Lives in Focus: Family Life Behind Bars
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I plan to post a video about three minutes in length that focuses on a particular theme showcased through a family’s life. How do such obstacles impact the relationship between a parent and child (both the parent who remains at home and the one in prison)? Between husband and wife? Between siblings? Is there anticipation or dread or tedium at the thought of the long hike on visiting day? How are family relations re-established when a prisoner is released? What are the unforeseen consequences of being released? What efforts do inmates make to stay in touch from within prison walls? These short, thematic vlogs will show people in their daily lives with relevant audio from interviews. I plan to post on a regular once-a-week schedule for 3 to 6 months. I also plan to loan video cameras to a few families we select. Lives in Focus has already agreed to set up workshops in conjunction with Prison Families of New York to train these families to document their own lives. We will edit this material and post it to the vlog, giving credit to the families. The videos will be available to the public for free for non-commerical use with a Creative Commons copyright. Lives in Focus is NOT questioning the guilty verdict that sent people to prison. We also recognize that many crimes upset the lives of others–in extreme cases even depriving families of their own loved ones. Lives in Focus believes, however, that it is important to document and be aware of the repercussions that imprisonment has on an inmate’s family, a large and growing population in America. As an award-winning journalist who wrote frequently for the New York Times and as a journalism professor at the City University of New York’s Graduate School of Journalism, I have already gained access to prisoners and their families. I have a strong track record working with people who are often ostracized by society. The previous Lives in Focus project, shot in 2005, documented the lives of men, women and children in India who are HIV+ or have AIDS. Project Site: Lives in Focus: Family Life Behind Bars A note from Jay Dedman, Lives in Focus’ advocate: I met Sandeep when he wrote an NY Times article on Videoblogging back in 2005. It was the first time a journalist really seemed to respect what we were doing in the Videoblogging Community. We weren’t just people making funny viral videos, but actually had the ability to make videos of consequence. He ended up starting his own videoblog, Lives in Focus, helping set the example of what we can do with this new medium without boundaries. Any ambitious project needs some money to get started, so help fund the work we want to see.
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$ 2514 raised to date!! Target |
Subscribe to the project.
March 6th, 2007 at 2:46 pm
Another successfully crowdfunded project at HaveMoneyWillVlog.com…
From: HaveMoneyWillVlog.com
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Lives in Focus is vlogging the impact on family relations and dynamics when one or more member of a family is incarcerated. How do some families overcome the separation, financial strain, social stigma…
$ 25
March 6th, 2007 at 12:04 pm
Looking forward to watching.
$ 100
March 6th, 2007 at 11:23 am
Best wishes in this important work. And congrats on doing so well in meeting your fundraising goal!
$ 50
March 5th, 2007 at 6:05 pm
many blessings on this work… there is also good work being done to hold our government accountable for the prison industrial complex. you may all be aware that many immigrants awaiting hearings from ICE are held in prison complex detention centers across the country, (despite being IN PROCEEDINGS for asylum etc) That our prisons are places of great violence (rape, murder, physical violence, the theat of violence, work without pay and that’s just what the prisoners endure from the guards), and health care at prisons is never as good as the worst health care in our worst hospitals in the cities… which i gather you know isnt all that hot. Our resident rikers island in NYC has 12 high schools 11 for boys and 1 for girls and that more than half of the population has NOT been convicted - they are folks that cant make bail for minor offenses and the population is over 60 thousand folks. there are lots of ways to think about prisons… one powerful way is to consider that the number of black prisoners - exponentially rose immediately after emancipation from slavery… hmmm i wonder.
again many blessings.
pending
March 5th, 2007 at 1:31 pm
Good luck with this exciting endeavor and I am so glad that you have just about achieved your goal.
not disclosed
March 4th, 2007 at 2:58 am
I met Sandeep in NYC at the Grass Roots Media Conference and he pointed out how the cameras can be (re)used with other projects.
$ 12
March 3rd, 2007 at 10:47 am
This is something that needs to be done. We’ve worked with children of incarcerated parents here in South Dakota, and it’s really, really hard. But it is so helpful.
I’m looking forward to seeing your work.
$ 10
March 2nd, 2007 at 10:06 am
Another important project. I’m happy to support it.
$ 25
March 2nd, 2007 at 5:09 am
best wishes in helping those our society is so quick to ignore, to have a platform from which to make their voices heard.
$ 101
March 1st, 2007 at 7:39 pm
Good Luck!
$ 50
March 1st, 2007 at 6:50 pm
Go Deep!
not disclosed
March 1st, 2007 at 6:18 pm
good luck
$ 700
March 1st, 2007 at 5:25 pm
Good Luck!
