The United States has the highest incarceration rate in the world, with the tentacles of the criminal justice system reaching far beyond the prison walls. Brett Story’s deftly photographed and elegantly structured The Prison in Twelve Landscapes shows how this reality is shaping all facets of life by filming not prisons but the areas and people all around them, connected by proximity, money, family, and work. Through vignettes showcasing communities desperate for prison jobs, people paying exorbitant fines for minor offenses, and the making of urban real estate fortresses across the country, Story weaves together a captivating essayistic depiction of our quotidian carceral nation.