Crime and punishment in different countries

What is it like to be a prisoner in Uganda? How does this compare to a prison in the USA? And in France or Colombia? Dutch photographer Jan Bunning is interested in the question of how people relate to crimes and how they endure punishment.

Before becoming a photographer, Bunning studied history, and most of all he was interested in the slow, structured development of systems, rather than individual highlights. Before plunging into the world of criminal law, he spent several years filming bureaucrats around the world and comparing civil servants on five continents. Having finished studying the executive branch of government, he decided to take up the judicial branch, the one that passes sentences in criminal cases.

(8 photos in total)

France. Centre Penitentiaire de Lille-Annoeullin is a prison with different levels of security. In the corner of the yard lies J. M., a member of the Corsican gang "Sea Breeze". He had already served 14 years before being sentenced to 15 years for murder in 2007.

In collaboration with the Max Planck German Institute of Foreign and International Criminal Law in Freiburg, Bunning decided to photograph in Uganda, France, the USA and Colombia — mixed-type states that operate on the basis of civil, common law and their derivatives. He tried to work in countries with Sharia law and in communist states, but was unable to get access to the shooting objects he needed in Saudi Arabia and China.

Colombia. San Diego Women's Prison with a medium degree of isolation of prisoners in Cartagena. Rosa (left) was sentenced to 10 years for criminal conspiracy. Eliana (right) is being investigated on suspicion of attempted extortion. She's been here for seven months. The women share this cell with ten other prisoners.

Paperwork and court hearings, as a rule, look pretty boring, and it is almost impossible to bring a camera into prison. Therefore, Bunning first of all determined how accessible the objects for filming were in order to make convincing shots in different countries.

Uganda. The Kampala High Court sits with Judge Benjamin Kabiito at its head.

The photographer had to wait two years to gain access to two prisons in France. He was eventually allowed to visit two more. Similar difficulties awaited Bunning on the way to filming in prisons in Colombia and the USA. In Uganda, he was quickly given access to ten prisons, much faster than in other countries.

USA. The Putnam County Jail in Eatonton, Georgia, was built in 1991.

The author of the pictures did not set out to build a certain hierarchy of systems, but many of his original ideas were reversed. "In all 10 prisons (in Uganda), the people who accompanied me, the caretaker or assistant caretaker, were very friendly with others, treated them humanely, talked to prisoners, patted them on the shoulder or on the head. They weren't too worried about what I was doing there," says Banning. "I don't want to romanticize it, I know there's corruption there. I don't mean anything like, 'cool, let's all go to Uganda and spend time in the local prison,' but it really hit me."

Uganda. Kigo Prison is a high—security prison where 1,175 prisoners are held. They are allowed to cook extra food in the yard if relatives bring them groceries.

Similarly, Bunning did not intend to expose the American prison as a harsh place. "But at some point it became inevitable. This is what a prison looks like in the USA," says the photographer. According to him, if we compare, prisons in Colombia are more corrupt, but there are much fewer people there. What he saw in the USA confused him, although Banning admits that he noticed a desire for change. "People at both political poles are convinced that this cannot continue in the United States. On the one hand — for humanitarian reasons, on the other — for financial reasons. You can't afford it anymore."

Colombia. An agricultural colony in Akasias. The prison was built in 1906. 364 people work here. It accommodates 1,250 men, mostly small—time drug dealers sentenced to less than five years, former rebels or members of armed groups convicted of murder, sex crimes, robbery, etc. at the last stage of the prison term.

Bunning's rational desire to compare methods of punishment in different countries became less and less impartial the more he read and studied. "The more time I spent on it, the stronger the emotional aspect became," the photographer explains. "I was often furious with what I read or saw."

The administrative side of justice in Colombia, Uganda and the USA.

Banning is not an activist, and he does not claim to know how to solve all the problems. He just hopes that his photos will make people think and discuss this topic.

France. A prisoner sits in his cell at the Maison d'arrêt de Bois-d'Arcy prison.

"I tried to avoid the classic symbolic pictures that we see so often — where hands are held behind bars. It's not interesting. It doesn't add anything to our knowledge," says Bunning. It shows prisoners sunbathing in the backyard, and convicts in uniform and a gloomy room. "By contrasting such photos, I hope to confuse people. I think it leads to reflection," he explains. — I don't want to give a one-sided picture. Yes, obviously, prison is a crappy place, but that's not the only epithet that can describe it."

USA. Smith State Prison, a maximum security prison with 1,354 inmates near the town of Glenville in Georgia. Some prisoners work without pay for Georgia Correctional Industries.