Behind The Cover

By Ariel Bueno and Hugo Ocon,

the artists behind the Vol. 2, Issue 2 cover

Being incarcerated is not easy. Long bouts of loneliness are intensified by individual struggle. Many of us behind these walls and barbed wire fences understand that we are not alone and that the numerous injustices of the carceral system affect our loved ones in many ways as well.

The struggle and injustice that we all endure each day was the inspiration for this cover illustration, highlighting the injustices that occur throughout the court process and those that continue during incarceration, holding individuals beyond their point of rehabilitation with no meaningful opportunities for reintegration into society while tearing families apart. These injustices include truth-in-sentencing (which requires individuals to serve 85% or 100% of their sentence with no regard to the individuals’ rehabilitation); lack of parole (which was abolished in Illinois in 1978); and even mandatory supervised release (which adds three more years of post-release surveillance to an individual’s sentence).

The silhouettes represent the image of our families doing time with us and hoping for reunification soon. The sunrise/sunset represents the light at the end of the tunnel, when we can finally leave this dark place behind.