Resistance Behind Bars: The Struggles of Incarcerated Women

Spotlight on Incarcerated Women: Conditions, Profiteering and Resistance

The number of women in prison has nearly tripled within the past 2 decades. Join investigative journalist and author of Women Behind Bars Silja Talvi, founding editor of Prison Legal News (and co-editor of Prison Profiteers) Paul Wright, former drug war prisoner Yraida Guanipa, and Books Through Bars co-founder (and author of the forthcoming Resistance Behind Bars) Victoria Law (that's me!) for a discussion on who profits from this increase, conditions inside and resistance both inside and out.

Paul Wright is the editor and co-founder of Prison Legal News , the longest publishing independent prisoner rights magazine in US history. He co-edited The Celling of America: An Inside Look at the US Prison Industry; Prison Nation: The Warehousing of America’s Poor, and Prison Profiteers: Who Makes Money from Mass Imprisonment. Both during and since his 17-year incarceration, he has successfully litigated a wide variety of censorship and public records issues against prison systems around the country both pro se, as a plaintiff, on behalf of other prisoners and on behalf of Prison Legal News.

Silja J.A. Talvi is an investigative journalist, essayist, and author of Women Behind Bars: The Crisis of Women in the U.S. Prison System. Her work has appeared in nearly a dozen book anthologies, including Prison Profiteers, and in over 75 publications nationwide. Silja is the recipient of 12 regional awards for excellence in journalism from the Society of Professional Journalists (in the Pacific Northwest); five awards for excellence in criminal justice reporting from the National Council on Crime and Delinquency; and a national award for immigration reporting from the New American Media Foundation.

Yraida L. Guanipa was sentenced to nearly 11 years as a first-time non-violent offender under the federal sentencing guidelines. While incarcerated, she fought for programs to maintain family bonds and abolish the prison/slave labor system. She was released in 2006. She continues fighting for more just systems and is working to reestablish the bonds with her now-teenage sons.

Victoria Law (facilitator) has been involved with prisoner issues for the past 15 years and has focused specifically on incarcerated women's issues since 2000. She is the co-founder of Books Through Bars—NYC and the editor of the zine “Tenacious: Art and Writings from Women in Prison.” She is the author of the forthcoming Resistance Behind Bars: The Struggles of Incarcerated Women.

Bluestockings Bookstore
172 Allen Street (between Stanton and Rivington Streets), LES
212-777-6028

$5 to $10 sliding scale. No one turned away for lack of funds

Childcare is available on request. Please e-mail me at vikkiml [at] yahoo [dot] com to make arrangements.

F or V train to 2nd avenue. Exit on the 1st Avenue side.

Event sponsored in part by the Drug Policy Alliance