Pete Brook

WHO

I am not a photographer.

I stick to looking and commenting.

I work as a freelance writer.

WHERE

I live in Portland, Oregon. Originally from Lancashire, England.

WHY PRISONS?

I believe the United States needs to pursue large-scale prison and sentencing reform.

We must stop warehousing people and be creative with rehabilitation. Prisons in the US are socially and economically unsustainable. As they exist, prisons are a liability. Often discussions on prison issues are framed incorrectly. Sometimes prisons are ignored. Problems also exist in other countries.

WHY PHOTOGRAPHY?

Cameras and their operators function in recording, and to some degree, interpreting the stories of (and within) prison systems. How varied is the imagery?

If a camera is within prison walls we should always be asking; How did it get there? What are/were the motives? What are the responses? What social and political powers are at play in a photograph’s manufacture? And, how is knowledge, related to those powers, constructed?

Prison Photography also concerns itself with civil liberties, ethics and social justice as they relate to photography and photojournalism.