The popular HBO series The Wire introduced us to the grim reality of drugs, gangs, and life in poverty in Baltimore, Maryland.
It was filmed in and around the city from 2002 to 2008, using its urban grit as a natural backdrop, and it featured local residents as extras and even in small supporting roles.
Five years after the show wrapped, it seems that nothing has changed for Baltimore's poverty-stricken neighborhoods, dark streets and boarded houses.
AP photographer Patrick Semansky captured that state of the city's poorest areas in a photo essay this month.
Baltimore has lost nearly a third of its population since its peak of about 950,000 residents in the 1950s.
In this April 8, 2013 picture, two young men walk through a neighborhood of vacant row houses in Baltimore. Baltimore has lost nearly a third of its population since it peaked in the 1950s, and today an estimated 16,000 buildings are vacant or abandoned. (AP Photo/Patrick Semansky)
More than 4,000 people are homeless. Some choose shelters, other become squatters on abandoned properties. In the picture below, two homeless men eat ice cream cones across the street from a block of vacant row houses.
In this Tuesday, April 9, 2013 photo, two homeless men who gave their names as Earl, right, and Angelo, eat ice cream cones across the street from a block of vacant row houses in Baltimore. A biennial census of Baltimore's homeless population that is mandated by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development counted more than 4,000 homeless people in 2011. Some choose to seek shelter in the city's estimated 16,000 buildings that are vacant or abandoned. (AP Photo/Patrick Semansky)
A homeless man displays a pin that holds his jaw together, which he said he received after being beaten and robbed while sleeping in a vacant row house, seen behind him, in Baltimore.
In this April 9, 2013 picture, a homeless man who gave his name as Angelo, displays a pin that holds his jaw together that he said he received after being beaten and robbed while sleeping in a vacant row house, seen behind him, in Baltimore. A biennial census of Baltimore's homeless population that is mandated by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development counted over 4,000 homeless people in 2011. Some choose to find shelter in the city's estimated 16,000 buildings that are vacant or abandoned. (AP Photo/Patrick Semansky)
See the rest of the story at Business Insider
Please follow Business Insider on Twitter and Facebook.