Month: June 2014

New ‘research matchmaker’ website from asylum-network

/ carceralgeography

Asylum Network have recently announced the launch of a new website, the research matchmaker, that gives organisations that work with migrants the chance to let researchers know what research projects they would find most useful. The principle is simple: organisations go online and enter a description of the research they want completed. And then students, researchers and academics go online and offer their services for those projects. Go to this link to get started: www.asylum-network.com

The website offers a fast, easy, intuitive and free way to share research needs with researchers who are often keen to make an impact. It  also offers guidance on making a match and building a collaboration. To get started just register, create an advert and post it into our searchable website. You can provide lots of detail or just a basic outline, it is up to you.

Students, researchers and academics can also go online and create a profile, which lists their key areas of interest and expertise. Organisations that work with migrants can then search these profiles and contact the individuals quickly and securely.

The research matchmaker website offers a way to ensure that students, researchers and academics do work that matters to migrants and the organisations that work with them. But it will only work if it gets used! So please consider spending a few minutes to register and enter an advert.

 

How do U.S. states’ use of the prison compare globally? New infographic from ‘Prison Policy Initiative’

/ carceralgeography

Many thanks to Leah Sakala from Prison Policy Initiative for alerting me to their newest report. This report is the first to directly situate individual U.S. states’ incarceration practices in the global context.

The press release asks ‘how does your state compare to the international community when it comes to the use of incarceration?’ Not very well, says the new infographic and report by the Prison Policy Initiative and data artist Josh Begley.

This report, “States of Incarceration: The Global Context” recognizes that while there are important differences between how US states handle incarceration, incarceration policy in every region of the country is out of step with the rest of the world. The report and infographic draws international figures on incarceration from the International Centre for Prison Studies and state-level data from the U.S. Census Bureau.

“It is essential to focus on the incarceration practices of individual states,” said Peter Wagner, Executive Director of the Prison Policy Initiative.  “Most criminal justice policy decisions are made at the state level and the vast majority of the people locked up are locked up for violating state laws,”

“Compared to Louisiana, most U.S. states appear to have reasonable rates of incarceration, but it is disturbing to see where these ‘reasonable’ states stack up in the broader carceral landscape,” said data-artist and co-author Josh Begley.

Can Photos Of Beautiful Decay Help Us Grapple with Urgent and Current Issues in Prison Politics?

/ carceralgeography

Fascinating piece with amazing images – and commentary on the challenges of accessing carceral spaces even when they are no longer functioning as spaces of incarceration.

Prison Photography

Gas Chamber With Two Chairs, Missouri State Penitentiary, #5 (2012)

Gas Chamber With Two Chairs, Missouri State Penitentiary, #5 (2012)

Fine art photographer Lee Saloutos makes images of abandoned structures. One of his projects looks at mid-century mining structures, another project is photographs made in abandoned prisons. In terms of his aesthetic approach the two are related. Generally, I am not interested in photographs of defunct prisons, but in Saloutos’ artist statement there is an an acknowledged discord between the look of prisons (beautiful decay) and the history of prisons (brutality).

“These prisons often have a long and frightening history. The design and function of these places of confinement and punishment can be jarring, utilitarian, and brutal,” says Saloutos in his artist statement.

Saloutos has photographed in Wyoming, New Mexico, Missouri, Ohio, Pennsylvania, West Virginia, and Alcatraz. He’s got his sights on a prison in Tennessee.

His statement continues, “It is easy to see and feel the anger…

View original post 2,172 more words