Former public defender Sara Bennett has photographed women serving life sentences for homicide in New York State prisons for over a decade. The resulting photobook, Looking Inside: Women with Life Sentences, recently published by Kehrer Verlag, pairs Bennett’s portraits with handwritten letters, drawings, and other ephemera to capture the depth, humanity, and strength of her protagonists, refusing to reduce women to the crimes that put them behind bars. 

The book received warm reviews from The Guardian, Il Manifesto, and Huck, among others, praising Bennett’s nuanced and layered approach. Sandrine Hermand-Grisel, founder and director of All About Photo, writes in her book review:

“In a culture that often prefers simple stories and quick judgments, Looking Inside makes room for complexity. It does not excuse harm, but it also refuses to let harm become the whole story. By pairing understated portraits with the women’s own words, Bennett has created a book that feels emotionally honest without becoming sentimental, and thoughtful without becoming didactic. The project shows what documentary photography can do when it values attention over certainty. Bennett asks readers to look carefully enough to see lives that cannot be reduced to a single defining act.”

The book launch will be held at the Brooklyn Public Library’s Central Branch on September 29, 2026, at 6:30pm. Learn more and sign up here.

Preview pages from the book:

Written by Kasiet Toktomusheva