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Jenn Ackerman – Trapped: Mental Illness in America’s Prisons
Emerging Photographer Fund – FINALIST (number two of eleven)
The continuous withdrawal of mental health funding has turned jails and prisons across the U.S. into default mental health facilities. The system designed for security is now trapped with treating mental illness and the mentally ill are often trapped inside the system with nowhere else to go.
I left the prison everyday feeling the same way the warden and the doctors do – wanting to help these men that have nowhere else to go but feeling helpless. My intention was to produce a riveting body of work that made the viewer feel what I felt when I was inside the prison. There were days that I was extremely scared and others that I left thinking how much someone on the outside missed them. Some days, I had to remind myself that many of these men had done heinous things. There were also days when I was reminded that some of these men have faded into the system with no hope of getting out.
I saw them cry. I saw them hit themselves so hard in the head that they bled. I saw them throw their feces at the officers. I saw a world most people don’t even know exists in America.
Thus far, this project documents the Correctional Psychiatric Treatment Unit at the Kentucky State Reformatory. I chose this institution because it is regarded by many as one of the best psychiatric units in the country.
The project portrays the daily struggle inside the walls of the unit redesigned to treat mental illness and maintain the level of security required in a prison. The photos take viewers into an institution where the criminally insane are sometimes locked up in their cells for 23 hours a day with nothing to occupy their minds but their own demons.
I have an excitement for storytelling and believe it is a great honor and privilege to share the stories of people who otherwise might not be heard. I specialize in long-term, in-depth, documentary projects and believe strongly in its ability to increase social awareness. My goal is when an image can make you feel something you can no longer forget it exists.
While this is a topic that has been covered in foreign countries, we have yet to see an in-depth photo documentary on the inhumane treatment to the mentally ill in America. Thus, this story is one I am honored to tell given the access that I was granted. Throughout this past year, I balanced my time shooting stills and video. While I also believe the edited film will be powerful, I know that the still images cannot be ignored and will have a lasting impact.
See more photos and the short documentary film at http://www.jennackerman.com/trapped.
Photographs: Jenn Ackerman
Website: www.jennackerman.com
DAH…
The only “problem” I see with the one post rule, is that we will not be able to change our minds—or so it could seem… say I’m the first (or fifth) to comment on the next essay and I write a thoughtful piece about what I like or don’t about it, and after me a wiser commenter comes along and provides a more enlightened review of the work at hand… and I’m all “wow… I totally missed that…”… I will not be able to alter what I’ve already said ’cause I’ll have used my one comment already…
THODORIS…
yes, but this way you just must say what YOU really think based on your impressions and your knowledge…it surely will make you think carefully before you write…..i have not seen very many examples of where someone changed someones mind anyway…that does not happen..what happens is that two or more just dig in their heels and start getting personal….counter productive i feel…..if you have more to say later and/or want to do artistic combat with another writer, you still have what most magazines ONLY have and that is a normal blog..Dialogue…..
it was great talking to the other day and i look forward to seeing your prints…
cheers, david
Important work done with outstanding sensitivity and creativity. Well done. Thank you.
It is probably the best solution—the one post that is…
you asked for any thoughts on the subject and… well… that was mine…
It was great talking to you too… I’ll let you know when I send the print…
Night from Cyprus…
I’m very interested to see the one hit wonder in practice..it will save us all from a lot of back and forth..my immediate response was that if this is to be really fruitful it will be important to have the photographers reading / writing as much as they can, maybe that can be in the agreement loosely with being published? My instinct is to want to try to answer people’s questions if I know (or think I know something) helpful, and I think it may be frustrating not to be able to do so, but I am sure the frustration will be much less than it is now at the state of affairs and in the service of the community as a whole and the photographs, which is paramount..when do we start?
I would love the photographers to be in on the comments…but, thinking about it, photographers like Jenn, for example, who have already won awards for the same essay, probably see little advantage in discussing it. Doing so won’t benefit them in winning the EPF, so why put yourself in that position. Some of these photographers probably have little interest participating in forums, anyway.
