Resistance Behind Bars: The Struggles of Incarcerated Women

Why Being Pregnant in a Texas Lock-up Is a Living Hell
By Diane Wilson

from

We are hoping to help secure the release of another survivor Carol Sue McInnis. Please take a moment to send a free fax to Governor Schwarzenegger at http://www.freebatteredwomen.org/Alert_Carol_Sue.html urging him to release incarcerated domestic violence survivor Carol Sue McInnis.

Carol Sue McInnis a 70-year-old battered woman who has served nearly 20 years on a 15-to-life sentence for the death of her abusive and manipulative husband.

In Argentina, incarcerated mothers are allowed to keep their young children with them for the first two to four years. In the U.S., despite soaring increases in the number of women behind bars, only 9 states have recognize the importance of the mother-baby bond and have or are developing prison nursery programs.

The Women's Prison Association conducted a study of prison nursery programs and mother-baby community corrections programs, finding:

Many women parenting their infants in prison nurseries could be doing so in the community instead, the report finds.

from Free Battered Women

Dear friends:

It is with great pleasure that we announce that another domestic violence survivor will be released on parole from state prison!

Many of you know Myrtle Green, a 77-year-old woman who has been a leader at the California Institution for Women during her 21 years of incarceration. Myrtle will be released this week, after the Board of Parole Hearings *finally *upheld her 2005 parole grant after reviewing it again last week.

Myrtle's freedom is the result of the hard work of many people who

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