Excerpt from Banished Pride
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 consideer
to be my firend.. Keywords:
Prison Life,
Personal Narrative,
Prison Industrial
Complex,
Relationship,
Peer Support,
Reentry.
Bill of Health Rights for
Incarcerated Girls, by Girl Talk and Health & Medicine Policy Research
Group
This bill of rights was created through a participatory
research and action project by young women who were incarcerated in Cook
County's Juvenile Temporary Detention Center. It has been used to
support young women's work to improve conditions within the detention
center. Keywords:
Juvenile
Justice,
Health,
Activism.
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. Keywords:
Political Prisoners,
Prison Life,
Guard-Prisoner
Relations,
Personal
Narrative.
Voices In Time by Salome Chasnoff
This essay looks at Voices in Time, a multimedia installation
that artistically recreates a furnished prison cell, echoing with women's
stories. It was featured in Beyondmedia Education's "30 Days of Art and
Education on Women's Incarceration" and continues to tour Chicago and
surrounding areas. Keywords:
Prison Life,
Creative Writing,
Family
.
Masked Racism: Reflections on the Prison
Industrial Complex, by Angela Davis
In this essay, Angela Davis
discusses the operation and impact of the Prison Industrial Complex.
Through her examination of the economy of incarceration, Davis
demonstrates how private corporations benefit from the incarceration of
increasing numbers of people of color. Davis argues that although the
prison boom has increased the profits of global corporations, it
"devours the social wealth" of our communities by draining them of their
human and economic resources. Keywords:
Prison Industrial
Complex,
Racism.
Disabled in Prison, by Delores
Garcia
By telling her own story, Delores Garcia exposes the
injustices to which many disabled prisoners are subjected. Incarcerated
far from home, Ms. Garcia is isolated from family and friends as she
struggles to receive the medical treatment necessary to keep her alive.
Keywords:
Health.
Harsh Reality, by Dawn
Harding
This poem is about Dawn's personal experience while
being incarcerated. Keywords:
Poetry,
Personal Narrative.
Two Immigrants
Who Followed the Path to Citizenship Tell Stories of Detention and
Deportation, by Carolina Fulecio Hernandez
This interview by
Amy Goodman of Democracy Now explores women's experiences with
Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), including detention and
deportation. Carolina Fulecio Hernandez describes her arrest by ICE
agents, followed by detention and deportation to Guatemala. Sharon
Nyantekyi describes her detention at a private detention facility run by
Corrections Corporation of America. Keywords:
Family,
Immigration,
Personal Narrative.
The Vermont Women's Prison
Project, by Mary Field Belenky and Judy Harden
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. Keywords:
Prison
Life,
Guard-Prisoner
Relations,
Relationships.
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. Keywords:
Prison Life,
Prison Industrial
Complex ,
State
Violence Sexual
Violence Movement
Building Racism Public Policy Activism Community
Mapping The Way Home: Reducing Barriers to
Women's Reentry After Prison, by Patricia O'Brien
O'Brien
describes the difficulties that women face in returning to the community
after prison. She addresses the major areas of concern in women's
reentry: relationships with their families and children, housing,
relationships, substance abuse and recovery, and employment. For each
of these areas, O'Brien lists specific policy changes that could have a
positive effect on women's abilities to rebuild their lives upon their
return. Keywords:
Reentry,
Family,
Substance Abuse,
Public Policy.
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. Keywords:
Prison Life,
Native American
Prisoners,
Prison Industrial
Complex,
Personal
Narrative,
Racism, .
Rehabilitation, Orange Crush, and Little
Fallujah, by Sara Olson
Olson describes the life in prison at
Central California Women Facility. Keywords:
Prison Life,
Public Policy ,
Prison Industrial
Complex,
Personal
Narrative,
Racism,
Guard-Prisoner
Relations.
A Modern Modest Proposal by Sara Olson:
with Caren Hill, J.S., and April Watson.
Olson describes what a
prisoner goes through serving a life sentence. Keywords:
Prison Life,
Prison Industrial
Complex,
Personal
Narrative.
Environmental Essay, by Sara Jane 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. Keywords:
Abolition,
Activism,
Movement Building,
Prison Life,
Public Policy ,
Prison Industrial
Complex,
Racism.
The Conditions in Women's Prisons, by
Sara Jane 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.
Keywords:
Abolition,
Activism,
Movement Building,
Prison Life,
Public Policy ,
Prison Industrial
Complex,
Gender.
Fourth of July at CCWF July 2006, by Sara
Jane 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. Keywords:
Prison Life,
Public Policy ,
Prison Industrial
Complex,
Personal
Narrative.
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', apointed 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".
Keywords:
Prison Life,
Prison Industrial
Complex,
Personal
Narrative.
Remarks from "Race, Class, Gender and the
PIC" a panel discussion that occured as a part of Voices in Time,
Lives in Limbo, by Beth Richie
Dr. Beth Richie, Professor and
Chair of the African-American Studies department at University of
Illinois-Chicago, speaks of the sexist and racist practices that have
lead to the mass incarceration of women of color.
Listen to a clip
Keywords: Audio, Gender, Prison Industrial
Complex, Racism.
Reproductive Rights in Theory and Practice:
The Meaning of Roe v. Wade for Women in Prison, by Rachel Roth
This article is an overview of women's health care in jails and prisons,
with special attention to access to reproductive health services. It was
written for the anniversary of Roe v. Wade, and the theme is that no one
really has a "right" or a "choice" if she doesn't have access to the
resources needed to carry out that choice. The article highlights two
recent studies that are the result of collaborations between prisoners'
rights groups and public health students. Keywords: Reproductive Rights, Health.
Women's Rights Don't Stop at Jailhouse Door,
by Rachel Roth
This article is a discussion of incarcerated
women's abortion rights. The article also discusses the difficulties of
carrying a pregnancy to term on the inside and the risk that women will
lose their parental rights if they have to put their children in foster
care. Keywords: reproductive rights, Motherhood.
Beyond Gender-Specific Intervention:
Theory-driven Praxis, by Laurie Schaffner
Laurie Schaffner's
essay challenges the ways that juvenile justice programs aim to help
girls by working in 'gender responsive' ways. She claims these programs
often do little besides training young girls to 'have manners' and 'talk
about their feelings,' as opposed to critically understanding the ways
in which gender functions. Schaffner suggests that gender-specific
interventions should be responsive to young women's lived realities,
including experiences of racism and poverty. Keywords: Juvenile Justice, Gender, Public Policy.
"Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of
Happiness for Incarcerated Women": Comments from "Race, Class, Gender
and the PIC," a panel discussion that occured as a part of Voices in
Time, Lives in Limbo, by Karen Shain
Administrative
Director of San Francisco-based Legal Services for Prisoners with
Children Karen Shain unfolds the meaning of "life, liberty, and the
pursuit of happiness" for women living behind bars. Paying particular
attention to the poor healthcare provided in California jails, Shain
addresses the issue of international human rights and the violation of
these international standards in jails and prisons in the U.S. Keywords:
Health
"A Group Blog: Women, Media and
McMissile", by Silja Talvi
Administrative I’ve spent a few
months finding examples of some of the outrageous disparities between
the length of sentences given to women for less serious crimes versus
what many men get a away with for far more serious, violent crimes.
Keywords: Gender
Why A Book About Women In Prison:
(Excerpt of 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. Keywords: Health, Activism, Prison Life, Movement Building.
Living Conditions here in 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. Keywords: Health, Prison Life, Movement Building
