From 1979–81, I was a California Art Council Artist-in-Residence in San Francisco County Jail, teaching photography to men incarcerated in the jail located in San Bruno. It was the first time I set foot in a jail and offered my first glimpse into the impact of mass incarceration on the lives of the mostly Black and brown prisoners I would see and work with every day. It would be the start of my 40-year career as a portrait/documentary photographer and as the founder and Executive Director of a non-profit organization dedicated to empowering individuals, families, and youth affected by incarceration.
County Jail #3 in San Bruno was built in 1934 but was closed in 2006 before eventually undergoing demolition in 2012. The old San Bruno jail was the oldest operating county jail west of the Mississippi River until its closure in 2006. When it was originally constructed, it replaced the outdated Ingleside Jail, which dated from 1876. The mostly tier-structured jail was replaced in by the “modernized” direct supervision facilities, which included an open dorm-style design. (Note the dorm photos in this series were for “trustees” and “workers,” not mainline prisoners. Most prisoners remained housed in cells arranged down a long tier).
The photographs in this series are printed in black and white as 16 x 20-inch and 20 x 20-inch prints.