JUst from a critiquing standpoint, just being honest with my opinions… the work is very decent, but disconnected. The essay by itself doesn’t flow very well, and as Jim said before, none of the images really stand alone or speak of the issue at hand here. Just because the photographer is close physically to her subjects, it (in my opinion) is not reflected in a gripping way that I like to feel when I look at documentary work. Toodles.
Doubt that..photogs are passionate about their work and in a forum with respectful questions, I think they’d want to be as informative as their schedules allow..but of course some will want the work to speak for itself, and that is understandable.But discussing and defending are different things of course.
To clarify, I’m not dissing the photographer. It’s just that while these essays are, perhaps, new to us, the photographer has likely been living with them and showing them around for a year or two, and may be talked out about them.
By the way, Jenn, if you are reading this, I think you are good photographer, don’t get me wrong… I just think I need to feel like I am there, that’s all.
For example – I just watched it again- Except for #1 and #16, the first and last, none of these images speaks anything about mental illness in U.S. prisons. These images could be from any institution or holding facility. Great subject though, I hope you can spend more time there… ok, I’m done.
ERICA…JIM
i always invite the photographer to speak…Alejandro did not because he has no electronic communication until june 4….i do not think that because Jenn has won other honors, she would not be willing to speak..i think she will speak…however, when i called her to double check on prison permissions, she was on vacation and seemed to want to stay there…if you think about it , the photographers speaking themselves has always been quite good…and if these photographers are answering questions or addressing issues, i think this will work out nicely….let’s please at least give it a try….not much to lose…
cheers, david
RICHARD…
i think if you look at most essays, you might think that only a few pictures literally told the whole story….if cocaine was the theme of Eugene’s “Cocaine Blue, Cocaine True” how many pictures actually showed anyone snorting coke??….most were pictures of an environment where cocaine was used, but could have been related to an entirely different subject if the title and text did not have us set up for a cocaine essay….this is one of my favorite essays, so i am not pointing out a weakness for Richards, i am just saying not every picture has to be explanatory in a literal way to the story…
cheers, david
On vacation? Wow, that must be nice. ;)
David, Mark and Jim:
What a great idea. I think it will compel us to think about the work and focus our thoughts, while eliminating the tit-for-tat that we do so well. Thanks!
Yea I sorta agree with you Richard it is more about a personal reaction to the environment than a documentary about mental fiascos. I also see it as very much a work in progress and somewhat not fully resolved, but this is what the grant is for I suppose time and money to complete at least a portion of the intended story. So at this stage it is just a collection of images………..
On a site like this a photographer should make themselves available otherwise some of us feel as if we are pissing in the wind with no direction to go but back in our faces
Jenn, a great subject, yet so hard to reveal with images. I think you have made some great headway with this piece. It’s clear that you want the viewer to feel the isolation and desperation of the subjects. But it is also clear that we can never or should never want to be in their shoes. Thank you.
There will never be a definitive story about the insane, we can only imagine what they experience. But Jenn, you have taken a point of view and done a wonderful job. I can’t say that what you have illustrated will change the system but thank you for taking us there.
Now how does this find it’s way to a public forum. All of the time spent documenting your impressions of this gap in care is without a voice if it cannot be seen by others.
DAH, how can work like Jenn’s find an outlet to make a difference? You are presenting some wonderful stories that need to be seen…to make a difference. It’s time that Burn become a voice for the issues that you allow us to see. We look and comment on the quality and content of work, but it is hollow without a wider audience.
Let’s encourage talent but when we can bring shortfalls in humanity to light, let’s broadcast!
Comment 312, if I’m lucky
Paul
Herve, I was perhaps reading too much into the first part you wrote, with less reference to the second part – it just came across as condescending. Now, in retrospect, I was at fault. I was NOT being dishonest, so please understand that. So, please accept my apology in advance.
Thankyou,
Johan
So,,,what the heck is going on here? 300 plus comments, endless blah blah blah, one comment rules? Has this grant thing made everyone go a little crazy?
I love burn, but it seems to be burning up here. Can’t we just talk about photographs, photography, without getting all weird.
DAH, I sense huge frustration. Go get a nights sleep. Take some deep breaths. Step back, take a break. I love what you have done here. No need to make any drastic changes just yet.
