Resistance Behind Bars: The Struggles of Incarcerated Women

When we talk about prisoners, we’re still mostly thinking of men.

And the mental imagery that the subject conjures — from the TV show “Oz” perhaps, or “The Shawshank Redemption,” or from the Willie Horton ad of the 1988 presidential election — now belies a subtle yet, for those involved, explosive change. For during the 1990s, while the number of males in U.S. prisons grew by an astronomical 77 percent, the number of women grew by an even more astonishing 108 percent.

Still, only 7 percent of all those in state or federal prison are women.

Female offenders continue to fill state prisons

Associated Press - May 1, 2009 6:35 PM ET

MCLOUD, Okla.

Joy O'Shea Woomer, a woman incarcerated at Lancaster County Prison, has set up a blog describing her environment and her legal process:

*Resistance** Behind Bars: The Struggles of Incarcerated Women*

at Left Forum, I participated in a discussion on women, incarceration and resistance with:

Diana Block (Chair) - California Coalition for Women Prisoners
Laura Whitehorn - former anti-imperialist political prisoner & editor, POZ magazine
Soffiyah Elijah - human rights attorney, Harvard Law School Criminal Justice Institute

The audio for the talk can be found here:
http://www.archive.org/details/WomenOnTheMarginsIncarcerationAndResistan...

with members of Power Inside

: Reading and discussion about women, incarceration and resistance

Friday, April 24, 7 pm

Red Emma's Bookstore Coffeehouse
800 St. Paul St.
Baltimore, MD 21202
(410) 230-0450
info@redemmas.org

BOOKS THROUGH BARS NYC presents...

A Night of ART & RESISTANCE
slideshow performance, music & discussion

Friday May 8th, 8pm

*SETH TOBOCMAN*
author of Disaster & Resistance: Comics and Landscapes for the 21st Century

*PETER KUPER*
author of Stop Forgetting to Remember: The Autobiography of Walter Kurtz and the upcoming Diario de Oaxaca

Reading and discussion at In Other Words Feminist Bookstore and Resource Center

Tuesday, May 12, 7 pm

8 B NE Killingsworth St
Portland, OR 97211
Tel: 503-232-6003

Wednesday, May 13 2009 @ 07:00 PM

921 SW Oak St.
Portland, OR 97205

A public education event sponsored by Books to Prisoners--Seattle :

Authors to Speak on the Rapid Rise of Women in Prison

The number of women in prison has nearly tripled within the past 2 decades. As of December, 2007, there were over 1,500 women in Washington State prisons alone.