The notorious Louisiana State Penitentiary (aka Angola, or "The Farm") has housed the state's worst criminals since the beginning of the 20th century. Documentary photographer Lori Waselchuk was allowed special access to the prison to photograph its successful hospice program in Grace Before Dying. Her black-and-white, close-up images capture the transformation of hardened, violent inmates into compassionate men who have given what's left of their imprisoned lives to caring for their dying cellmates.
Tulane history professor Laurence Powell's introduction provides a brief but comprehensive history of Louisiana's many abortive attempts at penal reform, when "conditions in Angola went from bad to somewhat better before plunging toward flat-out worse." His political narrative, however, can't convey the tragedy and pathos of this subject with the drama of Waselchuk's sensitive portraits. Her well-framed shots of rugged, healthy inmates gently washing the emaciated faces and fragile legs of the dying tell more than words ever can.
The inmates' hand-quilted funeral shrouds; the glaring prisoner pallbearers carrying the prison-made casket; a cement block hospice room with a sleeping patient, a fellow prisoner playing an omnichord and an armed guard in front of the steel door--all of Waselchuk's images make it clear we are all human, no matter how beat down, unlucky, violent, or doomed to "life without parole." --Bruce Jacobs, founding partner, Watermark Books & Cafe, Wichita, Kan.