In her November 2024 op-ed for Inquest, journalist Paula Lehman-Ewing reflects on the disconnect between how incarceration is portrayed to the public and the harsher realities most imprisoned people endure. Using the San Quentin Film Festival as a lens, she raises questions about visibility, narrative control, and who gets access to dignity behind bars.

An excerpt from the piece reads: “The sanitized, artsy version of incarceration at San Quentin is the one they let you see. It’s the prison they allow the public to enter. But it is not the reality for the vast majority of people locked away in California’s sprawling carceral system.”

Inquest is a forum from the Institute to End Mass Incarceration at Harvard University that publishes essays, reflections, and critical thought from people directly impacted by the criminal legal system, as well as scholars and advocates working to dismantle it.

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