Leaving prison, and entering a very different world—with very little support – 48 hills

The multimedia project Facing Life portrays the experiences of people who grew up in traumatic environments, went to prison as young adults, and came out 20 to 40 years later to find a world that has changed beyond recognition. For the last three years, photographer Brandon Tauszik and journalist Pendarvis Harshaw worked to document the lives of eight former lifers in their process of reentering society, after having spent decades in California prisons. Melvin Smith, who served 33 years in prison, outside his childhood home in Compton, California. Image: Brandon Tauszik At the heart of this project lies one question: What support is there for people coming out of prison to ensure their successful reentry into society?  Today there are 35,000 people serving life sentences in California, roughly one-third of the state’s total prison population. Two-thirds of them are Black and Brown. Research shows that the vast majority of people serving long-term sentences for violent crimes have experienced traumatic events at some point in their lifetimes before their incarceration. In Facing Life, Pendarvis and Brandon manage to deconstruct the myth that the incarcerated person is inherently different from the rest of us.  Through the use of cinemagraphs—subtly moving images—and a…
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