2.3 Million Prison Uniforms

Published January 17, 2009 @ 11:51AM PT

In his work, American artist Chris Jordan aims to create a visual representation of the shocking, disturbing excess of our world. He makes beautiful images about the huge numbers we often tend to ignore, and much of his works focuses on social issues - addiction, waste, justice and more. In the image above, he created an image of 2.3 million prison uniforms, one for each American prisoner in 2005 (the number is higher now).

The piece above is a detail, you can see the full size of the five-panel print below. In the print, each uniform is the size of a nickel on its side. To show 2.3 million with any detail, the artist had to make five panels 25 feet by 10 feet.

In a 2008 Ted Talk, Jordan says:

"America has the largest percentage of its population in prison of any country on Earth... One out of four humans in prison are Americans in prison in our country."

Two point three million is a hard number to wrap your head around.

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Comments (16)

Volunteers might be able to assist non-violent prisoners in re-entering society.

Please stop the death penalty. I'm ashamed that my country still kills prisoners.

2.3 million prisoners...unbelievable! How many of them are there because of drugs, white collar crime, theft, etc.?

Posted by Barry Halgrimson on 01/17/2009 @ 12:04PM PT
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If there are 2.3 million people that have broken laws that risk our safety as American people, then 2.3 million people should be in jail. But when many of those people are there for non-violent offenses such as growing some medical marijuana, selling it to sick friends in need, or using one's body for consensual sexual profit, there is a distortion of how our justice system should work. For every policeman or criminal justice agent who is busy arresting the guy next door for growing marijuana, there is one less person available to track down the guy that robbed the house across the street.
Once we have narrowed down the prison population to just the people that should be there, we'd be able to use our funds to better rehabilitate the prisoners. Turn them into citizens that will make a contribution to society not ones who will just be coming back through the revolving door in a few months.

Posted by Chris Ferry on 01/17/2009 @ 01:29PM PT
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The USA is in the Prison business and this shouldn't come as a surprise..GDP..Gross Domestic Product..there has to be a better way??

Posted by leatrice brantley on 01/17/2009 @ 01:54PM PT
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The ridiculous war on drugs has contorted the Land of the Free into the Home of the Prison. And today, America sports the highest rate of incarceration in the world. Whoopie.

The drug war is great for anyone latched onto the drug-war teet -- ask a drug cop, DEA agent, prison contractor, probation officer, parole officer, drug counselor, drug-tester, D.A.R.E. officer, Plan Colombia recipient (Conn. helicopter manufacturer, Roundup herbicide manufacturer), the recipient of anti-drug advertising money (TV, radio, billboard companies, magazines, newspapers), the Ad Council, prison guards, the toilet paper supplier to prisons, the city council members and village trustees who can build a new police station without raising taxes by using confiscated drug money (local government gets half the dough), drug court personnel, the drug prosecutor, the drug public defender, the clerk, the bailiff, the court reporter, the judge...

"Let's get tough on crime and build more drug prisons...," the drug-war leaches say. A prison in every pot and two jailbirds in every pan.

Or instead, we could LEGALIZE, control and regulate drugs.

Drugs and drug commerce are too dangerous to continue to allow gangs to regulate and control, as drug prohibition dictates by definition.

Fight gangs, guns, crime, PRISONS and idiocy --

END THE DRUG WAR.

Posted by James E. Gierach on 01/17/2009 @ 02:02PM PT
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END THE DRUG WAR.
I'll take the end of one and begin mine with it.
It seems simple to me;1. Science shows marijuana to be far less harmful than Alcohol or Tobacco.2. If it were taxed up the yang like Alcohol and sold in a controlled environment (Bud Stores, or Bud and Liqour Stores) we could easily make up some of the economic losses.3. Growing it commercially would create jobs and help economy starved farmers as well.4. Innocent people wouldn't be charged for petty things, thus costing them money and putting them into further economic recession.5. We would take the power back from the Drug Dealers who commit other crimes than just supplying of drugs.
In all directions, the Legalization would be grand for the people of our beloved country, and those that don't partake in the Ganja, they just reap all the financial benifits that pour from the ending of its prohibition.
Just thinking of the things that could be done helps restore my faith in this countries morals and ethics. To allow its people to be free from persicution...

Posted by Mike Morgan on 01/17/2009 @ 03:53PM PT
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Estimates on false convictions based upon quantitative studies range from 3 to 15%. That means that between 69,000 and 345,000 inmates are incarcerated for crimes they didn't commit. If one assumes that in each case a crime was actually committed, a like number of culpable individuals have escaped the consequences for their actions. Worse, yet, the quantative research is based largely upon what we know from DNA exonerations, which have focused upon the most serious crimes of rape and murder. If we can't get these prosecutions right, what kind of accuracy rates can we expect from lesser crimes, particularly those that are often resolved through plea bargains, that is, bargains where the accused might not have access to competent counsel or to bail, and thus feels trapped into copping a plea. What happens to the deterrent effect of punishment when its imposition becomes so capricious? More broadly, what happens to respect for law under such circumstances? We now know, thanks to rigorous research what factors figure into false convictions, just as we know the high cost we pay for treating the mentally ill and recreatonal drug users as criminals. So we all know better. The real criminal act is our failure to act to reform our self-defeating approach.

Posted by william newmiller on 01/17/2009 @ 06:27PM PT
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Is it really that bad to have so many prisoners? What would the former Soviet Union have done with all these prisoners? What would the Saudi Arabian government do? What would the Chinese government do? Are we not a more enlightened and benevolent society, and these prisoners are proof. ...or do we still have something to learn.

