Resistance Behind Bars: The Struggles of Incarcerated Women

it is an incredible book. i had to put it down several times because i was crying. the stories in there speak to a word that i have just learned to re posses. bravery. and courage. and solidarity.

but also it speaks to me of what an amazing gift it is to be able to organize, build community, speak up for ourselves and our loved ones. whenever whereever we are able to do this is a celebration of our being ness....

vikki’s book is not only a book about the resistance of women’s prisoners. it is also a model for how we tell stories. and how she in the writing of this book and for years before encourages other women, mainly imprisoned women but not only, to write their stories.

please pick this book up. these are stories that so many of us need to hear.

also she has a great resource catalogue in the back of the book for how to work in solidarity with women prisoners.

full review here

AND from Prison Photography:

Speaking

“How many people know about the Attica prison riots?” asked Vikki Law. The majority of the audience raised hands. “How many of you have heard of the August Rebellion?” she then asked. No response. Point made.

The August Rebellion was staged in 1974 by women imprisoned at New York’s maximum-security prison at Bedford Hills. Protesting the brutal beating of a fellow prisoner, the women fought off guards, holding seven of them hostage, and took over sections of the prison.

Writing

Vikki Law wrote Resistance Behind Bars to counter the historical erasure of women’s prison resistance. The book challenges the reader to question why these instances and efforts have been ignored and why many assume that women do not organize to demand change. It fills the gap in the existing literature, which has focused mostly on the causes, conditions and effects of female imprisonment.

Law has worn many hats in the anti-prison movement. In 1996, she helped start Books Through Bars-New York City, a group that sends free books to prisoners nationwide. In 2000, she began concentrating on the needs and actions of women in prison, drawing attention to their issues by writing articles and giving public presentations. Since 2002, she has worked with women incarcerated nationwide to produce Tenacious: Art and Writings from Women in Prison and has facilitated having incarcerated women’s writings published in larger publications, such as Clamor magazine the website “Women and Prison: A Site for Resistance” and the upcoming anthology Interrupted Lives.

Similar to Talvi’s work, her writing is uninfected with academese. Law’s focus is the self-organised activities of women prisoners such as forming peer education groups, clandestinely organizing ways for children to visit mothers in distant prisons and raising public awareness about their conditions.

The full review is here and, if you scroll down, you can see the first-ever photo contact sheet that my daughter made (at the age of 6) and a ghost floating through me!)