Restoration

Restoration is a photo-documentary project that follows the lives of men who have had life sentences commuted. What began as a class project quickly became an investment in a story that precious few have been trusted to tell. As a group, these men have spent more than 100 years in prison for split second mistakes made as children. In the years since their release, these men have become living examples of restorative justice; a concept that has become something of a cultural phenomenon. With Restoration, I aim to document the daily reality of life for someone that never hoped to walk outside again.Do you remember the split second in which you made the worst decision of your life? Do you remember the exact moment when you hit rock bottom? Could you imagine spending the rest of your life atoning for, and literally paying for, the lowest point of your adolescence? For the men of the Elsinore Bennu Think Tank for Restorative Justice, these are not hypothetical questions. Some of these men sit in state prisons, atoning for mistakes they made as children. For those “lucky” enough to have been granted clemency, they will never know a day free from parole and the ever-present threat of re-incarceration.Despite this weight of alleged justice, those men on the outside dedicate themselves to the pursuit of restorative justice every day. They distribute food, mask, and cleaning products to senior citizens across Allegheny County every Thursday. They have spent countless hours finding, purchasing, and rehabilitating a property to house men granted clemency without a state-approved home to return to. They call this project the House of Life, a testament to the enduring optimism and hope they have for life post-incarceration.I first met these men in the course of a class project that culminated in an interview. What started as a grade became a life-altering, course-correcting experience and an invaluable relationship with three men hoping to leave the world better than they found it. There is no rage, no enmity, no hatred in their hearts. They are kind, selfless, eloquent, and devoted to the restoration of their communities and homes. Rather than retreat from the world, they choose to spend their days participating in college sociology and criminal justice courses, speaking on panels, and giving interviews that offer unflinching, uncompromising explanations of how deeply flawed our system of justice has become.