Thursday, September 27, 2012

Incarceration


When a crime has been committed people want justice, so the criminal is caught and put to jail for the wrong that was done and that is the end of it. What people do not realize is what happens to the convicted person after jail time. What about the family that is left behind when a mother is incarcerated? How do inmates who have seen the error of their ways transition out of the system? Dana Ullman, a freelance photographer from New York, opened the eyes of her viewers in her photos of women after they were released from prison. Her photographs tell a story of the women that were institutionalized and their difficulty in transitioning out of prison.
In picture two can see a woman returning home after what seemed like a difficult day by the amount of worry and utter defeat in the woman’s face.  One can see the melancholy facial expression and the tired body language from a possible long day of rejection after rejection from employers. Without a job it is impossible for this woman to provide for herself which could possibly cause her to return to crime ultimately getting her arrested again. In picture four a woman is standing in front of a store looking as if overwhelmed or confused as of what she should do. This could have been from being institutionalized at a young age when she had not yet developed shopping skills.
Being institutionalized hinders many women from functioning like everyone else outside of prison like finding a job or being able to shop for the necessities for their children. People may think that if the consequences are too great then the criminal shouldn't have done the crime in the first place. What people may also be unaware of is that people can get arrested for something as small as property and drug crimes. So is this really justice if the innocent is also punished.


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