"Facing Life" Documentary Features Eight Californians

Starting in 2018, photographer Brandon Tauszik and documentarian Pendarvis Harshaw began documenting the lives of eight people who’ve spent decades in California’s prison system. All but one had been serving life sentences, but even that one person is serving a different sort of life sentence; one where he may never become a citizen.

In the decades since these eight people were convicted and sentenced, California has passed new legislation, the state’s prison population has decreased, and public perception of people who’ve been incarcerated has begun to shift. But as these individuals and thousands of others who’ve served extended prison sentences are coming to find out, it’s not easy to navigate the free world.

The eight people profiled in Facing Life speak about the everyday difficulties of operating smartphones, auto-flush toilets, and electric cars. Arguably more important are the hurdles they face when applying for jobs and finding shelter in California’s scarce housing market. Then there are more nuanced issues: mental health, generational trauma, the search for purpose in a world that does not seem to care for them. These are obstacles faced by many, but for the formerly incarcerated, such struggles can bring life-or-death consequences.

"I basically went from living in a fishbowl, which is the prison yard, to swimming in an ocean." -Travielle Pope, Los Angeles, incarcerated for 26 years, released in 2018.

"Boy, she was a pistol. Prison made her hardcore. But we stayed friends through it all." - Robin Marlowe (speaking about a friend who passed in 2020), Fresno, incarcerated for 38 years, released in 2018.

"It was the only place I felt safe. I didn't have to worry about my father hitting me in there." - Jose Espinoza, Stockton, incarcerated for 26 years, released in 2018.

To read more stories, visit the multimedia webpage for "Facing Life: Eight Stories of Life after Life in California's Prisons."