Resistance Behind Bars: The Struggles of Incarcerated Women

Yesterday, the Equal Justice Initiative (EJI) filed a complaint with the U.S. Justice Department calling for a swift and thorough federal investigation into widespread sexual abuse of women prisoners by male guards at Tutwiler Prison for Women in Wetumpka, Alabama. In interviews with more than 50 women incarcerated at Tutwiler, EJI uncovered evidence of frequent and severe officer-on-inmate sexual violence.

The Quilt in Prison

Birthing Behind Bars: Fighting for Reproductive Justice for Women in Prison

This Mother's Day, take a few minutes to find out how you can help shape a society where no woman ever has to give birth while in shackles and chains.

http://www.kitescampaigns.org/features/entry/946/mothers-day-campaign/

Media Literacy Project, Strong Families, and Thousand Kites invite you to download our Mama's Day radio special. Broadcast it on your radio station or play it at a community meeting to spark a dialogue. With your support we'll send voices through barbed-wire to our millions of neighbors behind bars this Mama's Day.

In the U.S., we have a nation inside our nation.

Unchain my heart

Monday, May 07, 2012

Trial over Holyoke woman's death in Ludlow jail begins in U.S. District Court
Monday, May 07, 2012, 9:50 PM

Twenty years ago, as Mercedes Smith went into labor, guards shackled her in chains and handcuffs for the ride from the jail to the hospital. At the hospital, they handcuffed her to a bed rail. Smith was shocked by the astoundingly cruel treatment:“I couldn’t understand where they thought I was going, in so much pain." But it wasn't unusual.

Each year, thousands of pregnant women enter jail or prison, and many of them give birth behind bars. And as they struggle through the pain of labor and the stress of delivery, some find themselves wrenching at restraints.

"Calls from Home: Mama's Day Special," a radio project that connects incarcerated mothers to their families, friends, and communities.

Media Literacy Project, Strong Families, and Thousand Kites need your help to produce "Calls from Home: Mama's Day Special," a radio project that connects incarcerated mothers to their families, friends, and communities.

In response to the state's crowded prison system and last year's U.S. Supreme Court order to reduce the population by 33,000 inmates before June 2013, California enacted a program called "realignment." Realignment allows people convicted of non-serious and nonviolent offenses to serve their time in county jails instead of state prisons. They'll also be supervised by local probation departments instead of the state's parole agency upon release.

for those of you who weren't able to make it:

Part 1: http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=pGs9Jla8GLo