November 2nd, 2026
“It stung like a violent wind that our memories depend
On a faulty camera in our minds”
from the song “Sarah Said”, by Death Cab for Cutie
The young woman wanted a picture of herself and her five-year-old son. That seemed like a simple enough request, but it wasn’t. Due to the fact that the woman is incarcerated, nothing is simple. Everything becomes complicated very quickly.
Women in the prison frequently want to have their photos taken with family members, especially with their children. During visiting hours, there is an inmate assigned to snap pictures and make hard copies for the women and for the visitors. Of course, like everything else having to do with the Department of Corrections, there is a fee involved. Each picture only costs two dollars, but there is a convoluted payment process involved.
Upon entering the visiting area of the prison, friends or family members are allowed to bring with them a credit/debit card or cash, but not both. I prefer to bring a credit card to use in the vending machines. They operate sometimes like slot machines in that you might put in money and not get anything back out, or you might hit the jackpot and receive two items for one payment. If I get burned buy a machine, I can always dispute the charge on my card. If pump cash into the machine and get nothing back, I’m kind of out of luck.
To get a photo, a visitor has to use cash (and that has to be in singles), so a person has to bring in sufficient paper money to purchase a picture and any snacks that the inmate and others might desire. I brought in $25, and that was barely enough to satisfy all demands. Now, I could not pay the inmate with the camera directly. No, I had to pump two singles into a machine that gave me gold-colored tokens that I could then offer to the photographer. The woman wanted a picture for herself and one for her boy to take home, so I had to use the machine twice. Fine, whatever.
When we came to visit the young woman, she informed us that the pictures had to be taken within fifteen minutes of arrival. Why? Who cares? It really doesn’t matter. Just get it done. I paid the tokens and the woman and her boy got up to be photographed. They stood in front of a backdrop that looked like a Winter Wonderland scene. The prison also has a backdrop that looks like the beach of a tropical island. I guess the idea is for the people in the picture to appear to be enjoying life absolutely anywhere that is not that facility. The vacation effect was somewhat ruined by the fact that the young woman was wearing drab green inmate clothing. The boy gave his mama a big hug and a matching smile. They looked happy together.
We eventually received the two photos. They kind of sucked. The images were blurry. That annoyed me. The mom was okay with it. She just wanted a picture to hang in her locker to remind her that she had actually been hugging her boy. She does not plan on keeping the photo after she gets released. She doesn’t want it as a memento of good times. She wants it as a promise of a future reunion with her son.
I am looking at our copy of the picture now. It makes me think of my memories, in particular those from my childhood. I can only conjure up a few images from all those years ago, and they are as blurry as this photo. What will the boy remember? Maybe it would be best if his memories are fuzzy too.
