Interrupted Life : Experiences of Incarcerated Women in the United States

__Interrupted Life__ is a gripping collection of writings by and about imprisoned women in the United States, a country that jails a larger percentage of its population than any other nation in the world. This eye-opening work brings together scores of voices from both inside and outside the prison system including incarcerated and previously incarcerated women, their advocates and allies, abolitionists, academics, and other analysts. In vivid, often highly personal essays, poems, stories, reports, and manifestos, they offer an unprecedented view of the realities of women's experiences as they try to sustain relations with children and family on the outside, struggle for healthcare, fight to define and achieve basic rights, deal with irrational sentencing systems, remake life after prison; and more. Together, these powerful writings are an intense and visceral examination of life behind bars for women, and, taken together, they underscore the failures of imagination and policy that have too often underwritten our current prison system. Contents Introduction. Certain Failures: Representing The Experiences Of Incarcerated Women In The United States Part One. Defining The Problem Introduction Part I 1. Unpacking The Crisis: Women Of Color, Globalization, And The Prison-Industrial Complex 2. Glossary Of Terms 3. The Long Shadow Of Prison: My Messy Journey Through Fear, Silence, And Racism Toward Abolition 4. Unpeeling The Mask 5. Children Of Incarcerated Parents: A Bill Of Rights 6. United Nations Report On Violence Against Women In U.S. Prisons 7. Being In Prison 8. Wearing Blues Part Two. Being A Mother From Inside Introduction Part II 9. Get On The Bus: Mobilizing Communities Across California To Unite Children With Their Parents In Prison 10. Do I Have To Stand For This? 11. Out Of Sight, Not Out Of Mind: Important Information For Incarcerated Parents Whose Children Are In Foster Care 12. The Impact Of The Adoption And Safe Families Act On Children Of Incarcerated Parents 13. ASFA, TPR, My Life, My Children, My Motherhood 14. The Birthing Program In Washington State 15. Pregnancy, Motherhood, And Loss In Prison: A Personal Story 16. What The Parenting Program At The Nebraska Correctional Center For Women Has Meant To Me 17. The Storybook Project At Bedford Hills 18. A Trilogy Of Journeys Part Three. Intimacy, Sexuality, And Gender Identity Inside Introduction Part III 19. Untitled 20. Analyzing Prison Sex: Reconciling Self-Expression With Safety 21. Who Said Women Can’T Get Along? 22. Sorry 23. The Chase 24. Why? A Letter To My Lover 25. Gender, Sexuality, And Family Kinship Networks 26. Getting Free 27. My Name Is June Martinez 28. King County (WA) Gender Identity Regulations 29. Mother 30. Daddy Black Man 31. Watershed Part Four. Creating And Maintaining Intellectual, Spiritual, And Creative Life Inside Introduction Part IV 32. Lit By Each Other’S Light:Women’S Writing At Cook County Jail 33. Tuesday Soul 34. “I Lived That Book!” Reading Behind Bars 35. Changing Minds: A Participatory Action Research Project On College In Prison 36. Imagining The Self And Other: Women Narrate Prison Life Across Cultures 37. My Art 38. My Window 39. They Talked 40. I Never Knew 41. Wise Women: Critical Citizenship In A Women’S Prison 42. Women Of Wisdom: An Alternative Community Of Faith 43. Chain Of Command Part Five. Struggling For Health Care Introduction Part V 44. Hep C, Pap Smears, And Basic Care: Justice Now And The Right To Family 45. A Dazzling Tale Of Two Teeth 46. Women’S Rights Don’T Stop At The Jailhouse Door 47. The Death Of Luisa Montalvo 48. Rights For Imprisoned People With Psychiatric Disabilities 49. A Plea For Rosemary 50. The Thing Called Love Virus 51. Bill Of Health Rights For Incarcerated Girls 52. Working To Improve Health Care For Incarcerated Women 53. Women In Prison Project Fact Sheets Part Six. Serving Time, Sentenced And Unsentenced Introduction Part VI 54. Reading Gender In September 11 Detentions: Zihada: The Journey From A Young Pakistani Wife To An Anthrax Suspect 55. Victim Or Criminal: The Experiences Of A Human-Trafficking Survivor In The U.S. Immigration System 56. Detention Of Women Asylum Seekers In The United States: A Disgrace 57. “Did You See No Potential In Me?” The Story Of Women Serving Long Sentences In Prison 58. Dignity Denied: The Price Of Imprisoning Older Women In California 59. The Longertimers/Insiders Activist Group At Tutwiler Prison For Women 60. The Forgotten Population: A Look At Death Row In The United States Through The Experiences Of Women Part Seven. Struggling For Rights Introduction Part VII 61. Incarcerated Young Mothers’ Bill Of Rights: From A Vision To A Policy At San Francisco Juvenile Hall 62. Slaving In Prison: A Three-Part Indictment 63. Freedom Gon’ Come 64. Reducing The Number Of People In California Women’S Prisons: How “Gender-Responsive Prisons” Harm Women, Children, And Families 65. The Gender-Responsive Prison Expansion Movement 66. Free Battered Women 67. Life’S Imprint 68. Testimony Of Kemba Smith Before The Inter-American Commission On Human Rights 69. Keeping Families Connected: Women Organizing For Telephone Justice In The Face Of Corporate-State Greed 70. Prick Poison 71. The Prison-Industrial Complex In Indigenous California 72. A Prison Journal Part Eight. Being Out Introduction Part VIII 73. A Former Battered Woman Celebrating Life After 74. Life On The Outside—Of What? 75. California And The Welfare And Food Stamps Ban 76. Employment Resolution: Human Rights Commission Of The City And County Of San Francisco 77. Only With Time 78. Child Of A Convicted Felon 79. Mothering After Imprisonment 80. Being About It: Reflections On Advocacy After Incarceration 81. The First Time Is A Mistake . . . 82. What Life Has Been Like For Me Since Being On The Outside 83. Alternatives: Ati In New York City 84. Violent Interruptions 85. Prison Abolition In Practice: The Lead Project, The Politics Of Healing, And A New Way Of Life 86. Booking It Beyond The Big House 87. Being Out Of Prison Contributors Index Interrupted Life is a gripping collection of writings by and about imprisoned women in the United States, a country that jails a larger percentage of its population than any other nation in the world. This eye-opening work brings together scores of voices from both inside and outside the prison system including incarcerated and previously incarcerated women, their advocates and allies, abolitionists, academics, and other analysts. In vivid, often highly personal essays, poems, stories, reports, and manifestos, they offer an unprecedented view of the realities of women's experiences as they try to sustain relations with children and family on the outside, struggle for healthcare, fight to define and achieve basic rights, deal with irrational sentencing systems, remake life after prison; and more. Together, these powerful writings are an intense and visceral examination of life behind bars for women, and, taken together, they underscore the failures of imagination and policy that have too often underwritten our current prison system. "Interrupted Life is a gripping collection of writings by and about imprisoned women in the United States, a country that jails a larger percentage of its population than any other nation in the world. This eye-opening work brings together scores of voices from both inside and outside the prison system including incarcerated and previously incarcerated women, their advocates and allies, abolitionists, academics, and other analysts. In vivid, often highly personal essays, poems, stories, reports, and manifestos, they offer an unprecedented view of the realities of women's experiences behind bars, and, taken together, they underscore the failures of imagination and policy that have too often underwritten our current prison system."--Provided by publisher