Love ya all. Enjoying the ride, but let’s slow down a bit here.
Jenn, again, love the work, people like you amaze me.
Gordon L.
Jenn – your essay is a psychological thriller and it is not because of the “location” nor the “subjects” – you can arise the “thrilling” factor with your photographs and it shows on your web site for the other stories.
Congratulations on being selected as a finalist!
PAUL…
yes, it would be nice to reach beyond just a photographer based audience…we have to some degree…even some of our writers here are self proclaimed non-photographers…however, to get that wider audience would require doing some things that i probably would find distasteful from a marketing standpoint…the best audiences in my mind are always small…like the New Yorker audience…about the size circulation wise of a mid-sized newspaper….250,000 or so ….reaching that many people on the web is pretty easy, but whether the web based audience is the same as a print audience is not really known….so much is being invented now on the web….but, who knows what it takes to resolve issues with stories in the press..we have discussed this at length with no real conclusions….stories like Jenn’s are always deemed important because they deal with social issues…the assumption is always that the public has a right to know and the press should inform them…what they do with that information is very difficult to quantify….
GORDON…
i will get a good nights sleep…i am not generally frustrated at all….figuring out the importance of and the monitoring of comments is the only occasional rub….when the comments go awry, some say to me “do something”…as if i can do anything….if i monitor in the traditional way, it seems like censorship….do you see the one comment rule as being a restriction??? isn’t the problem of unlimited comments that it takes us way off track and creates a lot of frustration among the writers?? most magazines are comment free under the presented material and have a blog in another place…if we have an intelligent critique under the essays and then have our Dialogue section for normal blogging where you can talk about whatever you want to talk about, why wouldn’t that work?? interested in your answer….you , for example, usually post one thought provoking comment about what you think of the work..then, i another writer says something with which you disagree, you will bounce back in for a rejoinder…but the rejoinder is just that ..a rejoinder for the sake of rejoinding (no such word)….what is wrong with just having that original comment only?? do we really learn from tit for tat??
you may have missed what i have theorized before and that is there are so many in our audience who are quite literally afraid to speak..i hear that every day in person and in private e-mails….they are afraid of being ridiculed or attacked…our comment section is not seen as a friendly place nor a place of thoughtful discussion by 99% of our readers who do not comment…..that is just the truth…if you can think of a better idea to carry on without going to this new system, i am all ears….
i am sure you have noted that the idea for one well thought out comment per reader per essay came from Jim who for sure posted more comments than anyone….
cheers, david
No problem, Johan. It just shows how words, therefore, text, can be read differently… ;-)
DAH –
It’s as good a system as any, the one comment rule. If this were a company run by hundreds it’d be a different story. It may be restrictive to some, I actually learn a lot from arguing, but it doesn’t mean that’s the way it has to be here. You guys deserve some peace-of-mind, I’d say, as much as we deserve a space to comment.
Especially since we still have it, in the appropriate place — we can carry on our tit-for-tat in the other dialogue space if we wish. No biggie.
Yesterday (in contrary to the day before yesterday) I had good wine at diner ( a great vin de Graves from France) then I had two majejuana joints, then make love with the woman of my life…. so my judgement is, this morning, tottaly positiv…but who cares….
Poor finalists…. ready to read 320 comments? Ok for 100000 dollards it’s ok…blablabla
If you decide to moderate a forum, then you have to make rules and someone has to enforce those rules. It’s easy to make rules. It’s really hard to find human beings to objectively enforce them. Kind of like the arguments anti-gun folks aim at carry-concealed laws, if you give a guy a gun (the power to censor posts), he’s eventually going to use it in a way that many observers will consider personal and subjective. And then you’ve got to set up court and try the case. My read on David is that he doesn’t want to be in that position.
Most people, while they might think freedom is a good idea, find out when they start posting in forums that they really don’t like it. What they really want is adventure with security, a box they can roam around freely in, but one to protect them from ideas with which they disagree. That’s easy when there’s a few friends sitting around David’s loft talking photography. It’s impossible when you have an open door to 100 million people.
