Photo Credit: Mae Ryan
In the spring of 2013, photo and video journalist Mae Ryan walked into two women's correctional facilities in California"home of the second-largest prison population in America" with a camera and a desire to get behind the numbers. On assignment for Southern California Public Radio KPCC, Ryan and reporter Deepa Fernandes had "the idea to look into how young children were dealt with in the prison system," Ryan told me. "I wanted to shoot video, but we didn't get permission from the prison system, so we decided to make it into a photo series. It's really hard to work on things like this, especially in California."
The resulting series, "Pregnant in Prison," portrays the heartbreak and hope of several women dealing with pregnancy and early motherhood behind bars. Ryan's photographs are as sensitive as they are stark and unsentimental. Through intimate portraiture and surprising juxtaposition, she captures the contours of the women's deep personal conflicts.
[Link:http://www.ofnotemagazine.org/2015/01/21/mae-ryans-pregnant-in-prison/ ]
