Resistance Behind Bars: The Struggles of Incarcerated Women

After 13 years of living in the same place, an apartment that I, with the help of many friends and community members, have built bit by bit (and bathroom fixture by bathroom fixture), I'm moving. It's been a tedious and sometimes painful process to sort 13 years worth of belongings and prepare to say good-bye to 13 years worth of memories.

I recently received a letter from a woman imprisoned in Michigan who had shared many of her stories and experiences for Resistance Behind Bars. The state of Michigan closed the Robert Scott Correctional Facility this past May and transferred all 800+ women to the Huron Valley prison (which had been a men's prison with the capacity to hold 400 men). Her (and many other women's) ordeal in both moving and continuing the adjust to the substandard and inhumane living conditions at Huron Valley definitely put my own moving experience into perspective.

Here's what she writes (and for those of you who are interested, her story, along with those of many other women incarcerated throughout the country, will appear in the fall issue of the zine Tenacious: Art and Writings from Women in Prison):

This past Monday (August 10th), I was invited to participate in Grit TV's roundtable discussion on incarceration and the recent federal court ruling mandating that California, which is at 190% capacity for its prison population, decrease its prison population by over 40,000:

The United States has the highest incarceration rate of any industrialized nation. In the face of an unprecedented economic crisis, some states are beginning to consider reducing their prison populations.

Supermax prison: Obama's books objectionable
By MATTHEW BARAKAT, Associated Press Writer

I'll be leading a workshop on incarceration, women and resistance at this year's Big She-Bang in NYC:

The Big She-Bang IV
A Celebration by Women, for Women

Contact: thebigshebang@gmail.com
FORTHEBIRDSCOLLECTIVE.ORG
myspace.com/forthebirdsnyc

Resistance Behind Bars has been reviewed in the latest issues of both Left Turn and HipMama!

Neither review is on-line, so get yourself to your favorite independent bookseller to check them out! If you lack an independent bookstore, you can order both on-line at their respective websites. (As an added bonus, you can read my essay--as well as that of my Allied Media Conference co-presenter, prison abolitionist and fellow mama Chiara Galimberti-- on motherhood and community support in HipMama!)

What is on-line is Hans Bennett's detailed review on Alternet. Check it out here.

Giving Birth in Chains: The Shackling of Incarcerated Women During Labor and Delivery
By Anna Clark

Perhaps I'm just in a pissy mood, but it really took them this long tof figure this out?

Women’s health in prison: urgent need for improvement in gender equity and social justice

By World Health Organization - Brenda J van den Bergh,a Alex Gatherera & Lars F M¸llera

Saturday, June 27th

3:00-4:00pm

For those of you who aren't regular readers of Maximum RocknRoll:

The major success of Resistance Behind Bars is that it is written so that every person can understand it -- Law uses effective statistics as well as stories and examples of prison life straight from the voices of the women living them.

Breaking Barriers