Welcome to the dig, a podcast from Jackabin magazine. My name is Daniel

Denver and I'm broadcasting from Providence, Rhode Island.

One of mass incarcerations 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.

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