Womensproject09's Blog

Just Dentention

womensproject09 — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 22:49:03 +0000

This website has a focus on ending sexual assault and violence within the prison system.

http://www.justdetention.org/

Especially check out “Portraits of Courage.”

Prison Lullabies Opening Clip

womensproject09 — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 14:41:24 +0000

“Prison Lullabies is the remarkable portrait of four women living on the bad side of luck, struggling with drug addiction, indicted for dealing and prostitution, and serving prison time with one common bond – arrested pregnant, Amy, Monique, Joann, and Anne Marie have all given birth behind bars. For these women who are intimate terms with sexual abuse, poverty, and addiction, the Taconic Correctional Facility in New York State offers a rare gleam of hope” (http://prisonlullabies.com/).

Labor and Chains

womensproject09 — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 14:18:02 +0000

womensproject09 — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 14:06:58 +0000

Project Proposal.

womensproject09 — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 18:49:52 +0000

Brittany, Sarah T., Caroline, Sarah B., Sumita

Group Project Proposal

19 Oct 2009

As a shared project, we are planning to analyze the risks and effects of the prison system among women in the U.S. We will be researching alternative programs to incarceration and discover whether or not they are accessible in the U.S. We plan to examine the War on Drugs and how it affects the incarceration of women. We will look at the rise of women in jails and try to answer why this is occurring. We will study prostitution as a crime and see if there are programs to help stop this offense, rather than placing women in jail. We will examine class and race issues and how they affect women’s incarceration. Are lower class people and minorities more likely to be incarcerated, and why? How significant is socialization for women in prisons? We will explore women in prison that are pregnant, and find out what sort of living conditions and healthcare they are receiving. We will study the difference between the prison environments for women versus men. Are women suffering from abuse by male prison guards? If so, why are they placing male guards inside the women’s prison? We will also study whether men are more or less likely to be incarcerated than women. We have created an online blog as a place to post current issues, and as a discussion forum for anyone to post their thoughts related to this subject. The website for the blog is, womensproject09.wordpress.com.
We are planning to host a potluck and documentary film festival, in hopes of raising awareness and money for the Women at Risk alternative program, in Western North Carolina. Girlhood is a possible film that we may show. This documentary examines the life of two girls growing up in prison and foster care. We are also planning to meet with some of the staff at the Women at Risk organization in order to gain more insight regarding this program. If possible, we would also like to meet some of the women within the program who would like to share their stories, and with permission and consent photographically document these women.

– Brittany

Things to consider.

womensproject09 — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 18:38:49 +0000

Here is some stuff I thought we could talk about

Some information that we will discuss about womens’ incarceration:
The government’s involvement with programs such as “get touch” on crime
We will research alternative programs to incarceration and research if there are many in the US at all
Examine the War on Drugs and how that affects women being incarcerated
We will examine the rise of women in jails and try to answer why this is so
“The majority of female arrests are for drug offenses” (441)
Examine prostitution as a crime and see if there are programs to help stop this instead of jailing women
Examine class and race issues and how much of a factor that is for women’s incarceration-ex: are poor and minorities more likely to be incarcerated and why
Ask how big of a factor socialization is for women in prisons
Talk about in prison-women being pregnant, conditions, health care, etc
Women’s prison environment versus men prison environment
Abuse by male staff-why have male staff at all?
Spread of disease in prisons
Any programs for rehabilitation and prevention?
Are men more or less likely to be incarcerated than women?
Money spent on prison instead of schools-why?

- Sarah T.

womensproject09 — Sun, 18 Oct 2009 21:28:34 +0000

We are five women from Alice Weldon’s Intro to Women’s Studies course at the University of North Carolina at Asheville. We are planning on researching the criminalization and incarceration of women in Western North Carolina, working through organizations such as Women at Risk. We plan on holding a pot-luck/film-fest at the end of our project with hopes of raising money for the WNC organization Women at Risk. We strongly encourage checking out the link to that organization under our links section.

We can be reached at womenstudiesproject@yahoo.com. Thanks for looking.

- Caroline, Sarah T., Sarah B., Sumita, and Brittany