I personally prefer the rough and tumble of uncensored forums. But you have to not take things personally to do that. You have to focus on ideas and not individuals. And our experience in the 3D world is to use personal attacks as weapons to quash those whose ideas are different than ours. You either have to be willing ignore personal attacks or you don’t want an open forum.
That tendency we have to use ad hominem attacks to get our way is responsible for all kinds of social relationship problems. The personal attack is an effective weapon, but when used against those with whom we have ongoing relationships, it’s devastating. It results in families being torn apart, divorces, children and parents alienated.
So what’s a forum owner to do? Many choose to moderate, and then arguments over the fairness of the moderation take over the forum and the forum owner’s time. So, the only real solution is to create an absolutely objective criteria. Everyone gets one post is absolutely objective. That post must address the the essay and not another poster is absolutely objective. David doesn’t have to adjudicate every decision and everyone gets to comment on the photo.
Jim..sorry…laughing…
Lovely poem but you are
in a different room, thread ….
We are all in the “BUZZ ROOM”..
Leave the essay alone…
Please…:(
New format! fill in the blanks……
The most intriguing aspect of this ______________ is the _________ _________________________ ________________________________________________________________________________. Unfortunately _______________________, but with a bit of http://etrouko.com.au/art/grant.jpg should help _________ ___________ complete this ________________ ________________________________ work
It was fun
I would not be a finalist while austin powers in in da place…
Panos, the discussion on moderating continued here. Seemed the place to respond.
So, imants, what would you suggest? I’ve heard words like “healthy,” “supportive,” “constructive.” What do these words mean? They are subjective. If I post briefly, and just say I don’t like the essay, I get shot at for being curt and dismissive. If I post at length, I get shot at for for being a prima donna and focusing attention on myself. If I reply to those who respond to my posts, I get shot at for being argumentative and obtuse.
I prefer a free for all even if one has to battle club mentality, I am sure a decision has been reached by now.
Jim,
I see, understand and take part in your view of this forum. When I was in college taking photography, my professor told us that during our class critiques, it is our duty as peers to be as brutally honest with one another’s work. It made us all pay attention to the fact that it wasn’t about the photographer, but more so the work. As a photographer, it disallowed me from becoming too big headed about my own images, the ones I thought were really good… and made me concentrate on the work itself. I agree that if praise is warranted, so be it. But a critique is a critique, and should be carried out honestly and without the perveriable cherry on top.
JIM…IMANTS…ALL
it seems the one post per essay per person might work…if not, we go back to free for all…surely, worth a try…self moderated….and still only one mouse click away from total free for all over under Dialogue…the advantages will outweigh the disadvantages i imagine…we will see….i did not have time to actually count, but a quick skim of the comments under this essay by Jenn i think shows that about 20% of the comments actually had anything to do with her essay or her work…
i also think limiting the comments to the work of the photographer published will bring out some heretofore silent readers…i do not know this, but i am guessing this based on personal conversations with and the e-mails i receive from the “silent majority”….
please know that i went against the advice of absolutely everyone in the biz , both print and online editors, to have comments at all on BURN…..so, we can either prove them wrong or prove them right….your choice entirely….
cheers, david
THANK YOU JENN ACKERMAN ,
TO ALL,
PLEASE proceed to aisle 2 BUZZ under Dialogue :
EPF -Finalists DEBATES, hot links,birthdays, exhibitions …unlimited posting !!!
LET’S give it a TRY !!! Good luck !
P.S DRINKS ON ME …
My stupid opinion is to leave things here as they have been, from the beginning. Placing any limits on posting comments goes against the grain of BURN, as I understand it.
I’m not sure it will bring out more posters, but it will keep the posts focused.
David’s such a nice guy, though, that once it goes off course the first time, as it will, he’ll just let it go! ;)
What’s the photographer going to do…….
Make the initial statement and then shutup shop?
Respond to posters that have no right of reply?
or
sit back and chuckle while sun bathing in the nude
I’m breaking the one comment rule. BURN is a work in progress–still. Perhaps a healthy reminder is in order so that content can stay on track. In some ways I get a giggle out of some of the volleys but this “room” should and must concentrate on material presented, even with the occasional ethical wanderings that have a place in the dialog. Maybe there should be a “Sparring Room” to move or guide off topic threads. If I want to see a train wreck I’ll know where to go.
