Carrie Reichardt

The Treatment Rooms

In 2000 I was working as a community
mosaic artist and saw an advert in the Big
Issue by the charity Human Writes asking
people to befriend people on death row.
I applied and became a penpal to Luis
Ramirez who was on death row in Texas. Our
friendship inspired me to decide to mosaic
the entire outside walls of my house and turn
it into some mad, outsider type grotto hence The Treatment Rooms.
His murder by the State of Texas compelled me
to dedicate my creative energies to trying
to engage with others and raise awareness
about injustice. Following his death I, along
with friends made a 22ft mosaic mural in
his memory on the back of my house which
is inlaid with radical text and quotes. A few
years later I also started to write to political
prisoners in Angola Prison (Louisiana State
Penitentiary), former black panthers who have
spent over 3 decades in solitary confinement.
Their names are Herman Wallace and Albert
Woodfox, otherwise known as the Angola
3 (the third Robert King was exonerated
in 2001) and Kenny (Zulu) Whitmore. My
involvement with campaigning for these
prisoners has become the driving force
behind the work of The Treatment Rooms. Last
year, Robert King unveiled a 40ft mosaic mural
on the back on my house to highlight there
cases. Over the years various friends and
artists have join forces with me and many now
also write to the Angola 3 and Zulu.