1966
“Parker Escape Attempt.”
Image: San Quentin Prison courtesy of Nigel Poor
Located on a small peninsula north of San Francisco, San Quentin State Prison has housed prisoners since 1852, making it the oldest penitentiary in the state of California. Today, it is crowded with 3,952 inmates, far above its design capacity of 3,082.
In 2011, California State University professor Nigel Poor began teaching a history of photography course to San Quentin inmates. Because the prisoners were not allowed cameras, Poor printed out copies of famous photos with wide borders and asked her students to write their thoughts and analyses in the margins, then expand those into creative narratives or personal writing. She called this technique “archive mapping.” Read more…
