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  • This drawing is by Shannon, age eight. It is not a drawing of prison but of what many people think prison should be: a nightmare of isolation and alienation. This drawing is by Shannon, age eight. It is not a drawing of prison but of what many people think prison should be: a nightmare of isolation and alienation.
  • "A great gray castellated prison,” I later write. There’s nothing even vaguely like Gloria’s nine-year-old vision in the carceral landscape of North Carolina. This comes entirely from the realm of the imaginary. "A great gray castellated prison,” I later write. There’s nothing even vaguely like Gloria’s nine-year-old vision in the carceral landscape of North Carolina. This comes entirely from the realm of the imaginary.
  • Wyatt, age eight, combines the image of the castle with that of the modern guard tower. While this may come to Wyatt via comic books and television, towers visible from the road identical to this surround downtown Raleigh’s Central Prison, which is adjacent to Raleigh’s new Dix Park. Wyatt, age eight, combines the image of the castle with that of the modern guard tower. While this may come to Wyatt via comic books and television, towers visible from the road identical to this surround downtown Raleigh’s Central Prison, which is adjacent to Raleigh’s new Dix Park.
  • Under a full sun among puffy clouds, Andrew unleashes an eight-year-old’s flotilla of prison-control helicopters, barbed wire and bars, spotlight and cameras . . . and a convict who presumably “hates this place” but here is waving and smiling. Under a full sun among puffy clouds, Andrew unleashes an eight-year-old’s flotilla of prison-control helicopters, barbed wire and bars, spotlight and cameras . . . and a convict who presumably “hates this place” but here is waving and smiling.
  • Not only does Walker surround his prison with an adequacy of wire, but he carefully keeps access to the guard tower outside the fence. Not only does Walker surround his prison with an adequacy of wire, but he carefully keeps access to the guard tower outside the fence.
  • Not only does Walker surround his prison with an adequacy of wire, but he carefully keeps access to the guard tower outside the fence. Kathryn's representation unsettles me. How does this eight-year-old know about the unitary sink-toilet units so characteristic of cells in American prisons? Note the camera in the cell, upper left. Note the shower beneath it, lower left. Note the other personalities and is that female, lower right, a prisoner?
  • Colin, like Kathryn on the previous page, shows us what can be the outside and inside of the same prison. Control booths, barbed wire, and bars sign the exterior of this eight-year-old’s prison. Colin, like Kathryn on the previous page, shows us what can be the outside and inside of the same prison. Control booths, barbed wire, and bars sign the exterior of this eight-year-old’s prison.
  • Another unnerving image. I don’t pretend to understand fully what Brooks, age nine, is showing us, but there’s the archetypal prisoner in tears with his arms hanging over the bars of his cell. Brooks seems to know a lot about COs too. That is a CO’s desk, lower right. Another unnerving image. I don’t pretend to understand fully what Brooks, age nine, is showing us, but there’s the archetypal prisoner in tears with his arms hanging over the bars of his cell. Brooks seems to know a lot about COs too. That is a CO’s desk, lower right.
  • The stripped-down life of a prisoner. Lisa, age nine, shows what may be closer to a hospital room, with the door to a private bathroom. She comes correct with the bed: exactly how it’s supposed to be made, military style. The stripped-down life of a prisoner. Lisa, age nine, shows what may be closer to a hospital room, with the door to a private bathroom. She comes correct with the bed: exactly how it’s supposed to be made, military style.
  • I love the way Paul has drawn the CO’s keys, lower right. I love the way Paul has drawn the CO’s keys, lower right.
  • It’s as if Harrison has been there at age eight: the concrete block wall on the left, the toilet fastened to it, the bunk with its single blanket and pillow, the drain in the floor, the bars. And, in the upper-right corner . . . ah, the well-positioned guard. It’s as if Harrison has been there at age eight: the concrete block wall on the left, the toilet fastened to