At last count, there were an estimated 80,000 prisoners in isolation across the United States. ...
There are more than 1,000 prisoners in isolation in Pelican Bay alone. For 25 years, until a 2011 hunger strike prompted the Department of Corrections to change its policy, these prisoners were banned for having their photos taken. Today, they are allowed one photo (taken by a guard, in handcuffs or belly chains, no retakes) each year.
Michael Montgomery, a reporter who has been covering the California prison system for 10 years, decided to use these newly permissible photographs to explore another of California’s controversial policies—the extraordinary length of time some men spend isolated from other human beings. He spent 11 months corresponding with prisoners, interviewing families and gathering photos; the result, a collaboration between the The Center for Investigative Reporting and KQED Public Radio, is a remarkable documentation of what it’s like to be cut off from friends and family, and then to reemerge years later—in a picture.
Later this year, a federal judge will hear a class action lawsuit alleging that treatment of prisoners at Pelican Bay constitutes “cruel and unusual punishment.” ...