By Elton Kelley Journalism Guild Writer America is leading the world in incarcerating women, and this is disrupting many families across the country, the American Civil Liberties Union reports The United States has nearly four percent of the world’s female population. But about a third of the female prisoners in the world are in the U.S., ACLU statistics show. “When you think about the image you have of our mass incarceration crisis, it probably is not a mother who comes to mind,” the ACLU said in its May 12 web … [Read more...] about Female incarceration in the U. S. is causing an impact on society
Women in Prison
Wall City Volume 2 Issue 2: Fighting Fire While Doing Time
Women battle to continue fighting fires after their releases Female firefighters on the front lines of California wildfires photo by David McNew/ AFP/Getty Images Many people are surprised to learn that nearly 10 percent of the incarcerated firefighters serving at California's 44 "fire camps" are women. Just like men, the women firefighters get the same training as Cal Fire's other seasonal firefighters- one week in the classroom, another week in the field, and additional training on an ongoing basis. And, just like the incarcerated men … [Read more...] about Wall City Volume 2 Issue 2: Fighting Fire While Doing Time
WALL CITY, VOLUME 2, ISSUE 2: My birth plan is to deliver in a jail cell
A true story of women on their own in an Oklahoma lockup By Laci Berg as told to Mary Fish Story courtesy of Victoria Law My name is Laci. I am a locked-up pregnant lady at Oklahoma’s Mabel Bassett Correctional Center. Previously, I was in Caddo County Jail on a controlled of a dangerous substance charge with a former conviction of a felony. One of my cellmates (there were about 40 of us in this jail) was pregnant. Her name was Cheree and she was Native and Caucasian. One afternoon, she went into labor. They brought the trays and we … [Read more...] about WALL CITY, VOLUME 2, ISSUE 2: My birth plan is to deliver in a jail cell
WALL CITY, VOLUME 2, ISSUE 2: More women are giving birth in prison than ever before
By, Kate McQueen Legislation can improve medical care for pregnant inmates and their infants ONE PREGNANT WOMAN assists another as she gives birth in a county jail, after receiving slow response to their urgent requests for medical care. If this strikes you as extraordinary, the stuff of TV dramas, then con- sider this: Dozens of incarcerated women give birth in Oklahoma every year. Most of these occur at the overcrowded Mabel Bassett Correctional Center (MBCC), where Laci Berg was sent after the arrival of little Patience Rose. … [Read more...] about WALL CITY, VOLUME 2, ISSUE 2: More women are giving birth in prison than ever before
WALL CITY, VOLUME 2, ISSUE 2: ‘Little weight or meaning’
California Senate Bills do little to help victims of sexual violence requesting parole By Lilliana Paratore and Sara Kruzan In this post-#MeToo era, it is common knowledge that women experience sexual harassment and abuse at staggering rates, and that these experiences are all too often left unvoiced or unaddressed. For women in prison, the problem is even greater. One study shows that between 40% and 93% of incarcerated women experienced intimate partner violence prior to incarceration. Moreover, 68-86% of women who are … [Read more...] about WALL CITY, VOLUME 2, ISSUE 2: ‘Little weight or meaning’
WALL CITY, VOLUME 2, ISSUE 2: A LETTER TO MY SISTER ACTIVISTS, INSIDE AND OUT
By, Tina Curiel-Allen I aM SEnDInG yoU LoVE and light sister, and I hope that wherever you may be reading this from, you are at peace. By peace, I mean I hope you are okay with you, no matter who you are. I write these words as someone who has at one time or another hurt most everyone I was close to, as someone who was labeled a criminal and dealt with the physical (incarceration) and emotional (PTSD, anxiety, etc.) repercussions of that classification. As someone who knows what state surveillance in one’s life feels like … [Read more...] about WALL CITY, VOLUME 2, ISSUE 2: A LETTER TO MY SISTER ACTIVISTS, INSIDE AND OUT
WALL CITY, VOLUME 2, ISSUE 2: Out, and about something
In their own words, four formerly incarcerated women describe their paths after they were released Topeka Sam co-founded Hope House NYC, which opened in 2017. Hope House, an initiative of The Ladies of Hope Ministries, is transitional housing for single women who have been incarcerated and are returning to New York City. “When I got home, I started going around, organizing with other women around women’s issues and incarceration, and just seeing that it was the same issues happening: Women need housing, women need resources, women … [Read more...] about WALL CITY, VOLUME 2, ISSUE 2: Out, and about something
Tracking the healthcare of postpartum female prisoners
The U.S. has four percent of the world’s female population, but thirty percent of its female incarcerated population. Yet the first systematic investigation to collect perspective data on pregnancy frequencies and outcomes among women in U.S. prisons didn’t occur until 2016, according to Carolyn Surfin, MD, PhD; Lauren Beal, MPH; Jennifer Clarke, MD, MPH: Rachel Jones, PhD and William D. Mosher, PhD, the authors of the study. Prison pregnancy data is critical in ensuring that incarcerated women’s pregnancy –related health care needs are … [Read more...] about Tracking the healthcare of postpartum female prisoners
Prison nurseries: incarcerating newborns with their mothers
Pregnant women face heart-wrenching consequences when they are incarcerated: not only must they give birth under harsh conditions, but then, most likely, they will be forced to surrender their newborn into the hands of others. Prison nurseries offer some of these women a chance to keep their babies with them, but is that always in the child’s best interest? “Incarcerating babies may strike many as unconscionable,” child welfare advocate Naomi Schaefer Riley said recently in a National Affairs article. “We must grapple with the ethical … [Read more...] about Prison nurseries: incarcerating newborns with their mothers
Hygiene products more readily available for incarcerated woman
Department of Health seal Female hygiene products are becoming more avail- able to incarcerated women, thanks to what is called “the menstrual equality movement,” according to corrections.com. The new policy for federal prisons was adopted in 2017. It requires all federal prisons to provide free Tampons and other hygiene products to female prisoners. A bill in Congress to apply the change to all states failed, the story reported. “It’s all part of what is called the menstrual equity movement,” said Chris Tricozzi, vice president of … [Read more...] about Hygiene products more readily available for incarcerated woman