The Weeks After Getting Out

In late July, 58-year-old Scott Ortiz was released from New York’s Fishkill Correctional Facility, and I met him outside the prison to start photographing the first few weeks of his transition home. Reentry has been a recurring subject throughout my photojournalism career, but this was the first time I was documenting an older adult upon release.

Ortiz is what I’d call a veterano of prison life: The South Bronx native has been in and out of prison since his early 20s. In 2006, he was sentenced to 15 years to life — rather than the two- to four-year minimum — for burglary. Ortiz is a former heroin addict who was diagnosed with HIV and hepatitis C; in sentencing him, the judge relied on judicial discretion and stated that, “if released, he may well return to the life of a street addict, thereby endangering the public health through the exchange or sharing of dirty needles.”

I know what it’s like to be an addict. Like Ortiz, I grew up in New York and became addicted to heroin as a teenager. And I was a juvenile offender, sent to Rikers Island twice for burglary. After my second release, I found photography. It saved me and allowed me to re-envision my life. I got clean at age 26. I’ve been a photojournalist for 34 years now, and I see my work as reflections of my experiences: generations of violence, adolescents in prison and families of the incarcerated. I know that just because you are an addict doesn’t mean you can’t change.

Upon his release, Ortiz was determined to do things differently this time. His reentry opened my eyes to services available to the formerly incarcerated with HIV, like housing and transportation. Ortiz was on a merry-go-round of social services and appointments, but his story was so much more than that. I witnessed the journey of a man working to overcome health issues while reuniting with his family and a changing city.

Read The Weeks After Getting Out” by Joseph Rodriguez in The Washington Post.