Resistance Behind Bars: The Struggles of Incarcerated Women

Sara Kruzan is a 31-year-old woman incarcerated at the California Institution for Women. Since the age of 9, Sara suffered from severe depression for which she was hospitalized several times. At the age of 11, she met a 31-year-old man named G.G. who molested her and began grooming her to become a prostitute. At age 13, she began working as a child prostitute for G.G. and was repeatedly molested by him. At age 16, Sara was convicted of killing him.

Books Through Bars presents:

The BOP is proposing further isolating people in Communications Management Units (more details below). There's a period for public comment that ends June 7th.

Conveniently for the BOP, the comment form is undergoing some maintenance this weekend and won't be back up until Monday, 5/31, at 11:59 pm. But that still leaves a week to leave a comment on the proposed rules.

If you can't wait till Tuesday morning, you can also snail mail your outrage to the BOP:

Rules Unit, Office of General Counsel
Bureau of Prisons
320 First Street, NW.
Washington, DC 20534

The Gray-Haired Witnesses for Justice are conducting a Hunger Strike at the Department of Justice Headquarters in Washington, DC on June 21, 2010

Contacts: Ruby Sales / B.J. Janice Peak-Graham

I first started corresponding with Marilyn Buck in late 1995/early 1996. I was a first-year college student trying to find a way to do prisoner solidarity work and feeling frustrated with the male-dominated prisoner rights/abolition movement I was encountering. 1

1. 1. This is not to say that everyone I came across this year was a sexist or patriarchal pig. I met many wonderful men involved in doing prison abolition/prisoner support work too.

Update on the case of Fahad Hashmi, a fellow Brooklyn College alumnus (and former student of my amazing professor Jeanne Theoharis) who has been held for three years in extreme solitary confinement under the Special Administrative Measures:

On Tuesday April 27, Fahad Hashmi took a government plea bargain. He pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy for allowing an acquaintance to store waterproof socks, ponchos and raincoats in his apartment. The government dropped the other three charges.

If you missed the panel discussion on the many faces of imprisonment, fear not! You can listen to it here: http://www.archive.org/details/TheManyFacesOfImprisonment

What does mass incarceration have to do with immigrant detention and the War on Terror? How are these all different names of the same repression?

If you missed my workshop at the NYC Anarchist bookfair, don't panic! It was recorded and posted on-line:

Women in Prison: Improve their Lives, Not the System

Despite the growing numbers of women in prison, discussions about prison abolition largely focus on the incarcerated male. Conversations about prison abolition often do not address the fact that there are over 2 million people currently behind bars who need immediate, tangible changes in order to survive.

March was a busy month.

Resistance Behind Bars author Victoria Law has been awarded the respected PASS (Prevention for a Safer Society) Award. The PASS Award recognizes national publications that "focus America's attention on our criminal and juvenile justice systems in a thoughtful and considerate manner." Ironically, as a youth, Law was one of those kids that might rob you in the street.