Tracy Keza

Oscar Canales - 2018

‘Kids incarcerated’ is a story about Oscar Canales, a 15 year old boy who finds himself in and out of prisons and jails for a total period of 4 years. I met Oscar in 2019, 2 months after he had returned home early from his 7 year sentence, at the age of 19. Oscar describes his upbringing in the District of South LA as “traditionally Mexican”. In an attempt to move her family to a better part of LA, Oscar’s mother unknowingly moved her family into a heavily gang controlled neighborhood. This was Oscar's introduction to gang life where, as a teen, he was initiated as a gang member. I spent a few days with Oscar as he walked me through his old neighborhood and recounted his story .From the school-to-prison pipeline, to underfunded schools, to over policing and over sentencing communities black and brown people, It's evident that incarcerated children go through intense emotional, physical, and psychological trauma that serves more to punish than rehabilitation. This project is accompanied by an audio recording of Oscar’s story

Kids incarcerated is a story about Oscar Canales, a then 15 year old boy who found himself in and out of prisons and jails for a total of 4 years. I met Oscar in 2019, 2 months after he had returned home early from his 7 year sentence, at the age of 19. Oscar describes his upbringing in the District of South LA as traditionally Mexican. Oscar’s mother unknowingly moved her family into a heavily gang controlled neighborhood in an attempt to move her family to a better part of LA. This was Oscar's introduction to gang life whee he was initiated into a gang. I spent a few days with Oscar as he walked me through his old neighborhood and recounted his story.