Joseph Rodríguez | The Sun Magazine #3

Joseph Rodríguez

Joseph Rodríguez teaches at New York University and has published seven books of photography, including Taxi: Journey through My Windows 1977–1987.

— From August 2023
photo

May 2004

Lance now has a wife, Sarah, and two children. He still writes poetry.

May 2004

Inside Santa Clara County Juvenile Hall in San Jose, California.

photo

May 2004

When his girlfriend had a baby, Carlos decided to change his ways. He wanted to attend business college, but was discouraged by the paperwork and the cost of student loans.

May 2004

Both of Sovanny’s brothers are also in jail. His parents emigrated from Cambodia in 1981. When they arrived in America, the couple had no friends and no formal education and spoke no English. Schoolteachers and police told them to stop using corporal punishment on their children. They didn’t know how else to reprimand their boys, so they stopped disciplining them altogether.

photo

May 2004

Inside Santa Clara County Juvenile Hall in San Jose, California.

photo

May 2004

Edward, age seventeen, 1999: Edward has been in the system since he was twelve. He’s been arrested for numerous offenses, from possession of beer at school to auto theft. Now he’s been sentenced to twelve years in San Quentin for raping a minor. Edward is currently in San Jose Juvenile Hall’s maximum-security B-8 Unit for violent and high-risk youths.

May 2004

For a while, Gregorio and his girlfriend, Miriam, lived in a cheap hotel room in the Mission District, but she returned to her mother’s house, and he went back to living on the street.

Free Trial Issue Are you ready for a closer look at The Sun?

Request a free trial, and we’ll mail you a print copy of this month’s issue. Plus you’ll get full online access — including 50 years of archives.
Request A Free Issue