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women awarded monetary damages for staff sexual assault

In 1964, the Civil Rights Act was passed. Title VII of the act prohibits gender discrimination in employment, meaning that both male and female guards have the right to gender-neutral employment in prisons housing prisoners of the opposite gender. Given that most states have only one to two female prisons but many more male prisons, this has usually been applied to female guards’ right to employment in male facilities. However, Title VII also prohibits discriminating against male officers in female prisons.

Virginia women's prison segregated lesbians, others

Virginia women's prison segregated lesbians, others

California: money for prisons, but not for treatment

especially not for women of color...

Budget Cuts to End Watsonville Women's Recovery Program

WATSONVILLE, Calif. - For a quarter of a century, Watsonville' s Hermanas Residential Recovery program has been the only place in south Santa Cruz County designated for women to treat drug addiction.

Resistance Behind Bars reviewed in Social Responsibilities Round Table newsletter!

From the latest Social Responsibilities Round Table (of the American Library Association) newsletter:

There have been a number of excellent books written in recent years regarding the United States’ prison system (Christian Parenti’s Lockdown America and Sasha Abramsky’s Hard Time Blues come to mind). Resistance Behind Bars is different because it is self-consciously written from an activist standpoint.

Using Media to Connect People Inside and Out (AMC 2009)

At this year's Allied Media Conference in Detroit from July 17 to 19th:

Using Media to Connect People Inside and Out

(Sunday, July 19th, 10 to 11:30 am)

What are the concrete barriers to the flow of information across prison walls? How can they be overcome? This panel will address the physical, technological and intellectual barriers of media access to and from prisons.

Victoria Law will address the increasing challenges of getting independent media coverage *inside* prisons.

Boston event--Monday, June 15th, 6:30 pm

Join us for an evening with Vikki Law!

We will gather to listen to some of her words and talk about the realities of women's lives locked within the United States prison system. At this time there are 2.4 million people in prison with Black women being the fastest growing popula- tion getting locked up. We must learn about the strategies of resistance women have been using for years. The lessons from the past can shape our work for the future.

pending Texas bill prohibits shackling of pregnant women in prison & jails

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

help free survivor Carol Sue McInnis!

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.

study of prison nursery and community corrections programs

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.

DV survivor Myrtle Green released from prison

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

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