Photographer Sarah Wilson joined Bridges to Life at Lamar University Wednesday to photograph victims of violent crime for a photo essay that is scheduled to appear in Texas Monthly in the summer of 2007.
Wilson’s photo essay will bring the work of Bridges to Life founder John Sage (see related story, page 1B) to life in a 12-page color spread in the monthly publication. Sage’s vision of a prison reintegration program involving both prison inmates and victims of crimes similar to those the inmates committed themsevles took shape seven years ago with the beginning of the Bridges to Life rehabilitation program in the LeBlanc Unit in Beaumont. Sage’s idea was designed to create a “bridge” between crime victims and offenders by bringing the victims into prisons to give testimonials about how they have suffered due to offenders similar to the ones in the program. Wilson’s work will “juxtapose” portraits of victims with portraits of offenders of similar crimes.
Wilson said Sage became aware of her work when he saw her photo exhibit, “Jasper, Texas: The Healing of a Community in Crisis.” The exhibit featured pictures of the Jasper commmunity in the aftermath of the James Byrd dragging murder that devastated the town years ago. Wilson’s photos appeared in Ricardo Ainslie’s 2004 book, “Long Dark Road.”
“I have photographed three prisons so far,” Wilson said. “Two men’s prisons, and one women’s prison.”
Wilson said the crimes committed by offenders in the program have a wide range.
“One man had robbed 40 convenient stores,” Wilson remembered. “Another was in for a murder he committed when he was 16. He is in his late 40s now.”
Bridges to Life Regional Coordinator for the Southeast Texas Region Marie Babin was at the reception center on the eighth floor of the Mary and John Gray Library for the portrait session.
“The program gives offenders a face and a family to associate with their crimes,” Babin said. “It can create a cleansing effect for the victims.”
“So many people never get to tell their story,” Wilson agreed. “These men and women are getting a chance to confront their fears.”
Annie Stewart, a victim-volunteer, also agreed.
“At first, it was very scary,” Stewart said. “Every time I do it, it heals a part of me that I was hiding. It helps me deal with what happened to me. I never know what I am going to do or how it will affect me, but it helps. When I joined Bridges to Life, that was the first time anyone ever told me they were sorry. The prisoners did that.”
Stewart remembers the “cycle of abuse” she came to expect. It started for her during childhood. Stewart was forced to clean up blood from the floor of her home after her parents’ fights while being repeatedly kicked by her mother. Stewart said that after her father left, her mother’s boyfriend molested her. After being abused as a child, Stewart expected the abuse she received as an adult. Stewart said she was kidnapped, raped and locked in an attic for 3 1/2 years.
“I thought abuse was the norm,” Stewart said.
She said she wants the offenders to know it is not normal to abuse others.
“If I am able to affect the thinking of these offenders so they remember my face and know that I am a real person, then that’s what I want to do,” Stewart said.
Babin said the program does not work with sex offenders in prison for sexual crimes, but many of the offenders themselves have experienced sexual abuse and some participants may have committed sex crimes in the past. She said by week four of the program most participants exhibit signs of change. Although the program does not shorten the length of the inmate’s prison term, the behavior change produced by the group can lead to positive results by improving the attitude of the participant. She also pointed out the percentage of the program’s participants who come back to jail was significantly lower than average. Babin said 50 percent to 60 percent of prisoners not involved in Bridges end up back in prison for the same crimes they were in for initially. Out of all the Bridges participants, only 13 percent come back, and only 1 percent for the same crime.
Bridges to Life victim-volunteer and LU professor Jesse Doiron said that of the 13 percent many are parole violators.
“The fact that only 1 percent of these are violent reoffenders says a lot about the program,” Doiron said. “I want to thank Sarah Wilson and Texas Monthly. They have been very beneficial to the program. This story can’t be told in words alone.”