I first met J. on a once-in-a-lifetime tour of Norway's Halden Prison, known as the most humane prison in the world. J. is an incarcerated person, who had been serving a multiple-year sentence at Halden. He invited me to take a look at his cell, which looked more like a college dorm. I asked if I could take his portrait. Prison policies forbade me from identifying him, so he got creative, took a whiff from his cigarette, exhaled, and directed me to take the shot. Society too often judges and defines the narratives of incarcerated people. They become one-dimensional. In that moment, when J. directed his portrait, he had reclaimed his own narrative.
