Jenn Ackerman November 12, 2008
Posted by Geoffrey Hiller in Ohio University, United States.Tags: Ohio University, United States
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Correctional officer comforting inmate during a psychotic episode
Jenn Ackerman has a bachelor’s degree in communication studies and social research from James Madison University and recently completed her master’s degree from Ohio University’s School of Visual Communication. She has a completed an internship at the Desert Morning News and plans to intern at the Lexington Herald-Leader, The Roanoke Times and The Dallas Morning News. Her work has been published in PDN, USA Today, New York Times and The Washington Post. Jenn’s awards include : Southern Short Course: Student Photographer of the Year, 2008. NPPA Best of Photojournalism: 1st Place – News Video, 3rd Place – News Video, 1st Place – Sports Video, 2008. White House News Photographer’s Association, 2008.
About the Photograph:
The goal when deciding to publish Trapped: Mental Illness in America’s Prisons was to uncover the mental health crisis in America. “The system is trapped with treating this growing population and the mentally ill often find themselves trapped in the system with nowhere else to go”. In order to show this struggle, she went inside the Correctional Psychiatric Treatment Unit, the largest mental facility in Kentucky. While prison might not be the best place for the mentally ill, this program at the Kentucky State Reformatory is adapting to the meet the needs of this growing population in the prison system.
This photograph will always stick in my mind. Not only is it a grown man crying in fear, the hand with a rubber glove just shows the separation between them and that he really has no one to comfort him. Beautifully shot.