A dozen or so photographers attempted to define Everyday Incarceration. You should see the results
To bring to life dozens of stories about mass incarceration in America, NBC News Investigative Unit’s Hannah Rappleye and Lisa Riordan Seville have raised near $40,000 with the crowdfunding platform Beacon.
Before any stories were published on Beacon, NBC News or other news outlets, the Everyday Incarceration Instagram account was created, and its run alongside reports from The Legacy of Mass Incarceration project.
With sketches, archival photos and the work of a handful of talented photographers from across the United States, Everyday Incarceration has some thick storytelling. Some photographers whose work is exhibited is the result of years of work.
Sometimes the photos mirror the project, and sometimes they tell their own story.
Here’s some of that work, which ranges from prisoner rodeo in Louisiana, families torn apart, families reunited, convicted murderers, teens on probation and the complex story that is mass incarceration in America, the world’s largest jailer.
A series of photos of women prisoners outside Atlanta, Georgia by Marilyn Suriani were shared in Everyday Incarceration. Suriani was interviewed for The Legacy of Mass Incarceration project.
There’s also about a dozen sketches of inmates at Rikers Island by artist Ricardo Cortes.
New Orleans-based photographer William Widmer, whose work has also been featured in Sports Illustrated, New York Times and Al Jazeera America, shared a series of shots with Everyday Incarceration from a prison rodeo in Louisiana.
He also took a portrait of this man whose sentence was reduced by President Obama as a result of changes to sentencing laws that make penalties for crack and cocaine comparable.
Andrew Lichenstein shared photos from Ohio, Texas and other parts of the country.
Street photographer Julius Motol spoke with recently released inmates for his project “First Meals: This Is What Freedom Tastes Like” to recreate and photograph their first meal after leaving prison.
Scott Houston shared some photos from Estrella Jail in Phoenix, AZ.
Sean Kernan’s photos from 1977-1978 in a West Virginia prison are definitely worth a look. Kernan was interviewed as part of The Legacy of Mass Incarceration project.
Robert Gumpert shared a photo story with Everyday Incarceration that go inside the San Francisco County Jail.
Joseph Rodriguez (rollie6x6 on Instagram) went into California prisons and followed people trying to get their life back together on the outside for his “Reentry” series.
Isadora Kosofsky photo story follows two brothers in Albuquerque, New Mexico.