Having read your site I thought you might be interested in photographer Luigi Gariglio’s new book, Portraits In Prison (Contrasto, 2007). The book presents bare, intimate images of incarcerated men and women in prisons across the globe- giving voice and humanity to a community often forgotten behind barbed wires and steel gates.

Gariglio, who also teaches Sociology at the University of Turin, photographs the inmates out of prison garb with clean faces. They often vastly contradict the popular idea of what a criminal should look like. By presenting his subjects as the “Average Joe”, Gariglio challenges the viewer to look beyond the crime and see these people for who they are in essence. The letters accompanying some of the images, further drive home the very fine line between these criminals and the rest of society, beautifully revealing that these people could be any one you know or pass on the street every day.

It begs the question how do these “normal people” become society’s ”inhuman monsters”?

I If you would like a copy of the book or if you have any questions, please feel free to email me.

All the Best,
Staci Smith