In A Whole New Way: Undoing Mass Incarceration by a Path Untraveled: Undoing Mass Incarceration by a Path Untraveled

(Paperback, New edition)

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In a Whole New Way is a photographic self-portrait by New Yorkers who are serving a term of probation. The book also lifts the veil on this second-chance justice intervention that has spread from its origins in 1841 Boston to most of the world today.

If all Americans serving a term of probation were gathered in one locale, they would constitute the third-largest city in the country. Yet few of us understand what the sanction involves. Nor do many Americans realize that the originally rehabilitative practice became punitive following the 197292 crime wave. In many jurisdictions, it still is. Probation unfortunately has become a staging area for incarceration rather than its alternative.

In a Whole New Way shows how hundreds of determined city residents on probation, along with neighborhood allies, undertook to change this. Equipped with cameras and new artistic sensibilities provided by the editors nonprofit Seeing for Ourselves, they set off in a whole new way to reform the sanction of probation, returning it to the rehabilitative and positive program it was originally intended to be. In the process, they found themselves transformed.

The result of their journey is this unique collection of stunning photographs, accentuated by deeply personal captions and lengthier testimonies, that reveal the reality of life in probation. The stories of these participants powerfully undercut their ownand probationsderogatory popular image. The true goal of this book is to reform the entire justice system toward decarceration.

In a Whole New Way is both the sequel to the editors Project Lives (2015), the globally acclaimed volume resulting from a similar effort with New Yorkers living in public housinga work catapulting Seeing for Ourselves to the front tier of participatory photography practitioners worldwideand the source of todays award-winning eponymous documentary film, airing on select public television stations in 2023.

Reviews

In a Whole New Waycontains so muchits an engaging history of community corrections and a glimpse of how probation is practiced in New York City. Its a series of memorable and moving vignettes about people whose lives have been touched by crime and the justice system. But what will stick with me is the pictures. Throughout the book, we see the faces of those who are participating in this unique and special program. They are smiling and engaged, clearly relishing the opportunity to see and be seen as so much more than the criminal convictions that brought them to probation in the first place. The light in their eyestheir positivity and evident optimism about their futuresis an overwhelming argument for the importance of meaningful second chances as a core component of our justice system.Megan Quattlebaum, Director, The Council of State Governments Justice Center
As I observed almost four years ago aboutProject Livesthe book of photographic self-portrayals by New York public housing residents, with imagery intertwining revelatory textit is always inspiring to see the scorned and disenfranchised take control of their lives. Now comes the book and documentary about cameras turned over to the city's probationers, the latest effort by the non-profit Seeing for Ourselves. Once again, we recognize how connected we all remain. Once again, the photographs open our eyes and warm our hearts. Once again, our concerns for social justice broaden and deepen.Noam Chomsky

Institutional reforms often start from the outside and work inward, which is one reason why so many overpromise and underdeliver.In a Whole New Wayshows us what it could look like when reform begins with the perspective of those on the inside of a systemin this case, individuals on probation in New York City. Using participatory photography as a means of visual storytelling, the participants in this transformative project narrate their view of the world through the lens of a camera. In so doing, they remind us that its often not people who need changing but the systems that envelope their lives and so frequently constrain their futures.

Steve Woolworth, Chief Executive Officer, International Community Justice Association

Sometimes solutions are in front of us, but we do not see and do not ask. Turning New Yorkers on probation into photographers documenting their own stories has led to an amazing cultural change. Seeing for Ourselves documents it beautifully in their film and bookIn a Whole New Way.Linda Connelly, President/CEO, Successful Reentry

Author Bio

George Carrano grew up in the Bronx. He worked as a civil servant in New York City for twenty-five years before retiring to pursue his true passion, the visual arts. Carrano has subsequently devoted his time to equipping and training the marginalized to take back their public narrative through the mechanism of participatory photographythe basis for the nonprofit Seeing for Ourselves he founded in 2010. Project Lives was his first book and In a Whole New Way his first film. Jonathan Fisher was also raised in the Bronx. He was one of those obnoxious brats pushing everyone out of the way on the subway trains so that he could look out the front window. After earning a masters degree in transportation, Fisher pursued a childhood dream by working for the subway system for twenty-six years. He joined Seeing for Ourselves in 2013 as its storyteller. Project Lives was his first book. Writing and directing In a Whole New Way allowed him to cross another item off his bucket list.