Compiled by the El Reportero’s staff
The National Park Service is pleased to announce the return of the award-winning “PRISONERS OF AGE” exhibition from photographer Ron Levine and designers Michael Wou and Russel Volckmann to Alcatraz Island now through December 2015. This exhibit marks the next in a series on Alcatraz that focuses on aspects of crime and punishment, incarceration, freedom and social justice.
“PRISONERS OF AGE” is an evocative series of photographs and chronicles of elderly men and women, taken over a period of 18 years, at prisons and prison-wards for geriatric offenders in the United States and Canada. Prisoners of age comprise the fastest growing age group in the United States. One-in-ten inmates is 55 or older.
A decade ago, that was one-in-twenty. Existing prison space is in serious decline and medical costs are soaring. Incarcerating geriatric men and women in prison is becoming prohibitively expensive- up to 9 times the cost of a younger inmate.
As Federal and State prisons begin to look more like high security nursing homes, the people who manage North America’s prison system worry about how to handle the imminent explosion in the geriatric population. Through photography and interviews, “PRISONERS OF AGE” offers a microcosmic glimpse of what lies ahead in this new millennium.
The exhibition features 60 larger than life photographs and revealing narratives from conversations with the inmates, guards and prison officials. The exhibition is designed by Michael Wou and Russell Volckmann.
The exhibit is displayed in the New Industries Building through December 2015 and will be open to the public visiting Alcatraz Island during daytime hours for no extra charge. Exhibit hours are 10:00am to 2:00pm. For additional information, please call NPS Alcatraz at 415-561-4900.
StudioSoad present its fall SF Open Studios 2015
Lots art for sale. Don’t let your wall be empty or with crap. We have the finest art by the finest artist in the city. Friday, Oct. 30, 6-9 p.m., Saturday, Oct. 31, Sunday, Nov. 1, at 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. At Arc Studios & Gallery, Beyond the Gallery Wall, StudioSoad Arc Studio #101, at 1246 Folsom Street, San Francisco, between 8th & 9th Streets SOMA.
