Maggots in My Sweet Potatoes Takes Readers on a Powerful Visual Journey Inside Women's Jails

Humane Exposures Publishing, LLC, a socially-responsible publishing company whose mission is to drive public awareness and education about some of the most troubled areas of American society, has released the first in a trilogy of books. Maggots in My Sweet Potatoes is an in-depth, illuminating, and often heartbreaking look at the lives of women who end up in jail. Dramatic portrait photography coupled with interviews with inmates, deputies, as well as medical experts, raise questions about the powerful role of childhood experiences in shaping the people we become, and reveals an overcrowded, strained incarceration system increasingly unable to deal with the mental, emotional, and addiction problems women bring with them behind bars.

Susan Madden Lankford, founder of Humane Exposures, studied photography under Ansel Adams, Roy De Carava, Paul Caponigro and Richard Misrach. She pursued nature photography before settling down as a studio artist at home following the birth of her third daughter. The studio work flourished until two tragic events convinced Lankford she wanted to learn more about society and the injustices that people face.

Humane Exposures began as a photographic quest at the local humane society, where 36,000 stray dogs are euthanized each year. It moved into a rented jail near the San Diego waterfront, then into the streets with the homeless, to juvenile hall and finally to a women’s jail. Moved by the thought of both animal and human incarceration, Lankford got her big break when she was invited to show her street photography to a senior officer in the Sheriff’s department.

Maggots in My Sweet Potatoes will be followed by Downtown USA, which probes into the lives of our homeless population and Born, Not Raised, that examines the plight of youngsters who habitually get caught in the cycle of institutionalization. They are scheduled to publish in 2009 and 2010, respectively.

A portion of the proceeds from Maggots in My Sweet Potatoes will go to funding Humane Smarts, a non-profit foundation and related entity to Humane Exposures that provides college financial assistance/scholarships for at-risk youths.

For more information about Humane Exposures Publishing, LLC, please visit www.humaneexposures.com.