1st place
gold star award
Matt Hussey
united kingdom 
title
Tamed - the wild horses teaching jailbirds how to tame themselves
I spent three days speaking to prisoners, listening to their stories and interviewing the guards that work on the programme. The stories of murder, kidnapping and drug abuse give way to penitence and a connection they feel with the animals, many of whom have never even seen a horse before.
In a prison system where the recidivism rate is 76.6%, according to a recent study, the rate of re-offending of those who passed through the horse gentling programme fell to just 20%.
It's a remarkable story of redemption and one I hope resonates with the panel.
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entry description
I recently traveled to Arizona state prison to produce a body of work on the prison's wild horse training program. This unique form of rehabilitation pairs prisoners with wild geldings (castrated male horses) and mares and teaches them how to tame those horses, and hopefully themselves.I spent three days speaking to prisoners, listening to their stories and interviewing the guards that work on the programme. The stories of murder, kidnapping and drug abuse give way to penitence and a connection they feel with the animals, many of whom have never even seen a horse before.
In a prison system where the recidivism rate is 76.6%, according to a recent study, the rate of re-offending of those who passed through the horse gentling programme fell to just 20%.
It's a remarkable story of redemption and one I hope resonates with the panel.
about the photographer
I am an award-winning London based photographer and writer. I tell stories in subjects as diverse as technology, lifestyle, human interest and investigative pieces including dementia, and bare-knuckle fighting. I'm a self-taught photographer who believes that empathy and understanding are what is required in order to tell meaningful stories with a lens and a pen.back to gallery
