Documenting Faith in Prison
New York based photographer Serge J-F. Levy, visited six maximum security prisons across the country between 2002 and 2003 to photograph inmates embrace spirituality in a series of images called, "Religion in Prison."
The project was sparked by Levy's own curiosity and what he found through each interaction with those incarcerated who are Christian, Jewish, Wiccan, Muslim and Buddhist, and how religion brings out their softer side, despite their labels as criminals.
"There's this sincere desire on the part of many inmates to try to understand the state of their soul," Levy said, according to Slate.com. "They're trying to understand their predicament, and I think that spirituality in prison not so infrequently dovetails with a form of analysis or therapy. I think there's a sense of introspection and evaluation of one's life that happens within these religious environments."
