>PRISON

gallery

Bars, barbed wire, long corridors, cells. Words evoking anxiety, isolation, fear, taboo but also keen curiosity. What's life "in the jug like"?

The prison topic consists of two photographic essays: The Men Stockade from 1996, and the Detached Dept. of the Women's Penitentiary in the House of St. Charles Boromei, from 1998, both located in Prague. Thanks to the prison's Warden, and the pedagogical and sociological section support, without whose help this visual testimony would not exist.

I tried to capture the daily routine of the prisoner's life as well as to probe their feelings and experiences. The focus is on those for whom work is a way out of isolation and anxiety. The prisoner's life behind bars thus resembles those who live on the outside in freedom, except for the constraints imposed by incarceration: their movements are closely guarded and their work space limited.

© Marian Benes

The Women's Penitentiary series won the 2nd prize in the Czech Press Photo '97 competition; Everyday Life - Series Category

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PRISON \| PRAGUE 1996, 1997
	gallery Bars, barbed wire, long corridors, cells. Words evoking anxiety, isolation, fear, taboo but also keen curiosity. What's life "in the jug like"? The prison topic consists of two photographic essays: The Men Stockade from 1996, and the Detached Dept. of the Women's Penitentiary in the House of St. Charles Boromei, from 1998, both located in Prague. Thanks to the prison's Warden, and the pedagogical and sociological section support, without whose help this visual testimony would not exist. I tried to capture the daily routine of the prisoner's life as well as to probe their feelings and experiences. The focus is on those for whom work is a way out of isolation and anxiety. The prisoner's life behind bars thus resembles those who live on the outside in freedom, except for the constraints imposed by incarceration: their movements are closely guarded and their work space limited. © Marian Benes The Women's Penitentiary series won the 2nd prize in the Czech Press Photo '97 competition; Everyday Life - Series Category
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PRISON | PRAGUE 1996, 1997