During more than 18 years of collective incarceration, Jared Owens became a self-taught artist, working in painting, sculpture, and installation, using materials and references culled from penal matter. While imprisoned three times, across three different states, Owens began his practice by studying materials that he had access to while in prison, including art magazines, books, encyclopaedias, and critics reviews in newspapers, as well as  through collaboration with other inmates. The multidisciplinary artist’s practice calls attention to the struggles of nearly 2.5 million people under the control of the American carceral state, raising critiques concerning the legality and morality of the prison industrial complex.