Incarcerated Women’s Voices Need to be Heard (original) (raw)
ABSTRACT Title of dissertation: FROM THE INSIDE OUT: WOMEN WRITERS BEHIND PRISON
2014
This dissertation considers what women in prison, or women who have been in prison, have to tell us, in oral testimony or in their writing, about the American “prison experience. ” This study shows how the interpretation of first person prison narratives provides important insights into patterns in the lives of women in their pre-prison, in prison, and post-prison experiences. It also explores the importance that creating narratives has for women prisoners ’ lives. This dissertation examines three kinds of prison narratives. The first involves texts produced and written by female prisoners and prison activists in a radical feminist underground prison newsletter published in Seattle, WA between 1976 and 1987. Secondly, oral narratives by two former prisoners involved in the production of that newsletter are presented. Finally, I discuss and interpret the prison poetry, memoir, and other narratives produced in a creative writing workshop series at the District of Columbia Detention Ce...
Title of dissertation: FROM THE INSIDE OUT: WOMEN WRITERS BEHIND PRISON WALLS
2004
This dissertation considers what women in prison, or women who have been in prison, have to tell us, in oral testimony or in their writing, about the American "prison experience." This study shows how the interpretation of first person prison narratives provides important insights into patterns in the lives of women in their preprison, in prison, and post-prison experiences. It also explores the importance that creating narratives has for women prisoners' lives. This dissertation examines three kinds of prison narratives. The first involves texts produced and written by female prisoners and prison activists in a radical feminist underground prison newsletter published in Seattle, WA between 1976 and 1987. Secondly, oral narratives by two former prisoners involved in the production of that newsletter are presented. Finally, I discuss and interpret the prison poetry, memoir, and other narratives produced in a creative writing workshop series at the District of Columbia Detention Center between 1995 and 1996. Women writers in prison provide insights into situations, such as poverty and abuse, that brought them to prison, they discuss survival strategies in prison, and they offer recommendations 1 The research was facilitated in the early stages by financial support from a Rockefeller Foundation Fellowship, Institute on Violence, Culture, and Survival, Virginia Foundation for the Humanities and Public Policy, Charlottesville, VA. ii in my darkest hour, for I could never know how hard it was for her to be "still maintaining under the circumstances." For taking the time to recollect their prison experiences and for their commitment to other women prisoners across the country, I thank Jane Potter and Shelly Baker. Thanks too to those associated in the past or
From the INside Out: Women Writers Behind Prison Walls
2004
This dissertation considers what women in prison, or women who have been in prison, have to tell us, in oral testimony or in their writing, about the American "prison experience." This study shows how the interpretation of first person prison narratives provides important insights into patterns in the lives of women in their preprison, in prison, and post-prison experiences. It also explores the importance that creating narratives has for women prisoners' lives. This dissertation examines three kinds of prison narratives. The first involves texts produced and written by female prisoners and prison activists in a radical feminist underground prison newsletter published in Seattle, WA between 1976 and 1987. Secondly, oral narratives by two former prisoners involved in the production of that newsletter are presented. Finally, I discuss and interpret the prison poetry, memoir, and other narratives produced in a creative writing workshop series at the District of Columbia Detention Center between 1995 and 1996. Women writers in prison provide insights into situations, such as poverty and abuse, that brought them to prison, they discuss survival strategies in prison, and they offer recommendations 1 The research was facilitated in the early stages by financial support from a Rockefeller Foundation Fellowship, Institute on Violence, Culture, and Survival, Virginia Foundation for the Humanities and Public Policy, Charlottesville, VA. ii in my darkest hour, for I could never know how hard it was for her to be "still maintaining under the circumstances." For taking the time to recollect their prison experiences and for their commitment to other women prisoners across the country, I thank Jane Potter and Shelly Baker. Thanks too to those associated in the past or
Not Being Listened To: A Phenomenological Study with Incarcerated Women
2019
The phenomenon of "not being listened to" is a universal experience, but particularly poignant for women with the lived experience of incarceration. These women's voices, educator Max van Manen's most recent (2014) phenomenology text, along with my discipline and practice of spiritual direction inspired me to pursue a definition, rich in meaning and description, of not being listened to. Five qualitative open-structured interviews took place in May, 2018 with women in southern Alberta aged twenty-three to fifty-six. They had been released from jail and interviewed with me for anywhere from thirty minutes to one hour. The interviews had two objectives 1) that the women interviewed be listened to compassionately 2) that their experiences of not being listened to be used as data. Further to the interview data, secondary data includes published poems and prose by, as well as interview write-ups with, incarcerated women in Canada and/or the United States. The research analysis is reflective and descriptive. I highlight the meaning of the phenomenon of not being listened to with anecdotal prose and poetry, explore it through the dimension of darkness, gain insights into the women's memories from the Greek and Roman Dido, Medea, and Ariadne, and discuss the corporeality of pain and sickness in an incarcerated woman's not being listened to. Ultimately the phenomenon is a blow to the woman's identity, her human dignity, and is destructive to her body and soul.
