The US has 4.4 percent of the world's population but nearly 25 percent of he world's prisoners. This photo was shot at the Rikers Island jail complex in New York.
Lucas Foglia - "Vanessa and Lauren watering" (2014) —
The US has 4.4 percent of the world's population but nearly 25 percent of he world's prisoners. This photo was shot at the Rikers Island jail complex in New York.
Lucas Foglia and courtesy Fredericks & Freiser Gallery
"Prison Nation," an exhibition at New York's aperture foundation and a connected issue of Aperture magazine, looks at this crisis through the lens of photography.
Deborah Luster - "Levelle "Black" Tolliver (Judas)" (2012-13) —
"Prison Nation," an exhibition at New York's aperture foundation and a connected issue of Aperture magazine, looks at this crisis through the lens of photography.
Courtesy Deborah Luster and Jack Shainman Gallery, New York
Deborah Luster photographed inmates from a theater group in the largest maximum security prison in the world, the infamous Louisiana State Penitentiary.
Deborah Luster - "Earl 'Trinidad' Davis (John the Baptist)" (2012-13) —
Deborah Luster photographed inmates from a theater group in the largest maximum security prison in the world, the infamous Louisiana State Penitentiary.
Courtesy Deborah Luster and Jack Shainman Gallery, New York
The prison is also known by the name of the plantation that previously occupied its grounds, "Angola," after the home country of many of its enslaved African workers.
Deborah Luster - "Mary Bell (Anna)" (2012-13) —
The prison is also known by the name of the plantation that previously occupied its grounds, "Angola," after the home country of many of its enslaved African workers.
Courtesy Deborah Luster and Jack Shainman Gallery, New York
"Prison Nation" examines the crisis of mass incarceration through the lens of photography.
Photographer unknown - "Prison Rock Band, San Quentin State Prison" (1975) —
"Prison Nation" examines the crisis of mass incarceration through the lens of photography.
Courtesy Nigel Poor, San Quentin Archive, and Haines Gallery, San Francisco
This crisis is the subject of "<a href="index.php?page=&url=https%3A%2F%2Faperture.org%2Fexhibition%2Fprison-nation-2018%2F" target="_blank" target="_blank">Prison Nation</a>," an exhibition at New York's Aperture Foundation and a connected issue of Aperture magazine, both looking at the role of photography in creating a visual record of this reality.
Emily Kinni - "Huntsville, Texas" (2017) —
This crisis is the subject of "Prison Nation," an exhibition at New York's Aperture Foundation and a connected issue of Aperture magazine, both looking at the role of photography in creating a visual record of this reality.
© Emily Kinni
Pretrial detainees, all part of the "House Gang" (sanitation workforce), pose in the day room of their housing area at Rikers Island, 1986.
Jamel Shabazz, "House Gang" (1986) —
Pretrial detainees, all part of the "House Gang" (sanitation workforce), pose in the day room of their housing area at Rikers Island, 1986.
Courtesy Jamel Shabazz
At Walden House FOTEP (Female Offender Treatment Employment Program), a young mother holds her son in El Monte, California.
Joseph Rodriguez - "At Walden House" (2008) —
At Walden House FOTEP (Female Offender Treatment Employment Program), a young mother holds her son in El Monte, California.
Joseph Rodriguez
"One of the main reasons for this is the goal of mass incarceration, which is confinement and the inability of incarcerated people to document and record the actual conditions of prisons," contributing editor Nicole R. Fleetwood, an associate professor of American studies at Rutgers University and an expert on art's relationship to incarceration, said in a phone interview.
Chandra McCormick - "Young Man, Angola Prison" (2013) —
"One of the main reasons for this is the goal of mass incarceration, which is confinement and the inability of incarcerated people to document and record the actual conditions of prisons," contributing editor Nicole R. Fleetwood, an associate professor of American studies at Rutgers University and an expert on art's relationship to incarceration, said in a phone interview.
Courtesy Chandra McCormick
The issue features the work of a dozen photographers and writers, and "Prison Nation" is not just a reference to the scale of the problem, but also the fact that mass incarceration has created a network of public agencies and private companies that profit from the system.
Bruce Jackson - "Cummins Prison, Arkansas" (1975) —
The issue features the work of a dozen photographers and writers, and "Prison Nation" is not just a reference to the scale of the problem, but also the fact that mass incarceration has created a network of public agencies and private companies that profit from the system.
Courtesy Bruce Jackson
The series Women Prisoners was shot at the MCI Framingham (Massachusetts Correctional Institution at Framingham) between 1978 and 1985.
Jack Lueders-Booth - from the series Women Prisoners (1978) —
The series Women Prisoners was shot at the MCI Framingham (Massachusetts Correctional Institution at Framingham) between 1978 and 1985.
Courtesy the artist andGallery Kayafas, Boston
Hand-printed image transfers on prison-issued soap, and playing cards. Photograph by Joseph Hu.
Jesse Krimes - "Purgatory" (2009) —
Hand-printed image transfers on prison-issued soap, and playing cards. Photograph by Joseph Hu.
Jesse Krimes