Lawyer, Photographer, and Activist Sara Bennett Talks Prison System and Life after Parole

“…after you’ve been away for 25 or 30 years, the likelihood of your having a family is pretty slim. A lot of people’s parents die while they’re in prison. Women don’t have the same support network as men do in prison which I think people find surprising.”

Life After Life in Prison, a photography project by activist Sara Bennett, follows four women rebuilding their lives after a long prison sentence for murder. In these black-and-white photos, Ms. Bennett captures the women going about their day-to-day activities and spending time with their families after being paroled for some of the most severe of all crimes. Prior to her work as a photographer, Ms. Bennett was a public defender and served as the first Chair of the Wrongful Convictions project. As a lawyer, she took on many female clients and worked largely on appeals cases. On June 20th, Sara Bennett joined Merion West’s Henri Mattila to discuss her thoughts on the American prison system and her experiences working with women in the criminal justice system.

So let’s get started here. Before becoming a photographer, you were a public defender—maybe most well-known for your pro-bono client Judith Clark, whose life was documented in your first photo essay. How much has Ms. Clark influenced your work in both presentation and subject matter? Have you ever shown her your work?

Yes, I have shown her my work. She helped me find the original clients for my second project which was called “Life After Life in Prison,” and it was about re-entry. I followed women as they went about their re-entry after spending decades in prison, and she introduced me to the first person whom I photographed.