Posted by Chuck Reynolds on 01/18/2009 @ 01:55AM PT
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So Chuck, are you really suggesting we should be proud of the fact that we don't kill more of our prisoners? That there is a social benefit to having high numbers of incarcerated people? That imprisoning great numbers of people is a sign of enlightenment? Or am I missing an intended irony in your comment, and if that's the case, please excuse me. In the meantime, let me say it as Steve Martin might say, "Excuse me."

Posted by william newmiller on 01/18/2009 @ 07:19AM PT
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William, please tell me you didn't miss the greater point that other countries might have instituted a "purge" policy in order to thin their inmate populations.

No, we shouldn't have this many prisoners incarcerated across the country but it seems to me we have 2 problems...the first being ridiculous mandatory minimums for drug convictions and lengthy terms for white collar crimes. The second is clearly societal and we need to look inward and address the problems that are contributing to elevated crime rates. Where is the sense of personal responsibility in this country? What is happening to our families to have so many of them split apart? Why aren't we more involved with our children in order to know what they're doing and when they are straying down a wrong path? Why are convicted violent offenders being released (often early) only to be reincarcerated for committing an even more heinous crime?

I could go on and on.....

Posted by Nancy Rawlinson on 01/18/2009 @ 04:59PM PT
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According to an Amnesty International survey of the 59 countries that continue to retain capital punishment, "only 24 are known to have carried out executions in 2007. Eighty eight percent of all known executions took place in five countries: China, Iran, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and the USA." According to Wikipedia, most of these executions took place in China, which could have executed as many as 5000. As reprehensible as that number is, it does not come close to justifying America's incarceration rate relative to China's.

Of course you're right, Nancy, about the importance of personal responsibility and the value of family support. Those who study recidivism note that inmates who have strong family support are far more likely not only to avoid reincarceration, but more likely to assume personal responsibility. Yet our system, which includes those ridiculous minimums you mention, also does much to break bonds that inmates have with their families. Simple phone calls become problematic with charges that are often 10 times the tariff we pay for normal phone calls. Prisoners find themselves transferred to facilities far from loved ones, often to other states. Rules for visiting are sometimes arbitrarily restrictive.

We could both go on and on.

Posted by william newmiller on 01/18/2009 @ 07:00PM PT
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free the marijuana prisoners of war (PoW) of the drug war the 13 marijuana colonies (medical/decriminalized) states will win their independence just like america did.

Posted by brian orozco on 01/19/2009 @ 11:29AM PT
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i am a 47 year old (young) addict in recovery. today i was informed that because of my past (i have been clean from all chemicals for over 7 years, and no criminal activity at all) i was denied employment through an agency. i am not denying my past, in fact i was honest. the problem is this a discussion was held with out my being present, concerning a background check. mind you the background check was never performed. and i was judged not suitable for employment. what i find is amazing is this; i worked for a temp agency then for the Genie industries and both places required background checks. todays world is not just about prejudice regarding color, but about many many issues, while this instance is a let down and a setback for me and my family, it is ironic that when a person is honest and straightforward in an effort to move forward in life they are still held back. the feeling i am left with is i will not disclose my past and let the chips fall where they may. i will continue but i am feeling like a second class person because of my disease i will not allow it to be a disability.

Posted by kevin ralls on 01/19/2009 @ 01:14PM PT
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Attorney General Nominee is a fervent drug warrior and gun grabber. I have little hope for change here. What's common sense to us is money out of pocket for the Police, Prison, Prosecutor Industrial Complex.

10% of California's budget is for prisons, up from 2% when Jerry Brown was governor.

Cops should be fighting crime. Not protecting markets for Big Pharma and raising revenue for their municipalities.

Posted by Steve Redlich on 01/19/2009 @ 04:31PM PT
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It is time for us to start facing reality. It is necessary to eliminate 'mandatory minimums.' It is also time to review parole, as well as policies and sentencing for victimless crime. No sane, sensible, society of justice has statistics like these. Rev. Bookburn - Radio Volta

Posted by Rev Bookburn on 01/20/2009 @ 08:11PM PT
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I'm hoping for some fairly quick reform on the prison/sentencing front. I understand that there are a couple of things that COULD happen fairly quickly. The Second Chance Act allows for "up to a year" for halfway house/home confinement. Right now, they are pretty much only allowing 6 months. The BOP is part of the Executive branch, so the President can get them to start increasing the amount of time there. Also, the "good time" policy can be changed by degree rather than law. Now's the time to let them know that these things make sense. Check with Fedcure.org on these things. If they instituted both of these things it would put me out of here right away.-Zvi Baranoff, Jesup GA Federal Marijuana Prisoner

Posted by Barbara McSpadden on 01/23/2009 @ 05:30AM PT
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Free the Prisoners!
Action Alert: FedCURE's 100,000 Letter Writing Campaign Support FedCURE's 100,000 Letter Writing Campaign to the United States Sentencing Commission. Now! Action: Write a letter to the United States Sentencing Commission supporting FedCURE's public comment to amend the Sentencing Guidelines to incorporate a hybrid system of parole and good time allowances. Write a Letter - click here http://www.fedcure.org/information/FedCURE100kLetterWriting.shtml

Posted by Barbara McSpadden on 01/29/2009 @ 07:07AM PT
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Matt has worked and volunteered in various capacities in criminal justice reform for several years. When he's not blogging, he works as the Online Communications Manager at the Innocence Project. Views expressed here are Matt's, and don't represent the positions of the Innocence Project.