$ 50
February 28th, 2007 at 1:43 pm
This will be facinating because most people w/o family in prison know very little about the subject. Many prisons are located in remote areas making it difficult for visitors.
With the huge prison industrial complex in this country, cost to taxpayers, and harm to prisoners’ children, families, and communities, we really need to think about why we are locking up so many people that do not pose a threat to society.
$ 50
February 28th, 2007 at 12:08 pm
Good look with the project.
$ 50
February 28th, 2007 at 12:00 pm
Best of Luck!
$ 25
February 27th, 2007 at 9:26 pm
Really looking forward to seeing this.
$ 20
February 25th, 2007 at 11:31 pm
can’t wait to see this happen!
February 25th, 2007 at 5:15 am
[…] Lives in Focus Donate to Lives in Focus at Have Money Will Vlog […]
$ 25
February 24th, 2007 at 8:00 pm
Good luck!
$ 20
February 24th, 2007 at 4:17 pm
excellent project idea!
$ 50
February 22nd, 2007 at 9:34 pm
best of luck
February 19th, 2007 at 6:45 pm
[…] My CUNY colleague Sandeep Junnarkar — who makes magnificent multimedia journalism at Lives in Focus, where he last reported on AIDS in India — is embarking on his next project: the impact on families when one of your own is behind bars. He’s already getting amazing reporting. But to realize his full ambition, he needs to raise money to loan video cameras to the families so they can document their experiences. It’s easy to contribute through Have Money Will Vlog, which enables networked journalism by helping you to support these projects. I just gave. Won’t you? […]
$ 100
February 19th, 2007 at 10:12 am
.
$ 20
February 18th, 2007 at 3:29 pm
great stuff.
February 17th, 2007 at 9:21 pm
[…] Also, feel free to go to HMWV and support the current fundraising project. […]
$ 10
February 17th, 2007 at 11:29 am
good luck!
$ 51
February 12th, 2007 at 1:17 pm
I’m looking forward to seeing this…
$ 10
February 12th, 2007 at 12:36 am
Good luck!
$ 200
February 11th, 2007 at 2:29 pm
Good luck.
$ 100
February 10th, 2007 at 9:52 pm
Good luck
$ 50
February 10th, 2007 at 5:17 pm
I am sure there are good reasons for keeping the target amount so modest, but It would be a shame if the tight budget limited the project in any way. I mean, loaning cameras, training workshops, all the editing involved…
Hopefully, people wont see the $2500 as a limit, and will continue to contribute if they are inspired by the initial results. I urge you guys to set up the mechanics for the project to grow proportionately to people’s interest.
$ 10
February 10th, 2007 at 8:47 am
I very worthy project! Can’t wait to see how it develops.
$ 25
February 9th, 2007 at 9:28 pm
Thank you for setting this up. We are very happy to support this project and your efforts have made it so easy. If there are any activities taking place in Hawai’i, please let us know if we can be of assistance “on the ground.”
$ 100
February 9th, 2007 at 2:10 pm
look forward to the finished product.
$ 20
February 8th, 2007 at 2:36 pm
good luck with the project
$ 20
February 8th, 2007 at 9:52 am
Good luck!
$ 100
February 7th, 2007 at 7:27 pm
an essential part of the story that’s rarely told
great work!
happy to be able to support it!
February 7th, 2007 at 5:29 pm
[…] It’s the kind of project that’s well suited to the web, utilizing multimedia and reaching out to a small but distinct community. But it’s not the kind of project that’s easy to find funding for — ‘viral’ comedy clips and stealth advertising is attracting the easy money right now. Enter Have Money Will Vlog, a site that’s had great success in raising up to $3,000 in a matter of weeks to fund projects. With the help of ‘advocate’ and co-founder Jay Dedman, Junnarkar has put together a pitch for the project and is accepting donations towards a goal of $2,500. […]
$ 20
February 7th, 2007 at 11:25 am
Really well done. This is going to be an interesting project.
$ 20
February 7th, 2007 at 11:09 am
It is good for us to look at the difficult as well as the beautiful. Thanks and good luck!
$ 25
February 7th, 2007 at 10:53 am
This is a really worthy project
$ 25
February 7th, 2007 at 10:35 am
This will be fascinating! I have no ideas about what the lives of prisoner families is day to day.
$ 10
February 7th, 2007 at 3:05 am
video is change everything!…
pending
February 6th, 2007 at 10:43 pm
A worthy project, I’m excited to see how it develops.
February 6th, 2007 at 7:00 pm
[…] This is the new project over at Have Money Will Vlog. We fully support this project and hope you will too by going over there and throwing Sandeep a dime! […]
$ 25
February 6th, 2007 at 3:34 am
Excellent project!
$ 10
February 6th, 2007 at 2:52 am
Let’s kick this thing off!!