360DEGREES

Alison Cornyn / Sue Johnson

Over the past three years, we have been working with prison inmates, lawyers, judges, corrections officers, parents, victims of crime and others to tell their stories in their own words. Inmates and officers were given tape recorders to keep audio diaries of their experiences in prison. Each story is focused around a specific case and is told through the perspectives of 4—6 people. As you listen to the stories you are immersed in each person's personal space-prison cells, offices, judges chambers and living rooms.

Since 1980 the U.S. prison population has quadrupled to over two million people, most of whom are black or Hispanic, and poor. 360degrees has grown out of our concern regarding the impact of incarceration on the people directly involved, on their families and on the wider community. Positing that the social policies that sustain this punitive system are based on fear and lack of understanding, this is a project where people with diverse stories of the legal system - from prisoners to judges to the general public - can share their experiences and opinions, and engage in a productive dialogue on the website:

http://www.360degrees.org. It is our hope that this site challenges perceptions about who is in prison today and why, and that it will generate ideas, big and small about how we can make positive changes in our communities.

The site tells first person stories through photographs and audio, visually translates statistical information into interactive scenarios and hosts a variety of discussions in the dialogue area. We partnered with a doctoral student at John Jay College of Criminal Justice to write an interactive timeline of the US criminal justice system. We are working with educators and students to develop an educational guide and a Social Action Network for schools and communities nationwide. We are partnering with radio producers and journalists across the country as we add new stories.

360degrees has been funded in part by Creative Capital, The Corporation for Public Broadcasting, New York State Council on the Arts, The New York Council for the Humanities and The New York Community Trust. Radio production by Joe Richman and Wendy Dorr, Flash programming by Veronique Brossier and dotsperinch, NY.

Alison Cornyn (US) and Sue Johnson (US) formed Picture Projects in 1995 as a way to use new technologies and documentary photography to examine complex social issues. Over the past six years the team has become well know for its use of interactive narrative. They have received receiving numerous awards and international press coverage for collaborative projects about Bosnia, the Vietnam War era, Kurdistan and the U.S. Criminal Justice System. Cornyn and Johnson are both working artists and have exhibited video, new media and installation works in New York, Florida, Massachusetts, the Czech Republic, Holland, Germany, Macedonia, Sweden, Columbia and Italy. They frequently present their work on new media panels and at international film festivals.on new media panels and at international film festivals.