state-violence
Scott Sisters: Mississippi Justice
by NAACP & Solitary Watch
Last year NAACP campaigned a petition to help free the Scott sisters. They were freed, but still face many challenges. See the petition and a current story on the release of the Scott sisters as well as links to more information about their story.
activism prison-industrial-complex racism state-violence
Interview with Donna Henry
by Donna Henry
In this interview with Carolyn Watson, Donna Henry gives a detailed account of being raped at age 16, starting heroin at age 23, and entering Dwight Correctional Facility. She talks about losing her children to DCFS and the steps that she is taking to have them returned. She also describes her experiences in a drug treatment program within the prison, including a typical day and the worst day.
motherhood prison-life state-violence substance-abuse
Will the Justice Department Stand Up for Women Raped in Prison?
by Rachel Roth
Eight years ago, Congress acknowledged the brutal fact of systemic sexual assault behind bars by unanimously passing the Prison Rape Elimination Act (PREA). The Justice Department is now poised to issue final rules to implement the law, which makes federal funding to prisons and jails contingent on improved staff training, availability of medical and psychological services for people who suffer sexual assault, investigations and publicly available data about reported assaults.
court-advocacy guard-prisoner-relations health immigration movement-building prison-life prison-industrial-complex sexual-violence state-violence
A Message to Trafficking Victims that Their Lives Matter
by Rachel Lloyd
Sara Kruzan was 16 years old when she was charged with killing her 31-year-old pimp, a man who had been grooming her since she was 11 years old and trafficking her since she was 13. Now 32, Sara has grown up in prison. Her clemency petition has been submitted to Gov. Schwartzenegger. Rachel Lloyd talks about Sara’s case and the importance of the Trafficking Victims Protection Act. Sign the petition to support Sara’s release.
activism prostitution sexual-violence state-violence
United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women
by Bonnie Kerness
These past years hve been full of thousands of calls and complaints of increasingly distrubing nature from prisoners and their families throughout the United States. The proportion of those complaints coming from women has risen, with women describing conditions of confinement, which are torture.
activism community movement-building prison-life prison-industrial-complex public-policy racism sexual-violence state-violence
Pregnant, in Prison and Denied Care
by Rachel Roth
"But what happens to pregnant women in prison before they wind up in chains at a hospital?" asks Rachel Roth. Roth tells three chilling stories of medical neglect and lack of compassion for women awaiting childbirth behind the prison walls.