“ Every aspect of modern life is documented on Instagram—people photograph their guns and stolen cash, their horrific drug abuse episodes, and their attendance at funerals. People expand their “personal brands” through Instagram, they document their...

Every aspect of modern life is documented on Instagram—people photograph their guns and stolen cash, their horrific drug abuse episodes, and their attendance at funerals. People expand their “personal brands” through Instagram, they document their consumption of luxury goods, they even use the app to sell sizzurp. Just about the only images missing from Instagram are photos of the insides of America’s prisons.

Smart phones aren’t allowed inside penal institutions, and most of the time the only cameras that get access to such places belong to reality TV shows approved by prison authorities. The closest Instagram comes to the prison-industrial complex is selfies young women have taken in parking lots, in cars, in bathroom mirrors having just done their hair—shots hashtagged with the facilities they’re about to visit (#rikers or #sanquentin) and sometimes also with what they’re wearing (#michaelkors) or how they’re feeling (#tooearlyforthis).

Prison Visit Instagram (via Vice)

10 years ago

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  1. hollybailey posted this

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audiovision:

All of these photos were taken in prison.

At The Community Prisoner Mother Program in Pomona a select group of low level offenders can live with their young children until the child turns seven years old.

In 2011 and 2012, 233 inmates in California’s prison system gave birth while serving their sentences.

In most cases, the newborns went to live with relatives while the women were in prison, but some women had the opportunity to live with their children behind bars.

Learn more about the last prisoner-baby program in California and how the penal system handles these new mothers on KPCC’s Pregnant In Prison special coverage.

10 years ago 1,000 notes
benlowy: “ Brooklyn, NY | December 18, 2012 This is my son Mateo. Photography is how I provide for him, clothe him, put him in school. Photography is my passion, my calling, and my means of livelihood. Now Instagram and Facebook want to take my hard...

benlowy:

Brooklyn, NY | December 18, 2012 This is my son Mateo. Photography is how I provide for him, clothe him, put him in school. Photography is my passion, my calling, and my means of livelihood. Now Instagram and Facebook want to take my hard earned imagery, and use it to generate income for themselves.
What they have done is signal the end and failure of what could have been a revolutionary social media platform for visual communication.
So for now, I must take a step back and reassess my place on Instagram. (at Taaffe Lofts)

11 years ago 1,287 notes

The large metal cages are lined up in two rows under the blistering Central Valley sun just outside the prison walls. For maximum security inmates here, this is what counts as outdoor space.

Some inmates are placed in the cages with cellmates, but most are alone. One passes the time by pacing back and forth. Another does push-ups with the help of two prosthetic legs. Two men in adjacent cages discuss the Oakland Raiders and the San Francisco 49ers.

The inmates in this part of Corcoran State Prison — known as the Security Housing Unit, or SHU — are considered some of the most dangerous in California’s prison system. Some are separated from the general population because of violent infractions such as attacking a guard; others are deemed members of prison gangs.

The Security Housing Unit at Corcoran State Prison (Photos by Barbara Davidson/LA Times)

10 years ago 4 notes
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