After/Life: Second Chances Beyond a Life Sentence - A Project

"Life is a gift and that’s how I wake up. I wake up happy. I’m 67 years old and I’ve never been happier in my life. It’s like the baggage is gone. Some people would say, I don’t have the right to feel that way. And inside, there’s a part of the old me that is still there. That is not the man speaking to you now."
James Denis, After/Life: Second Chances Beyond a Life Sentence by Ron Levine

Award-winning photographer Ron Levine emerges from more than two decades of sustained photographic engagement with incarceration in North America. Prisoners of Age—a deeply personal project— introduced the viewer to elderly individuals within the prison system. That work continues to evolve with After/Life: Second Chances Beyond a Life Sentence, giving voice to those navigating the fragile passage from long-term confinement back into society. A profoundly human portrait of resilience, time, and transformation. 

Rather than treating its subjects as statistics or cautionary tales, After/Life centres upon dignity, progress, and renewal—moments of reconnection, relearning, and re-entry into a world reshaped by technology and social change. It reframes re-entry not as an ending, but as an achievement worthy of recognition and collective support. 

We spoke with award-winning photographer Ron Levine in a Q&A to explore the motivations and vision behind this powerful body of work. 

What drew you to photograph prisoners 20 years ago? 

In 1996, I heard a CBC documentary about North America’s first geriatric prison—an old folks’ home turned into a 250-bed geriatric facility in Alabama. The inmates’ voices, their hopes for parole and family, stayed with me. 

At the time, I was already working on a long-term personal project, South of the Mason-Dixon, which I began in 1992. It focused on portraits of men and women making a living along the backroads of the Deep South. I realized that photographing these inmates would be a powerful addition to that series.

I contacted the warden, after some persuasion, I got permission, and spent a week photographing and interviewing over half the prison population. Many were on oxygen, used walkers, or had amputations. I kept asking myself: Why are these men still behind bars? The twelve-hour days were exhausting, but the experience revealed a human side of incarceration that is rarely seen. 

 What were the challenges in gaining access to the prisons? 

Once I photographed in Hamilton, Alabama I did some research and found a lawyer named Jonathan Turley, who ran this program, called Project for Older Prisoners (POPS), out of the University of Louisiana. He, with his law students, were trying to get some of the old guys paroled or pardoned. He gave me the names of other geriatric prisons in the USA. After that, I started shooting in prisons with geriatric wings in them. Once you tell the wardens that you’ve already photographed at one prison, they’re often amenable to let you in. Usually, for 3 days max.  

How did you choose which prisoners to photograph? What was/is your process? 

In each prison, I photographed only inmates who signed a release form, often starting with the eldest. We used 4×5 Polaroids (Type 55), giving the positive to the inmate while keeping the negative or shooting the rest on film. I used Polaroid to test lighting and showed the inmate the result, balancing artificial light with daylight from windows. In Hamilton, Alabama, the first day yielded 100 signed releases, and over the week we photographed and interviewed as many inmates as possible—in kitchens, gardens, playing baseball, indoors and out. I returned three more times, including for a documentary in 2004 that aired on Bravo and CBC. 

What were some of the key considerations and challenges in bringing After/Life to light? 

After/Life took time to take shape. While teaching Photo Voice at Los Angeles vocational schools for Five Keys—working with former gang members and ex-felons earning their diplomas—I began photographing ex-inmates on work crews and in halfway homes, capturing their struggles and hopes as they re-entered society. I interviewed ex-lifers, including hospice workers from the prison at San Luis Obispo, and followed men reintegrating through programs like Mass Liberation. Originally planned as a follow-up to Prisoners of Age, the project became a compact, educational book for colleges and social work programs. With designer Abdullah Ahmed, we created an 8-page sample for review before producing a full 24-page edition, featuring portraits, interviews, and classroom prompts, making it accessible and affordable for students.

Can you speak to us about collaborating with designer Abdullah Ahmed? Can you elaborate on what your initial impressions were of his work? 

I always tell my photography students how essential a graphic designer is for print, email, and web projects, so I took my own advice and visited Dawson College’s graduating show in May 2025. I found three designers whose work I liked, but Abdullah stood out—his sense of type was excellent, and his poster work was striking. After meeting him and explaining After/Life, he was eager to experiment, producing fantastic sample layouts. He brought creative ideas and a playful, precise approach to fonts and composition. Every revision impressed me. Abdullah has an extraordinary talent, and I feel lucky to have collaborated with him before the world discovers him. 

How has this book been received by the public, the ex-prisoners featured in the piece and the prison system? 

It’s still early—the book has only been out for a few weeks—but the initial response has been encouraging. CURE (Citizens United for Rehabilitation of Errants) bought 20 copies for distribution across the U.S. and Africa. A Fordham social work professor plans to use it in her master's program, and schools in San Francisco and Montreal have expressed interest. The lifers featured are proud to share their stories, showing resilience and hope rather than bitterness after decades inside. Feedback highlights the book’s value as a tool for teaching social justice, empathy, and reintegration. Eventually, I hope to create a full-size edition incorporating more than 100 Lifers photographed and interviewed, sharing these universal stories of redemption and second chances. 

After/Life  Purchase here  |  After/Life Project Ron Levine  | Prisoners of Age Website  | Ron Levine Website  

This work extends beyond documentation. It informs, challenges, and ultimately reshapes the way we see—leaving a lasting imprint that lingers well beyond the viewing experience.