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THE PHOTOS ON THIS SITE WERE TAKEN IN THE DADE COUNTY JAIL, MIAMI, FLORIDA IN JULY, 1999. THEY INCLUDE BOTH STAFF AND INMATES.

The picture above is the Civic Center, just up the river from downtown Miami. The building in the foreground is the Public Defenders' headquarters. In the background is the Court House, the "Justice Building". Between the two, the largest, is the Dade County Jail....officially the "Pretrial Detention Center".

Built in 1959 in the style of "first generation" jails (bars, heavy walls, steel doors) it has housed as many as 2500 inmates although it was designed for 1000. Currently only 1500 call it home and few are sleeping on the floor.

Even at its most crowded, county corrections has strived to make the DCJ a reasonably humane environment. Not yet convicted of anything (pretrial status in most cases), inmates eat well, have access to commissary purchases, religious services, medical, psychiatric and dental care, educational classes, counselors, family visits, exercise yards, air-conditioning and television.

However, life in the DCJ is not exactly paradise. In essence it is a large warehouse where human beings are caged for weeks, months, years. Like all jails and prisons, it is not always a pleasant place.

The faces you will see here live and work in that world. As a photographer I have tried to capture in their eyes the effects that the environment has had on them. There are some fine people in jail........ staff and inmates.
I know............. I work there!