Every year, over 650,000 people are released from state and federal prisons and back into our communities. While media often systematically brand this vast population as dangerous “ex-cons” or worse, we are rarely offered a humanized or authentic picture of their transition back to society. The reality is that formerly incarcerated individuals are fathers, mothers, students, mentors, husbands, wives, and neighbors – and so many are endeavoring to transform their lives and repair their pasts. Still, once released on parole, they face roadblocks that are difficult to transcend, from housing and employment discrimination to pursuing academic achievement to reuniting with family. But transcend is what many of them do, with the right support. My goal with this project is to give the public an alternative to commonly held beliefs about former offenders. I will tell the story of parolees who wish never to return to prison, in the hope that viewers might recalibrate their perspectives to include the humanity and familial love; the hope, earnestness, and grit; and the abrupt realities of reentry. This project is a collaboration between photographer Errol Daniels and writer Katherine Russell.
Read their stories: Ja’Quon Snell, G. Baba Eng, Jerome Wright, Leonna Rose, Mike Czora, Jamal Johnson, Leroy Twitty.
