By James Kilgore and Vic Liu
The Nation
Writer James Kilgore and information artist Vic Liu demonstrate the improvisations and ingenuities that allow incarcerated people to experience some small human comforts.
Writer James Kilgore and information artist Vic Liu demonstrate the improvisations and ingenuities that allow incarcerated people to experience some small human comforts.
This article appears in the July 2024 issue, with the headline “Prison Innovations.”
The unforgiving, uniform structure of prison life makes it difficult for a person to hold on to their identity as an individual. Prisoner innovation is a way to reclaim control over one’s humanity. Angelo, an incarcerated artist who drew the pencil sketches shown here, writes, “If some of what’s presented here seems unimpressive, keep in mind that deprivation is a way of life in prison…. But inmates are resilient if nothing else—what’s taken today will be remade by tomorrow, and the cycle goes on and on.” Graphics are excerpted from The Warehouse, published by PM Press in June and reprinted with permission. Diagrams by Angelo, an incarcerated artist, printed in The Warehouse.
