I am still accepting photo submissions for the Picturing a World without Prisons project until October 22nd. So please consider submitting your vision.

Below is a collaborative vision created by me, Sarah Jane Rhee and her 9 year old daughter Cadence.

It was Victor Hugo who said: “He who opens a school door closes a prison.” It is therefore surreal to live in Chicago in 2013 where we just experienced the single largest mass closure of schools in American history. Rahm Emanuel & his hand-picked school board shuttered 49 schools displacing over 30,000 mostly black children. If we believe Hugo, this means that Chicago has opened the door to 50 new prisons.

So when we envision a world without prisons, we think of children reading piles of books for pleasure. We think of them getting lost in imaginary lands dreaming of all of the adventures they’ll have. A world without prisons is one where there is no ceiling placed on children’s imaginations… It’s a world where we close the doors of prisons and open ones to new schools. Preferably schools near water & sand…

photo by Sarah Jane Rhee (concept by me & Cadence)

Join the discussion and submit your vision by October 22.