Steven Katzman

The juvenile boot camp series came about because I thought it was a logical conclusion to another series I had done on prisons. I wanted to photograph these kids because, first and foremost, I was unfamiliar with the kind of delinquency they got involved with that landed them in boot camp. You and I didn’t grow up in an environment where drugs, and carjacking, and gangbanging were common. These kids have total disregard for life and for themselves. But it’s not their fault. I totally believe it is a matter of environment.

I had the opportunity to watch the indoctrination process and got permission to do a before-and-after series. This is how the initial indoctrination works: the kids are handcuffed at juvenile detention and driven in a van 15 at a time. At this point they have no idea what is in store for them and still have a street attitude. When they get to the camp, they are unshackled, and then ambushed, totally manhandled by about 45 deputies. The party has ended. The fear in these kids is incredible.

The first photograph was taken shortly after they arrived, the second about three minutes after they had their heads shaved. They haven’t gotten over the shock that the life they once new is gone, perhaps forever. The new inmates have been ridiculed, ordered around, shaved, and don’t know which way is up--and it comes across in the photographs.

LensWork Quarterly, No. 22

Epilogue: This Florida State sponsored project was abandoned because of the excessive conditions (both mental and physical), imposed upon the juveniles.

Commentary

All photography is comparison. Let me repeat that lest it go past you too fast. All photography is comparison. Those spectacular views of Yosemite by Ansel Adams are always understood in comparison to the ordinary landscape we see and live in every day. The frightening image of the burned Vietnamese girl by Huynh Cong “Nick” Ut is understood in comparison to the physical appearance of ordinary people who are not Hollywood glamorous.