Thursday morning, Nov. 3, Kyle Ellison will present “A Photographic History of Kentucky’s Prisons 1800-2022” at the United Crescent Hill Ministries. Pulled from archival images, the exhibit puts a human face on the jail and prison system that is forgotten when we talk about the people at risk of overcrowding in the jails.
Ellison is the unofficial prison historian of Kentucky. He formerly worked with the Kentucky Department of Correctons from 1972-1988 and has followed the Kentucky prison and jail system — and their issues — for at least five decades. Ellison recently wrote a piece for the Courier Journal about a new jail not being a remedy for the issue of jail deaths.
Ellison says, in the Courier article, “We must widen our concerns beyond the Jefferson County line to make changes that matter. We cannot let the horrible conditions in other Kentucky jails come to Louisville. We are way overdue for standardized, accessible public reporting by all Kentucky jails and prisons that would let the public know what is going on. Staff shortages at Kentucky prisons and jails result from long-term lies to the public about the true costs of incarceration. The lives of prisoners, staff, and citizens are at risk. Building a big new jail will not help.”
Read that article HERE.
Meet Ellison and see the exhibit from 10:15 a.m.-11 a.m. at the United Crescent Hill Ministries, 150 State St. Louisville.
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