infected from a botched prisoner transfer, making it the worst hotspot in the country. Sickness in the System is a hybrid documentary that exposes the the California prison system's negligence as the COVID-19 pandemic raged. Through two incarcerated men's stories, Bryan Gibel's film depicts the height of the pandemic inside the California Department of Corrections with shocking intimacy by combining phone interviews from inside San Quentin, dramatic portrayals using actors, composited illustrations, and archival footage and photographs.