Welcome to The Dig, a podcast from Jacobin Magazine.

My name is Daniel Denver, and I'm broadcasting from Providence, Rhode Island.

One of mass incarceration's defining features is the way that it renders itself invisible.

An estimated 2.2 million Americans are locked up in

state and federal prison. That's somewhat smaller than the population of Queens and larger

than the population of Houston, Texas, the country's fourth largest city. It's enormous, but dispersed,

across jails and prisons all over the country, often tucked into out-of-the-way corners

of a major metropolis or in remote rural areas.

In reality, mass incarceration is the country's fourth largest city,

but it's a phantom one. It has no city council, nor any representatives in Congress.

There is no newspaper dedicated to covering it. While a number of

stellar reporters have launched major investigations, they face an uphill battle to uncover

what's going on inside. Prisons don't just keep inmates in. They keep the public out. Even at this

moment when mass incarceration is facing unprecedented criticism, it is extraordinarily

hard for people on the outside to empathize with people who they can neither see nor speak to.

My guest today are Brett's story in Jordan Camp.

Brett is a filmmaker who has made an incredible new documentary called The Prison in Twelve Landscapes.

Her film shines a light on America's prison archipelago without ever taking a peek inside.

It's a film that captures everyday America by portraying the people that have been disappeared from it by the prison system.

In part, this is done by following

their loved ones on the outside. In May of 2008, my brother got sentenced to 25 to life.

The time he got to his prison was around September, and I had to send him his first package.

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