Young Offenders and Prisoners' Families

In 2004 PhotoVoice was commissioned by The Diana, Princess of Wales Memorial Fund to work with beneficiaries from some of their projects. I ran self-portraiture workshops with young people at a Young Offenders Institute in Scotland and with young people who had a family member in prison in London. Their images were used in communications and advocacy work.

In prison we are a number to officials but to people we are a friend, a person with a personality, a person with a name. My name is Kerry Tomlin.

I’m not sure what I was thinking about when this photo was taken but the only thing I really think about in here is getting out and going home to start a new life with my family. I want to change my style and be a good mum.

When I look at this picture I think of someonethat has been really low and depressed but who takes courage and starts afresh – they reach for the sky.

This is me before.

This is me when I was broken but I am still the same.

I was broken when my dad went to prison because a part was missing. I wanted to show that in a picture. I was 12. It was a shock because I had to be the adult. My mum was upset and my brother and sister were upset so I was being the one who was the adult. If I had shown I was upset then my mother would not have pulled through it because she would have been worried. If I was upset I would just sit by myself.

The guilt I felt has no word to describe the amount of pain I had to go through.

I felt guilty for what my brother had done.

I live on one of the worst estates in London. There are Assaults, Robberies, Crime and Gangs. I want to describe the kind of life that leads up to doing time, to show what territory people live in.

I felt alone on my own on a side street with no one else around. I just had to walk to get through to the end. Now the path is getting wider and there are now two paths. Which way am I going to go? The left way is a big path with loads of people around or the right way is a narrow path with no one around. I’m going to the left. What path are you going to choose? Left or right?

To me this picture is saying you have to do anything to survive on the streets because the streets are hard and there are hard people on the streets – you have to survive.

Young People Now, 2004.

Young Offenders and Prisoner's Families