Absolute Value 

6 x 8 x 10 aims to discuss the supermax Prison system in the United States, it's concept as a form of penal punishment, and it's psychological effects on inmates. Each drawer represents one of the 48 US states [ this is of course subject to change ] that possess a supermax prison or supermax wings or sections, with other parts of the facility under lesser security measures. 

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The 6 x 8 x 10 [ in feet ] represents the average size of an individual cell - one that is solely furnished with functional furniture, as opposed to the possibility of comfort.

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"A supermax is a stand-alone unit or part of another facility and is designated for violent or disruptive inmates. It typically involves up to 23-hour-per-day, single-cell confinement for an indefinite period of time. Inmates in supermax housing have minimal contact with staff and other inmates". 

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- National Institute of Corrections

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This piece is monolithic and utterly foreboding in its structure (esp. in a gallery setting), and functions as an admonitory to our understanding of punitive laws intended to rehabilitate or solely to discipline the inmate. Each drawer represents a kind-of metaphorical filing-away of the individual, left to contemplate their transgression. They are also represented by a single word [ an embossed plastic plaque ] that conjures up the physical and mental decline of the occupant. Each plaque could be considered a memorial, or museum description.

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The psychological effects of confinement are profound, apart from constant surveillance, the prisoners can be subjected to physical and verbal abuse, [ supermax administrators and correctional officers have ample authority to punish and manage inmates, without outside review or prisoner grievance systems ]. As well as a segregated exercise yard, [ often for just one hour a day ], almost all forms of communication are removed and human contact eliminated, the resultant mental and physical decline is palpable, often leading to psychosis, or suicide-ideation. The cells are thus akin to a repeated journey into self-analysis, extreme separation anxiety and self-punishment, a human mind encased not within the body, but within the walls, floors and ceilings themselves. 

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“One of the first signs of the beginning of understanding is the wish to die. This life appears unbearable, another unattainable. One is no longer ashamed of wanting to die; one asks to be moved from the old cell, which one hates, to a new one, which one will only in time come to hate. In this there is also a residue of belief that during the move the master will chance to come along the corridor, look at the prisoner and say: "This man is not to be locked up again, He is to come with me.”

- Franz Kafka

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We must no longer be spectators to an unseen atrocity, but architects of liberty, education and rehabilitation, with a full understanding of what is correct, fair and human in deciding punitive measures [ with a truer interpretation of, punishment as retribution or punishment as example ]: without segregation, fear of violence, declining mental and / or physical health, and ultimately the assumption of freedom and respect.

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LINK 

[ a comprehensive list of global facilities ]

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