A unique drug treatment program at the Yaphank Correctional Facility is using photography to help inmates recover from addiction.
The initiative paired 20 nonviolent offenders with photographer Saskia Keeley for a five-week course focused on portrait photography and personal collage building.
Participants designed visual collages to reflect on their past struggles, their present situations and their hopes for the future.
The resulting photos and art collages are currently on display in the facility visiting lobby through the month of September.
Skyler Davis, a former participant who was released in late August after serving time on drug possession charges, credited the program with saving him.
“This program has changed my whole life,” Davis said.
Reflecting on his past during his incarceration, inmate Sean Hughes Jackson shared a stark realization about his prior struggles with substance abuse.
“I was doing drugs with my mother — and I thought that was normal,” Jackson said.
Suffolk County Sheriff Errol Toulon Jr. emphasized the jail’s role in supporting rehabilitation during the Tuesday art exhibit unveiling.
“Incarceration is not a substitute for rehabilitation or treatment, but while someone is in our custody, we have a responsibility to give them every possible tool to make a different choice when they leave here,” Toulon said.