Photo © Matt Eich/Aurora Select

“An inmate who goes by the name ‘Paulie’ tunes a guitar in the yard while another inmate sunbathes at Hocking Correctional Facilities in Nelsonville, OH. Thought of by some inmates as ‘a place to die,’ Hocking Correctional Facilities in Nelsonville, OH is a strange combination of prison and home for the elderly. Many of its 475 inmates will never again live a free life. One prisoner said that HCF is much nicer than other prisons he’s been in because if you lie on your back, look straight up and ignore the barbed wire, you can see trees and blue skies—allowing you to imagine you’re free.”

—Matt Eich

Eich recently won the SportsShooter.com Student Photographer of the Year contest (where PDN Creative Director Darren Ching was a judge).