Chandra McCormick and Keith Calhoun have been photographing life in the Louisiana State Penitentiary for 30 years. This winter, that work is finally on exhibit for the public, as part of a New Orleans art biennial. In this interview, Calhoun and McCormick talk about the conditions in the prison - nicknamed Angola, for the plantation that was formerly on the site - and how they've changed over time. When they see the inmates working in the fields, they say, it looks a lot like slavery.
During his first trip to the prison in the early 1980s, Calhoun took a photograph of a white guard on horseback, watching over black inmates working in the fields. He says, "When you look at Angola 100 years ago, when you see black people toiling in the field, it's still pretty much the same right now."
Nearly 20 years later, McCormick took a similar photo. "The work that I see the men doing and the way they're overseen, it's no different that what you see during slavery," McCormick says. "I realize that maybe prisons are needed for certain people... but I don't feel that anyone should be dehumanized."