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Photographs by JOE CANTRELL

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We all have a picture in our minds of what a prison inmate is. A hardened individual rotting in a cell, locked safely away from polite society. But what about those people who just made mistakes — those who had habits that couldn’t be broken by normal means? Still Doing Life, a photo exhibition continuing through Oct. 30 at Beaverton City Hall, attempts to answer this by giving another voice to the incarcerated through portraiture and essays. 

The first thing you notice about these photos is the light behind the eyes of the inmates. Every one of them has aged 25 years since the first round of photos were taken. There is a certain form of wisdom present in the faces of humans who have been both victims and perpetrators of the worst forms of violent crime. The essays that accompany the photos harbor a crushingly intimate view of the inner lives of the incarcerated.

Howard Zehr, a semi-retired professor at the Zehr Institute for Restorative Justice at Eastern Mennonite University in Virginia, set out in 1990 to tell the story of 75 lifers in the Pennsylvania Corrections System. Changing Lenses: A New Focus for Crime and Justice was the result. Changing Lenses was first a traveling exhibit, then a book: Zehr wanted to change the way Americans view the incarcerated.

“I’m always interested in things that will make people think,” Zehr said of the first book. “I wanted to challenge stereotypes and present people in a way that would allow people to encounter them with the stereotypes, and let them just listen to the voices. All this dialogue we have is so often just symbolic, just using the shades and the stereotypes. I wanted to use this as a catalyst to make people think about people in prison, to think about life sentences, and this was one way to do it.”

According to Zehr, Changing Lenses was written at a time when the Justice and Corrections Departments were far more progressive than they are today. This made access to the inmates much easier for Zehr early on in his professorial and photographic careers.  

Over the years, Zehr has developed deep working relationships with some of the inmates he interviewed. He recalled one conversation in particular in which he and the inmate spoke about what they do to get going in the morning. Zehr prefers to start his day with espresso. The individual he spoke with that day responded differently. 

“I get up in the morning and have to figure out what I am going to have to do to give my life some meaning, otherwise there is no reason to keep going,” Zehr said, quoting the inmate.

“It is really true for them,” Zehr continued. “They have to make meaning out of what they did and their situation they are in. A lot of times that is by trying to do some good, somehow. Many of them have tried to find a place (in the prison) to do good, but they are limited in what they can do. So they do things like hold fundraisers for victims. They bring kids in and talk to them. This is really important to them.” 

John Frederick “Freddie” Nole is one of the featured lifers in the most recent book, Still Doing Life, and was also in the first book of the series, Doing Life, published in 1996. A minor when he was convicted — he was only 17 when he first went to prison on multiple charges, including one count of murder — he was also one of the few released from his sentence.

“Nole is a great example of how a person who makes a horrible mistake as a teenager can transform himself into a man who can make valuable contributions … In the 47 years he has been in prison (he was released in his 50th year) he has established a prison program designed to help prisoners and their families build stronger relationships,” Stephanie Jirard of PBS station WHYY wrote in a 2016 article, Time for a new approach to juvenile sentencing in Philadelphia.

In that time, he served as a worship leader (Nole became a Christian in the early 1970s) and has received many community service awards, including the Spirit of Philadelphia award. Upon leaving the Pennsylvania corrections system, he continued his work with Christian ministries in outreach programs aimed at other inmates.

According to the Yokefellowship Prison Ministry website, Nole is the co-director of the ministry’s Meeting at the Door program, a support system for recently released individuals. Yokefellowship, founded in the 1950s by D. Elton Trueblood, a Quaker college chaplain and top advisor to Dwight Eisenhower, helps support and counsel current and formerly incarcerated people across Pennsylvania.

After a couple weeks of trying to get in touch with Mr. Nole through various organizations, an email address finally surfaced. He responded to my email immediately and was thrilled to speak about the project.

“For me, I was excited to get the opportunity to talk about the changes people make while incarcerated. People want to demonize prisons and say that they don’t work,” said Nole. “Nothing is 100%, but a certain percentage of people that want to change, will, and need to be supported. You can’t paint all these people with such a broad brush.”

