According to some estimates, there are currently 25,000 individuals living in solitary confinement in America’s prison system. Many have been there for years. The Tamms supermax federal prison in Illinois has allowed a new program that lets inmates receive custom photos that they can keep in their cells. As part of the “Photo Requests from Solitary” project, requested images from inmates are posted online. Photographers can then view the requests, create the images and send them to the prisoners. This weekend, the images will go on display at the PhotovilleNYC Exhibit, but the event’s organizers have gone ahead and created an online gallery of some of the moving images, like the one below (from photographers Laurie Jo Reynolds and Chris X). The inmate said,
“I would like my own picture done with an alternate background from the IDOC picture. I have no pictures of myself to give my friends and family. This would mean a great deal to me… If you can place my picture on another background. Nothing too much please. Something simple like a blue sky with clouds or a sunset in the distance would be fine.”