[ prisons -- issues -- women ]
Women and Prison
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Given
that our society is still highly male supremacist, it is logical
that prisons would reflect this social dynamic. In fact, because
prisons and the criminal prosecution system are so carefully removed
from the scrutiny of prisoners' supportive communities and advocates,
blatant sexism and victimization often go unchecked. Cops, attorneys,
judges, and guards go out of their way to brutally enforce control
over the lives and bodies of women prisoners.
The issues of women in prison cut across each of the other critical issues of the expanding imprisonment industry. Although the proportion of prisoners who are women is relatively small, women make up the fastest growing subset of the entire prison population. A separate consideration of women in prison is needed for this reason, and because male supremacy and sexist justice are so intimately connected with the overall dehumanization so apparent in other areas of the crisis. Male privilege (and domination), and the protection of that privilege have long been and continue to be central to the criminal prosecution system.
Perhaps most illustrative of the unequal justice that applies to women are the countless cases of battered women in prison, convicted and sentenced for fighting back, and often killing, their abusive partners or perpetrators in defense of their lives and/or the lives of their children. Here is a brochure produced for the California Coalition for Battered Women in Prison which deals with some of the major issues that a significant percentage of women in prison are struggling with, and here is some information about domestic violence, which leads to many women's imprisonment.
"Prisons and Social Control" is a piece from the Vancouver publication Kinesis. It addresses the issues confronted at the crossroads of 1) the demands for justice by women in a society where there is little or no justice for women and 2) feminist vision of a culture without imprisonment. This is territory the author traverses deftly, and the article is rich as a jumping off-point for dialogue among feminists, prison reform activists, and radicals of any stripe.
For more than 10 years, Nancy Kurshan has been an active member of the Committee to End the Marion Lockdown (CEML). CEML is a Chicago-based prisoners' rights and anti-control unit group she helped to found. A former member of Students for a Democratic Society, she was also one of the founding members of the Yippies. In her piece from Cages of Steel, she highlights the historical process by which the separate penal institution for women was created, and the roots it has in the witch hunts, burnings, and patriarchal power structures of 17th century Europe and New England. "Women and Imprisonment in the U.S. -- History and Current Reality" also goes into some depth when looking at the current material reality of women in prison today, and how women are rebelling against that reality.
Two more sources, which are more up-to-date and which I highly recommend, are Unruly Women: The Politics of Confinement and Resistance by Karlene Faith (Vancouver: Press Gang 1993) and Mass Murderers in White Coats: Psychiatric Genocide in Nazi Germany and the United States by Lenny Lapon (Springfield: Commonwealth / PGRI 1986). Hopefully we will be able to put sections of these up soon. They are very powerful works which appear to be both comprehensive and incisive.