A Look at Local Prisons

By Kevin Robinson in Miscellaneous on May 30, 2008 3:56PM

Wednesday night's shanking at Cook County jail got us wondering: what's like to be in the pokey at 26th and California?

We didn't have to look too hard to find out. Turns out the Cook County Sherrif's website graciously offers visitors a "virtual tour" of the county jail. And it's ... really effing depressing. And if having a look around the county jail isn't enough to satisfy your voyeuristic urges, there's cookcojail.com, brought to you by Jail Media, "a media company specializing in providing information about jails and prisons. We are the leading media company in this space offering unique advertising opportunities for companies interested in local advertising." Covering everything from leisure time to meals, how to get along with other inmates and how to get time off for good behavior, cookcojail.com is an up close look at local incarceration, from the people who have experienced it first hand.

While the county sheriff and the good folks at Jail Media have given us a stark look at local imprisonment, photographer Richard Ross brings us a different view of prison with his new book, Architecture of Authority, a visual examination of the power of institutional infrastructure and its ability to exert power and authority over the individual.

Image via Cook County Sheriff