State & Private Violence
The Harassment Continues
by
Barrilee Banniste
Barilee Bannister shares her experience of sexual harassment by a guard at the prison, including retaliation for her use of the grievance procedure.
A Case of Battered Justice: Theresa Cruz fighting Domestic Violence and State Violence
by
Diana Block
This article is a story about Theresa Cruz, a woman who was sentenced to seven years to life after allegedly planning the murder of a man who had abused and stalked her for five years. Cruz’s case is reviewed and for a short period of time she is released, only to be placed back into prison two weeks later. Cruz’s experience is an example of what many battered women have had to face in challenging the law.
Silent Rage
by
Patricia Wright
Patricia tells how she survived domestic violence in her marriage and then was later convicted of hiring someone to kill her ex-husband.
Life In Hell: In California Prisons, An Unconventional Gender Identity Can Be Like An Added Sentence
by
Tali Woodward
This article by Tali Woodward discusses the sexual assault of trans women and gender-variant people housed in men’s prisons, as well as the efforts of trans women housed in the California Medical Facility in organizing against sexual violence.
Fight for Clemency for Women in Prison for Defending Themselves Against an Abuser
by
Michelle VanNatta
and Margaret Byrne
The Illinois Clemency Project for Battered Women, was a project made up of prisoners, law students, lawyers, and feminists, who assisted imprisoned women with requesting and fighting for clemency within the state of Illinois.
Girl-on-Girl Violence Hearing Testimony
by
Laurie Schaffner
In this article, created as testimony for hearings into the “problem of girl-on-girl violence” held in Chicago, Schaffner challenges the idea of rising violence among girls and makes concrete suggestions about ways we can support girls.
Illegal Strip Searches at the Cook County Jail
by
Tori Marlan
Marlan, a journalist for the Chicago Reader, investigates the recent successful lawsuit against the Cook County Sheriff for conducting group strip searches of women in the Cook County Jail.
Surviving Solitary
by
Laura Whitehorn
Laura Whitehorn wrote this letter in March 1997 as a part of a packet for the National Campaign to Stop Control Unit Prisons, discussing the tactics she used to survive in a control unit.
Labor, Personal Narrative, Sexual Harassment