In photos: Inmates of the oldest women’s prison in the USA

A new photobook, ‘Women Prisoner Polaroids’, revisits Jack Lueders-Booth’s seminal, humane portrait of women incarcerated in Massachusetts’ MCI Framingham.

In 1970, Jack Lueders-Booth quit his quit his day job to pursue his passion for photography. Then 35, he landed at Harvard University where he managed their photo lab, and soon after began teaching photography.

In 1977, Lueders-Booth approached the Graduate School of Education with an innovative idea for a Masters degree that would require him to be in the field, rather than the classroom. He wanted to teach photography to incarcerated people, using it as a tool to boost morale, build camaraderie, teach valuable skills, and preserve moments with family during visiting hours.

For the project, Lueders-Booth partnered with Massachusetts Prison Art Project, which wanted to set up a photography program at Massachusetts Correctional Institution Framingham, the oldest women’s prison in the country. Originally founded in 1878 to punish women for giving birth out of wedlock (“begetting”), the prison now housed sex workers, addicts, and accomplices to their male partner’s crimes.


By the mid-1970s, MCI Framingham began implementing progressive reforms in an effort to create a more humane environment. Prison officials allowed prisoners to decorate their cells with the comforts of home and employed criminal justice students at nearby Northeastern University as plainclothes guards.

For the program, Lueders-Booth was given an abandoned wing of the old prison hospital, where he and his daughter installed darkrooms. He set to work teaching Photography 101, beginning with photograms to introduce new students to magic that can only happen inside the darkroom. From there they graduated to pinhole cameras, and eventually to conventional cameras and film that they learned to develop and print themselves.

What began as a Masters project quickly blossomed into something more as Lueders-Booth began teaching portraiture using a 4x5” view camera. He invited the women to become sitters so that they could experience the act of making a portrait on both sides of the camera. In 1980, he received back-to-back six-month Polaroid Fellowships and immediately set to work making portraits of the women. The slow, meticulous process of crafting these images became a revelatory experience of seeing and being seen.

“It was completely organic. I went there weekly, sometimes more often, if there was a family event or a party. The women would want me to photograph some of their kids,” says Lueders-Booth. “Someone said, jokingly that I become something like the school photographer of the prison. I would go into some of the women's cells to make photographs and I would pictures that I'd made of them in previous months or years on their walls.”

With the publication of Women Prisoner Polaroids (Stanley/Barker), he revisits this seminal body of work, bringing together a series of portraits and oral histories for the first time. Taken together, Lueders-Booth creates a poignant portrait of women interrupted, their lives no longer wholly their own, their incarceration far more devastating than statistics could ever show.

Enjoyed this article? Follow Huck on Instagram.

Support stories like this by becoming a member of Club Huck.

Latest on Huck

Crowd of silhouetted people at a nighttime event with colourful lighting and a bright spotlight on stage.
Music

Clubbing is good for your health, according to neuroscientists

We Become One — A new documentary explores the positive effects that dance music and shared musical experiences can have on the human brain.

Written by: Zahra Onsori

Indoor skate park with ramps, riders, and abstract architectural elements in blue, white, and black tones.
Sport

In England’s rural north, skateboarding is femme

Zine scene — A new project from visual artist Juliet Klottrup, ‘Skate Like a Lass’, spotlights the FLINTA+ collectives who are redefining what it means to be a skater.

Written by: Zahra Onsori

Black-and-white image of two men in suits, with the text "EVERYTHING IS COMPUTER" in large bright yellow letters overlaying the image.
Culture

Donald Trump says that “everything is computer” – does he have a point?

Huck’s March dispatch — As AI creeps increasingly into our daily lives and our attention spans are lost to social media content, newsletter columnist Emma Garland unpicks the US President’s eyebrow-raising turn of phrase at a White House car show.

Written by: Emma Garland

A group of people, likely children, sitting around a table surrounded by various comic books, magazines, and plates of food.
© Michael Jang
Culture

How the ’70s radicalised the landscape of photography

The ’70s Lens — Half a century ago, visionary photographers including Nan Goldin, Joel Meyerowitz and Larry Sultan pushed the envelope of what was possible in image-making, blurring the boundaries between high and low art. A new exhibition revisits the era.

Written by: Miss Rosen

Silhouette of person on horseback against orange sunset sky, with electricity pylon in foreground.
Culture

The inner-city riding club serving Newcastle’s youth

Stepney Western — Harry Lawson’s new experimental documentary sets up a Western film in the English North East, by focusing on a stables that also functions as a charity for disadvantaged young people.

Written by: Isaac Muk

Couple sitting on ground in book-filled environment
Culture

The British intimacy of ‘the afters’

Not Going Home — In 1998, photographer Mischa Haller travelled to nightclubs just as their doors were shutting and dancers streamed out onto the streets, capturing the country’s partying youth in the early morning haze.

Written by: Ella Glossop

Signup to our newsletter

Sign up to stay informed from the cutting edge of sport, music and counterculture, with personal takes on the state of media and pop culture in your inbox every month from Emma Garland, former Digital Editor of Huck, exclusive interviews, recommendations and more.

Please wait...

Accessibility Settings

Text

Applies the Open Dyslexic font, designed to improve readability for individuals with dyslexia.

Applies a more readable font throughout the website, improving readability.

Underlines links throughout the website, making them easier to distinguish.

Adjusts the font size for improved readability.

Visuals

Reduces animations and disables autoplaying videos across the website, reducing distractions and improving focus.

Reduces the colour saturation throughout the website to create a more soothing visual experience.

Increases the contrast of elements on the website, making text and interface elements easier to distinguish.