Many of Rodriguez’ photos show people who are in – or who have passed through – the criminal justice system.  While these images stand as psychological portraits, they also reflect the institutional violence that American society exacts on disempowered and marginalized people.

He writes, “My interest in California began with street gangs in the early 1990s. My aim was to get close to the core of violence in America—not just the physical violence, but the quiet violence of letting families fall apart, of unemployment, of our failed education system, the violence of segregation and isolation.”