Until then let’s just play nice.
Over and out.
To be fair, I doubt our comments are very important to many of these finalists. They are, so far, not beginners. And in the case of Jenn, has already won a major award for the same essay. And, some of these may not be front burner projects, just ones they hope to get back to. And, vacations are important.
STOOP…
let’s try it once and see what happens….
i am not being very successful in explaining that there are absolutely NO LIMITS to placing comments….ok, one more time…NO LIMITS…..it is only the location of these comments that changes…so , let’s try one comment per person under the essay about the essay…..you can write whatever you want under Dialogue…
one of the problems here is that you and others have no idea how many private e-mails i get when things here go “off”…it is against my nature not to respond to private e-mails….most of these concern the nature of comments on BURN….so, there is one whole conversation going on here at BURN and another whole conversation going on in my private e-mails, late night phone calls etc etc etc….the readers here hold me personally responsible for the decorum of our blog….
it frankly takes my time away from the more important work of editing, mentoring , finding new talent, and looking for commissioned work for many of you…
what would you rather have Stoop , a free for all here or me trying to find you just the right sponsor for your work???
cheers, david
PAUL…
what you suggest is what we already have…….there is and always has been a “sparring room”..Dialogue
JIM…
it is not about it being important to the photographer published ..either finalist or in normal publishing of the work….it is about having something clear and thoughtful to read for those who either have never been to BURN or who automatically do not read the comments because they know an often senseless war is going on…
cheers, david
my 1 comment for the day:
NEXT EPF FINALIST ESSAY PLEASE! :)))
BB
p.s. as a photographer who has published an essay here and who tried to center the conversation during that time towards the work and to keep a balanced perspective on all the conversations, and at the time, that was the longest thread (ironically, i NEVER get upset when my work is criticized as i find all conversation fruitful vis-a-vis work, even tributary or irrelevant comments, it all forms the same essential dialog: how to read work, how to engage with work, how to question, above all, your own ideas/reactions…, the weird thing is i only react when others are criticized–oldest brother syndrome), i think that the involvement of the photographer is key…but, this is a clearly personal decision and can’t be mandated….i think the original idea for burn (in private conversations dah and i had) was that it might be like a Photographic version of The Parisian Review: interactive dialog between artist and reader…that is what I tried to create when Bones was published and hope to do again when i publish an written-essay with a photo later this summer, but it only depends on what happens….i say, give the 1 comment/day a try…it’ll save me, alot of writing time ;))))…but it will keep the work focused…the only thought might be that if photographers participated, how then to follow up immediately….anyway, what’s wrong with trying…Burn is an organic/evolving thing anyway….let’s see what happens and then switch to the Dialogue dance floor…
now, bring on new work :))
BOB BLACK…
Jenn has been up for less than 2 days…..should we cut her short just because we have so many comments??
Thus( I like that word) with the one comment rule there will be no interaction between the posting photographer and the viewers just a bunch of comments…………..geez a good bun fight between a posting photographer and the viewers is a worthwhile read in my books
David ….
no, sorry…i havent been looking every day, so i didnt know how long Jenn’s work has been up….seemed like a long time, i imagine an indication of the thread of words. i wont suggest again.
that you and others have no idea how many private e-mails i get when things here go “off”…
———————————-
Maybe it’s where people should be given the one (e-mail) only rule?
Seriously, people should know better and not make constant demands on your time, unless instigated by you.
Thanks for clarifying, DUH, sometimes it takes me a stupidly long time to understand. Now I get it and am on board for the new way.
Ok, so here’s my one post on this work.
There are some moving images in this story, but for me they seem isolated amongst the rest . Jenn is a great photographer, of that there is no doubt, but if she set out to produce a “riveting body of work that made the viewer feel what I felt when I was inside the prison.” Then I think she failed in my opinion.
I’m full of admiration for her in getting access to this institution and getting images of any sort.
What I’d like to know is will the publication of this essay change the mental health funding situation in any way? Will the essay help to bring about change?