Laurence Rasti

“The average Swiss does not end up in prison, especially not the rich Swiss.”
Excerpt from conversation with A., September 2023, Établissement de Détention de La Promenade (EDPR).

This observation by a person detained sums up the central problem addressed in this work. The over-representation of
vulnerable people in the Swiss prison system is glaring. Through in-depth discussions with incarcerated people, as well as contributions from academics, the project seeks to make visible the underlying reasons for this reality, which appears to be a deliberate punishment of the poor. The project is a collaborative effort in which the people in detention create pinhole and cyanotype images of the inside of the walls, allowing them a space to express themselves and becoming co-authors and experts of their own situation. At the same time, excerpts from their testimonies were engraved in concrete, confronting the silence of the prison walls in the echoes of prison graffiti. The project aims to provoke critical reflection on the
prison system and its inherent deficiencies, challenging societal norms and policies that criminalize poverty and migration.

The project was undertaken as part of the Neuchâtel Photographic Investigation Grant 2024, published by Scheidegger & Spiess and exhibited at the Museum of Fine Arts Le Locle (MBAL) in 2024-2025. The publication is accompagned by a contribution of Luca Gnaedinger «Who Are Prisons Made For?» and a conversation with Federica Martini and Laurence Rasti «Speaking Out»