Pin-ups and German Flags: How Inmates Decorate Their Cells

This article originally appeared on VICE Germany

Photographer Sina Niemeyer spent the last three years visiting prisons in Lower Saxony, Germany, to see what the inside of prisoners' cells look like. Those cells are on average 10,5 square meters [about 1130 square foot], and their occupants are allowed to decorate them however they like. Of course, there are some basic guidelines – for instance, inmates are not allowed to move furniture around or have objects that can be used as weapons, while posters have to be attached to wooden boards. But the rest is up to the inmates, and the freedom to make their own interior decorating choices is basically the only freedom they have.

Niemeyer was curious to see how people made use of that, which led to her photo book 10,5 m2 Freiheit (10,5 m2 of freedom). The inmates she photographed were incarcerated for crimes like drug trade, fraud and manslaughter. "For many of them, how they decorate their cell is really important," Niemeyer says. They all made different choices, although having a poster of a naked lady on the wall is pretty common. "One cell I photographed was basically empty. The inmate deliberately didn't decorate it as a punishment to himself."

Scroll down for more of Sina Niemeyers series 10,5 m2 Freiheit.