He elaborated on the changes that have occurred within him over the 50 years he spent in the Pennsylvania prison system. 

“For me, it was realizing what I did when I was younger, because I didn’t see where I fit into the world. Now, I know whatever I did to go in, isn’t going to happen anymore,” he said. “I am gratified by all the people that helped me along.” 

Nole continues to work toward his goal of helping as many men as possible when they get out. His work with Meeting at the Door allows him to have a direct impact on the lives of these people coming back into society.

“We brought a guy out earlier this month and got him right into a program. Took him up to Clearfield County (Pennsylvania), provided him with transportation, clothes and the resources he needed to try to get his life going. We service anyone that comes out, and partner with different organizations that help provide some of the goods and services.”

Meeting at the Door also has a YouTube channel, featuring nine videos that highlight one or two newly free individuals each episode.

Even with all the work Nole has done with prison outreach over the last forty years, finding a “normal” job after release has proven difficult. 

University of Washington Tacoma professor and restorative justice advocate Barb Toews was Zehr’s co-author and facilitator for Still Doing Life. She helped write, edit and arrange the book and is an accomplished academic and author as well. 

“I’m the one that ordered the photos based on how I thought they should appear,” Toews said. “It was all based on what they (the inmates) said and who they were and what we wanted to find in the interviews. When those were put together, you realize that it is this idea of transcending this really, really terrible situation, and we realized that there was some real trauma and healing themes in there. I took those and turned them into the closing essay of the book.

“They find a lot of ways to discover meaning. I would say that is just part of trauma and the healing process. Needing to find the meaning in what you have experienced in your life, whether it is incarceration or racialized trauma … all sorts of things.”

With regard to the Still Doing Life exhibit, other issues also needed to be addressed.

“I feel like if the general public knew more about this type of exhibit, specifically this one, and were more privy to the inner lives and workings of these people that have been incarcerated for this length of time, then their empathy would grow by leaps and bounds,” Toews continued. “The stereotyping would absolutely just fall away. The reduction of the stereotyping and social distance can really bring that empathy around.

“I have shown people photos cut out from the first book. I ask them to pick a photo of someone that they connect with and talk about why they picked that picture. When people see the photographs I ask them, ‘Who is this person, what qualities do you think they have, and then maybe you could have a cup of tea and a really meaningful conversation with them.’

“They will usually say, ‘I like her eyes,’ or ‘He reminds me of my dad.’ I’ll tell them after that, that these are all people that committed homicide. After that they have to rethink who these people are that commit violence, and what we are doing with them. Then they read the words about how they found a way through the experience. It makes them ask the question of how we can be with and walk with people that have committed violence. We want to plant the seed for folks to start thinking about it with empathy, realizing that people aren’t static and that they actually can change.”

Both Toews and Zehr are members of the Mennonite community, a Christian denomination known for its pacifism and open minded views on forgiveness and reconciliation.

Carley Adams, program manager for the Center for Mediation and Dialogue at the City of Beaverton, mirrors Toews’ sentiment. 

“The main thing is the opportunity to dive deeper, to more fully understand the depth of experience of how we feel about crime,” Adams said. “We are hearing directly from people about their experience and not just how we deal with stereotypes and assumptions.”

Beaverton’s mayor, Lacey Beaty, also released a statement about the exhibit. 

“I believe that the art we feature at City Hall should reflect our community’s values, and I’m proud of the work of our art team for pulling together powerful and relevant installations. This sobering display reminds us of the personhood of those that are incarcerated and makes us think of how we value human life.”

Toews’ final essay in Still Doing Life is a powerful treatise on learning, growing and healing. The following passage originated in that essay.

“Lifers face a lifelong threat to their identity, which puts them in a constant struggle to retain their humanity and search for meaning in their lives. For some, a life sentence shatters most, if not all, of what they believed to be true about the world, such as opportunities for second chances and redemption. A life sentence is a deep wound to the very humanity of the men and women who live with these sentences.”

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Still Doing Life is part of the Beaverton City Hall “revolving exhibits” showcase, and runs through August 30. It is free and open to the public.