This Photographer Searched for Humanity in Bulgaria’s Most Infamous Prison

The latest World Population report reveals that about 11.5 million people are in penal institutions around the world, with the prison population being on the rise since the pandemic. In Europe, this surge has led to overcrowding of prisons, which the facilities are ill-equipped to handle. For instance, in the quaint country of Bulgaria, the prison rate is at 86.2% per 1000 residents, while they have one of the highest proportions of inmates aged 65 or over, raising questions about the healthcare system in such institutions. To understand what life inside these facilities truly looks like, Sophia-born photographer, Vladimir Karamazov, ventured into Bulgaria's most feared prisons. What he came back with paints a harrowing picture of what real confinement can do to the human spirit.