Prison Industrial Complex
20 Prison Industrial Complex articles categorized as: Prison Life
A Maypole in Prison
by
Starhawk
“When Pagans get their rights, everyone gets their rights,” say Patrick McCollum, who for the last fifteen years has volunteered to serve as a Pagan chaplain in the California prisons. McCollum, a talented jewelry designer and craftsman by nature, has in the last decade spent the bulk of his time—and money—helping prisoners and making interfaith alliances worldwide.
When I think back
by
Rachel Galindo
Galindo shares her story about the supportive relationships in prison that have helped her to endure prison life.
Bonnie, Frannie & Linda RIP
by
Jerrye Broomhall
Every year the legislature approves the necessary extra millions to keep Oklahoma’s mass imprisonment binge solvent. Due to the economic downturn, however, the funds are no longer available and the mandate to fund Oklahoma’s prisons is no longer compelling to the cash-strapped legislature.
Why Does Popular Culture Treat Prison Rape As a Joke?
by
Anna Clark
There’s no soap-dropping counterpart "joke" referring to the abuse of female inmates. Ultimately, these distorted punch-line/silence memes enforce each other and perpetuate the reality of prison rape.
The Prison Industrial Complex in Indigenous California
by
Stormy Ogden
Ogden describes the historical legacy of the racism, abuse and mistreatment of Native American peoples in the United States at the hands of the U.S. government. She connects their history with the current imprisonment of Native Americans, including her own story to demonstrate the oppressive impact of incarceration.
United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women
by
Bonnie Kerness
These past years hve been full of thousands of calls and complaints of increasingly distrubing nature from prisoners and their families throughout the United States. The proportion of those complaints coming from women has risen, with women describing conditions of confinement, which are torture.
Life’s Turning Points
by
Karen Johnson
Karen tells how her life has taken an unexpected turn through incarceration. Trying to hold on to the bonds of wife and mother while doing time.
Freedom Fantasy
by
Sara Olson
In March, 2008 I was released from Central California Women’s Facility (CCWF) in Chowchilla, California after over six years in prison. I won a writ, a portion of one anyway, in October, 2007 in Los Angeles that agreed with my attorneys that the Board of Parole Hearings (BPH) had violated my double jeopardy right by adding a year to a sentence that a real court had already addressed. I got half-time, so six months were deducted from my sentence and the BPH commanded staff at CCWF to release me March 17, as the court had ordered.
A Modern Modest Proposal
by
Sara Olson
The systems of federal and state and corporate imprisonment, the Prison/Industrial Complex, are growth industries in the United States. While there has been much attention worldwide to the human rights travesty of massive American incarceration, criticism has brought no reduction, only growth in the numbers. Incarceration is aimed at a certain group of people Blacks, Latinos, and the poor.
Environmental Essay
by
Sara Olson
The systems of federal and state and corporate imprisonment, the Prison/Industrial Complex, are growth industries in the United States. While there has been much attention worldwide to the human rights travesty of massive American incarceration, criticism has brought no reduction, only growth in the numbers. Incarceration is aimed at a certain group of people Blacks, Latinos, and the poor.
The Conditions in Women’s Prisons
by
Sara Olson
Today in California, there are 22,000 women, inmates and parolees, whose convictions are for, on the whole, non-violent and drug-related crimes. Women normally plea-bargain their cases. Even for violent crimes, we are usually sentenced as aiders and abettors. Because we are fallen women, our sentences tend to be longer than those for men convicted of the same crimes. When it comes to murder, women primarily kill abusers who have been torturing them for many years. Public financing for women’s prisons is money misspent.
Fourth of July at CCWF July 2006
by
Sara Olson
Olson tell of a Fourth of July and Life at CCWF When you come into the CDC, it’s a whole different world. It’s like t third world country. You’re completely cut off from civilization. I was freaked out when I got here. I was sure some of the prisoners were men. ‘Are they men? I asked. I had no idea You’re isolated.
Are We Really Innocent Before Proven Guilty?
by
Jennifer Price
Jennifer tells her experience in the criminal justice system. In my experience a Public Defender is more like a ‘figurehead’, appointed to the poor to give the illusion of fair representation and justice for all. My Public Defender advised me to accept one of the plea bargains. I looked at him and said, “But I am not guilty”. He said that didn’t really matter because I looked guilty”.
Why A Book About Women In Prison: (Excerpt From Women Behind Bars) “Health Care Can Be Deadly”
by
Silja Talvi
This question is entirely valid, the deeper I began to delve into the underlying reasons for the rapid growth of girls and women in lock-up, the more insight I gained into a world that few outsiders see, much less understand. Once I began to pay particularly close attention to the ways in which females in the criminal justice system were portrayed in the media, it became clear to me that stereotypes and judgments about “fallen women” from centuries ago were still holding fast.
Living Conditions Here in the CCWF
by
Patricia Wright
This article tells of the unfair treatment, unsanitary, and overcrowding living conditions of CCWF and how the inmates are forced to live in these conditions. California has the largest female institution in America and it is still overcrowded. The overcrowdings of the institution leads to daily fights, unsanitary chow halls, and a exhausted staff to run the institution.
The Vermont Women’s Prison Project
by
Judy Harden
and Mary Field Belenky
Based on extensive interviews with both staff and incarcerated women in one Vermont prison, this article examines the supportive relationships women form with one another and with “good” guards. The authors discuss the women’s and guards’ stories about positive changes within women’s behavior and outlook during their incarceration, emphasizing the importance of new-found relationships and trust in supporting such changes.
Suicide City
by
Sara Olson
In March, 2008 I was released from Central California Women’s Facility (CCWF) in Chowchilla, California after over six years in prison. I won a writ, a portion of one anyway, in October, 2007 in Los Angeles that agreed with my attorneys that the Board of Parole Hearings (BPH) had violated my double jeopardy right by adding a year to a sentence that a real court had already addressed. I got half-time, so six months were deducted from my sentence and the BPH commanded staff at CCWF to release me March 17, as the court had ordered.
Voices in Time
by
Salome Chasnoff
This essay from Feminist Studies, looks at Voices in Time, a multimedia installation that artistically recreates a furnished prison cell, echoing with women’s stories.
Prison Life: A Day
by
Marilyn Buck
Marilyn Buck illustrates a prisoner’s determined efforts to reaffirm her own humanity in the face of constant indignities by describing one day of her own life in prison. Buck is a political prisoner serving eighty years in prison. She has been an active supporter of the Black Liberation movement and other struggles for self-determination.
Excerpt from Banished Pride
by
Gina Autrey
I have a hard time trusting others. My friendship is not something that is given freely. I can count on one hand the people who I truly consider to be my friend.