درس‌های ورودی: داستان‌های زنانی که برای جایگاه، فرزندان و آینده‌شان پس از زندان می‌جنگند

“A call to action … A reminder of the beautiful resilience of formerly incarcerated women and a celebration of all that they have to offer.” —Susan Burton, author of Becoming Ms. Burton and founder of A New Way of Life Urgent and empathetic, Entry Lessons is one of the first examinations of the lasting impact of incarceration on women and their families Recent reports show that women make up the fastest-growing population within the United States’ criminal justice system. And yet, despite necessary conversations about incarceration and prison abolition, their stories of abuse, neglect, poverty, and family separation often go untold. Now, through immersive storytelling and expert analysis of women’s lives after prison, anthropologist Jorja Leap explores their journeys into, through, and beyond the jail cell. In these pages, you’ll meet women like: –Ivy and Janet, accused of murder, whose intertwined stories of childhood harm, domestic abuse, and gang violence unfold throughout the book –Denise, who confronts the lasting impact of her childhood sexual trauma as she struggles with relationships and the realities of homelessness –Rosa, a survivor of sex trafficking whose relationship with her mother—her trafficker—is fraught with conflicting feelings she works to resolve –Carmen, whose search for love ultimately endangers not just her life but also the lives of her children –Clara, who survived placement in the child welfare system only to experience having her own children sent to foster care –Angela and Ronnie, two women navigating the complexities of sexuality and queerness in and out of prison Leap chisels away at superficial narratives to unearth pasts rife with struggle and oppression. She reveals the sharp edges of reentry and the wounds suffered by these women and their families, exposing a cycle of trauma that powers the revolving door of reentry and reincarceration. And, still, Entry Lessons is a book of hope just as much as it is of pain. Leap calls for systemic change through the development of meaningful reentry programs and policies that will have a lasting, life-changing impact on women as they rebuild their lives and especially as they are able to reclaim their children. Through oral histories, interviews, embedded observation, and research, the daily struggles of women returning to life after incarceration and concrete solutions to the seemingly hopeless issue. At the end of 2019 in the United States, women comprised the fastest growing population within the criminal justice system. Despite this fact, their journey through this system has not received extensive attention; it is only beginning to be documented. As a result, the impact of women's incarceration and reentry--both on their own lives and in the lives of their children and their families--is neither well understood nor effectively confronted. Anthropologist Jorja Leap argues that all aspects of these women's journey must be illuminated to fully grasp the issues. Leap explores first the traumas girls and women suffer, then the particular challenges faced by women in the criminal justice system, in incarceration, and throughout the reentry process. Leap tells the stories of women who suffer childhood abuse and neglect, including for example, Clara, who suffered twice--once as a child within the welfare system and then as a mother whose children were removed from her care and placed within the system--highlighting the ways the system fails women in particular. She finds that the lack of reentry programs is directly related to rates of recidivism, concluding that the cycle of trauma is the embedded in the system of reentry. Having spent countless hours embedded in the reentry programs that do currently exist, including Susan Burton's A New Way of Life, Leap tells the dramatic stories of many women caught in the system. She closes with several future-facing chapters. The experiences of formerly incarcerated women must be translated into lasting structural change through the development of meaningful programs and policies. Leap delves into pilot programs that offer meaningful models for changing the cycles of abuse and trauma in the lives of women.--Publisher website