LENSED: Evan Martin

THERE'S SOMETHING SAD about a prison bus. Seeing one on the road, most people look only once and then turn away: word to the mothers and fathers that life doesn't always flow like a child's summer dreams. Young bloods hanging together or cruising in cars might snicker and joke, but they'd do the same thing in a graveyard at night, denying that coffins could wait in their future. A prison bus is a concept gone wrong, like worms in a Big Mac or Mickey Mouse in KKK robes. maybe it's because a bus is such a harmless, friendly thing... a bright yellow one carries kids full of dreams, and a Greyhound is silver and gleaming and going somewhere. A prison bus goes nowhere. its route is a sideslip in time, like a wrong turn down a dead-end road, leaving its travelers confused and angry and late for their true destinations. Excerpt from the highly recommended Six Out Seven by Jess Mowry. Images: Evan Martin, various photographers.