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Tenacious: a zine of Art & Writings by Women in Prison

Tenacious is a zine filled with articles, essays, poetry and art by formerly and currently incarcerated women across the United States. Their works cover subjects like the health care (or lack of health care) system, being HIV-positive inside prison, trying to get an education while in prison, sexual harassment by prison staff and general prison conditions, and giving up children for adoption 1

The idea for Tenacious originated with several women incarcerated in Oregon in 2003. However, people inside prisons do not have access to printers, copy machines, massive amounts of postage and all the stuff that zinemakers on the outside may take for granted. So they approached me and asked if I would be the outside publisher. How could I say no?

For more history about the project, see
http://www.grassrootsfeminism.net/cms/node/117

Issue #19 , hot off the copying machine, includes:

  • the tragic death of a woman left in a cage in 107 degree heat
  • the abuse of a 70-year-old woman in the California prison system
  • descriptions of life in an Alaska women's prison
  • discrimination and prejudice in a Florida prison
  • a thought-provoking essay on child sexual abuse
  • a corpse gets pepper sprayed (I kid you not!)

To get a copy, send $2 in well-concealed cash or a check made out to V. Law, PO Box 20388 New York, NY 10009

Issue #18 of Tenacious: Art & Writings from Women in Prison is still available!

50+ pages of art and writings from women incarcerated throughout the country, including:

  • an open letter to NJ lawmakers from a woman incarcerated in New Jersey
  • the moving of a prison
  • a dental nightmare in prison
  • one woman's journey from abusive relationship to imprisonment
  • one woman's defiant farewell letter to the segregation unit that held her for years
  • losing faith in the prison system
  • one woman's account of learning to love herself
  • ...and more!
To get a copy, send $3 to V. Law, PO Box 20388, New York, NY 10009

Back issues of Tenacious are also available through Microcosm Publishing

  1. 1. Under the 1996 Federal Adoption and Safe Families Act, if a child is in foster care for 15 of the past 22 months, the state automatically terminates the parent’s legal rights. Many women in prison have sentences far exceeding 15 months AND the majority of them were single parents before entering prison.