Due to various budget cuts and loss of funding in the prison system, there are lots of mentally-ill inmates that have to serve their time in facilities that really aren't equipped or sufficiently trained to accommodate them. Minnesota-based photographer Jenn Ackerman spent months in a medium security facility in Kentucky where 25% of the prison population suffers from some sort of mental illness. Ackerman's black-and-white photos show the daily struggle that the prison staff face as well as the toll that the environment takes on the inmates who should be receiving treatment in specialized facilities.
Ackerman won an Emmy for the short film below that she produced as a part of the Trappedprison project:
[via PetaPixel]
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