Empowerment for incarcerated women often confounds advocates who struggle to support inmates in developing personal agency within the restrictive environments of penal institutions. In this essay, we provide a narrative analysis of three oral history interviews we conducted with inmates participating in Resolana, a women’s education and empowerment program in the Dallas County Jail. Specifically, we explicate performative challenges and opportunities in imagining “alternative futures” by exploring lived narratives as they intersect with cultural expectations of gender, race, and class. Although constrained by normative gender metanarratives, our analysis demonstrates how we might better understand incarcerated women’s stories as beginning to renarratize improved futures for themselves.
Critical Criminology, 2017
At the outset of their book, In Search of Safety: Confronting Inequality in Women's Imprisonment, the authors (Barbara Owen, James Wells and Jocelyn Pollock) correctly point out that, ''When most people think about prison, they think about men'' (p. 1). This is due, in large part, to the fact that men make up the bulk of the world's prison population. Of course, too, with some exception, the popular media focuses primarily on males behind bars, which is another contributing factor. Yet, criminology must also be held partially responsible because most of the scholarly books and journal articles on incarceration produced by our colleagues conspicuously overlook the plight of women behind bars. Thus, Owen, Wells and Pollock's scholarly monograph is a much-needed major contribution to the field. Guided by the concepts of pathways, gender-inequality, intersectionality, community, capital, prison culture, human rights, and state-sponsored suffering, the authors attempt to describe women's prison experiences. Owen and her co-authors devote special attention to documenting how female inmates handle challenges to their safety by developing various forms of prison capital. The authors define capital as: any type of resource, or access to a desired resource, that can keep a woman safe while she does her time. In addition to prison forms of social capital (who you know) and human capital (what you know), other specific expressions of cultural, emotional, and economic capital provide the foundation for the search for safety as women do their time (p. 2). Theoretically and conceptually sophisticated, this book presents important data on searching for safety through prison capital and other issues derived from mixed methods, including prisoner and correctional staff focus groups, staff interviews, content analysis of
Chapter 1- Research for Women in Prison
Research for Women in Prison
The book has been designed with 7 interconnecting chapters. These chapters relate to a section of the website and link with separate areas where charities or universities work. The purpose of this book is to be read as a stand-alone book, become part of a criminology degree curriculum or used by practitioners or prisoners. Chapter 1 - History/ Feminism/ Prison Reform vs Abolition Chapter 2 – Around the World – Data and Case Studies Chapter 3 – Human Rights and Violations, including Solitary Confinement Chapter 4 - Legal Issues – including sentencing, Brexit, Chapter 5 – Supporting Women – information about health, substance abuse, mental health Chapter 6 – Family Matters – visits, pregnancy, mothers and other family members Chapter 7 –Resettlement, Employability, Future Directions There is a huge gap in the current market for information that is readable, usable and in one place about women, their rights and the support they need when they are involved with the Criminal Justice system.