More Than A Magazine, A Movement
In an Oregon women’s prison, gardening soothes prisoners’ anxiety and adds fresh produce to their diets. And some inmates are learning skills that lead to jobs.
“The transition from prison life can be really tough. For me, to have something positive — something new to keep my mind busy until I have my perspective back — that has been huge.”
There are more individuals with mental illness in prisons than in hospitals. The mental health crisis is especially targeting women, who are three times more likely than men to experience physical or sexual abuse before becoming imprisoned and are more than 90 percent more likely to suffer mental health problems in prisons.
“What we know is that jails and prisons repeatedly let women down; they do not meet mental health needs in a holistic way.”
More than one million women are currently behind bars or controlled by the criminal justice system. The amount of incarcerated women has increased at practically double the rate of men since 1985, and the number of incarcerated women has increased by more than 700 percent since 1980. We need to ask ourselves why.
Feminists have every reason to be suspicious of capital punishment. Death penalty laws in the U.S. were enacted by legislatures dominated by men; death sentences are sought by prosecutors who are predominately men; juries that condemn defendants to death have historically been mostly male; and judges who sentence defendants to death are overwhelmingly male.
After Texas Gov. Greg Abbott called a special legislative session to discuss voting restrictions and other cultural issues, activists and lawmakers are fighting back against Republicans’ extreme agenda.
Abbott is “pushing forward an agenda that is over-politicized and all predicated on a big lie,” said LaTosha Brown, co-founder of Black Voters Matter. “We’re calling this ‘the suppression session.’”
The War on Women was in full force under the Trump administration. But despite a transition of administration, the War on Women is still seeping into federal, state and local legislation and attempting to reverse important progressive policies. While the battle may look different, we are staying vigilant in our goals to dismantle patriarchy at every turn. The fight is far from over. We are watching.
Minnesota’s Healthy Start Act gives incarcerated people who are pregnant or who give birth during their sentences the option to receive pre- and post-natal care in community-based prison alternatives.
The #NoKidsinPrison digital experience is one initiative working to reimagine a future without children behind bars. The interactive website—launched by a partnership with No Kids in Prison, Youth First and the Columbia Justice Lab—takes viewers through the history of youth incarceration, the immediate experiences of children who were incarcerated, and current youth activist efforts.
“Propaganda against the state.” That’s one of the most frequent charges in politically motivated imprisonments in the Islamic Republic of Iran. Translated, it means “Thinking is forbidden and talking about your thoughts is a crime.”
My mother’s case burst my bubble and woke me up: Her case was not an exception, but a fate shared by hundreds if not thousands.
Coming out as my authentic self while in a violent maximum security prison for men was my only option.
I witnessed the worst misogynistic actions and attitudes of my fellow prisoners, but none of that mattered, because Patricia had to be set free to experience true freedom for the first time in her life.
