The Prison Mural Project
An ongoing project documenting murals painted by incarcerated artists inside of state prisons throughout the United States.
A Wile E. Coyote mural inside a high-security unit at SCI Muncy in central Pennsylvania, where the women confined to the unit spend 23 hours a day inside their cells.
Security cameras and Minions populate the walls of the childrens' visiting area at Grafton Correctional Institution in Ohio.
A mural reading "I am calm and relaxed" on the wall of a secured visiting room where women incarcerated at the institution meet with lawyers and therapists at SCI Muncy in Pennsylvania. Facing the wall are a set of phonebooth-sized cages where the women are held when waiting for a visit to commence.
The once grey walls of the visiting room at Noble Correctional Institution in Ohio were covered in murals during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Details of a mural in a hallway at SCI Muncy in Pennsylvania, painted by an artist who spent a decade on death row before having her sentence reduced to life in prison.
A beach scene covers the walls of a psychiatric unit at SCI Muncy. The institution opened in 1913 as the Industrial Home for Women until it was incorporated into Pennsylvania's Bureau of Corrections in 1953.
The dining area in one of the Four House unit at Belmont Correctional Institute in Ohio. Warden David Gray encourages art programs at the facility to teach new skills and give residents a positive way to impact to their environment.
Mother of three children serving a life sentence, Erica is one of several women employed as artists at the Ohio Reformatory for Women outside of Columbus, Ohio. She has painted multiple murals at the facility, including the walls of the family visiting center.
Bryan, an artist incarcerated at Belmont Correctional Institution, paints a scene honoring US military veterans on a plow blade. The work, commissioned by the Ohio Department of Transportation, will be displayed at a county fair. Bryan is employed full-time as a painter at Belmont, where he is 11 years into a 24-year sentence.
Military squadron logos decorate the walls of the Veterans Unit at Marion Correctional Institution in Ohio. Their painter, a former Marine asked if he could update the murals after noticing multiple inaccuracies in the logos.
Mural in the Veterans Unit at Belmont Correctional Institute in Eastern Ohio. The minimum and medium security state prison, which opened in 1995, houses approximately 2500 residents.
Security mirrors, cameras, and an eagle mural in the Veterans Row dormitory at Noble Correctional Institution in Ohio.
A community room at SCI Muncy in Pennsylvania painted to resemble the interior of a log cabin.
A shoeshine station in a hallway at SCI Dallas in Pennsylvania.
Artists at SCI Dallas in Pennsylvania painted a mural to honor the health care workers at the facility. The stylized teeth are a nod to the the New York City graffiti scene in that one of the artists was a part of in the 1990s.
Affirmations cover the walls of the the chow hall at SCI Dallas.
A metal detector in the entrance to Sterling Correctional Facility in Colorado.