Portraits of Inmates with Touching Letters To Their Younger Selves

Photos by Trent Bell

Imagine this: You're a successful individual with a family to care for, times are hard and you're trying to make ends meet. Then the job you're depending on forces you to make a mistake that consequently sentences you to 36 years of imprisonment. Years later you find yourself trapped inside prison walls and your asked to write a letter about your past self, a letter that would actually change the happenings in your life.

This actually happened for the first time in 2013 when a successful architectural photographer named Trent Bell, got inspired to make an amazing project titled The REFLECT Project: Convicts' letters to their younger selves. Shocked by the news that a friend - an educated professional and family man- had been sentenced to thirty-six years in prison, Bell asked twelve dangerous criminals in the Maine Prison to write sincere letters to their young selves before they got sentenced, and took a number of portraits along with their letters as the background.

While reading the letters of each of these inmates, it's easy to reflect on your own life and think about the times when you could have easily made a decision that would change your life forever. Check out the following photos and watch the project's vimeo for a more in depth look.

[Via Demilked]