Incarceration
The U.S. has the highest incarceration rate in the world with 2.3 million people held in jails and prisons and millions more under official state supervision.
Please click here or on the image below to link to my project examining the physical spaces that make up the criminal justice system, beginning with the courts.
Carceral Architecture
Ongoing examination of the trappings and infrastructure of the criminal justice system.
The juvenile court and detention system in Memphis has repeatedly been placed under supervision by the U.S. Department of Justice. I photographed the court’s Judge Dan Michael and affected youth for a feature in The Intercept titled “Do Black Kids Matter In Memphis?” Click below for story link at The Intercept and Next City.
In 2017 the state of Arkansas rushed to execute 8 men in 10 days as the state’s supply of the lethal injection drug midazolam neared expiration. Located outside Gould, Arkansas and surrounded by an inmate-run farm, the death row at Cummins Correction Unit is home to the state’s execution chamber and is the largest employer in the county. I visited Gould to document the effect of the situation on local residents and to document life in the shadow of the death house:
I am grateful for the trust and relationships that allow me to document. Protestors occupied the headquarters of private prison company CoreCivic (formerly Corrections Corporation of America) in a predawn action, shutting down the Nashville-based corporation's office building for the day.
At least 19 protestors were arrested by police, some of whom had locked themselves to cement-filled barrels to block parking garage entrances to the office. Others chained themselves together with sections of pipe, while one demonstrator swung atop a 30-foot tripod.
The company is the second largest private corrections company in the U.S. managing more than 65 state and federal detention facilities with a capacity of more than 90,000 beds and annual revenue approaching $2 billion. Below are photos from the occupation:
