BCRW, Barnard Center for Research on Women From the Collection
Exhibits from the ephemeral archives at the Barnard Center for Research on Women

About the Exhibits

EXHIBITS:

· Gender and Sexuality in Higher Education
· Lesbian Activism
· Women in the Workforce
· Women and Militarism
· Women and Religion
· Feminism and Sexual Health
· Women's Prison Activism

Women's Prison Activism

A Study in Neglect: A Report on Women PrisonersFrom Convict to Citizen: Programs for the Woman OffenderVoices From Within: The Poetry of Women in Prison
Women Behind Bars: An Organizing ToolWomen in Prison: Inequitable Treatment Requires ActionIncarcerated Mothers Program
Breaking the Silence: Women in Prison = Unequal JusticeIn the Decade of the ChildBreaking the Cycle of Despair: Children of Incarcerated Mothers
Protecting Children and Preserving FamiliesMothers in Prison, Children in Crisis Campaign

Scroll down for information about each item in the exhibit.

Exhibit curated by Lucy Trainor, '07
Published Spring 2006

With the number of individuals in prison rising at unprecedented rates, it's clear that the current law enforcement policies in the U.S. need to be reexamined and reevaluated. Incarcerated women are a segment of this population who have remained even more invisible than their male counterparts. Few have bothered to ask who these women are, how they end up in prison, and what type of support they need to resume their lives after their sentences are served. What happens to the children and families of incarcerated mothers? How have women been disproportionally targeted in the "War on Drugs?" What types of alternatives to incarceration will benefit communities? The documents shown here, reflecting almost 30 years of advocating for incarcerated women, are the work of the organizations and individuals who dared to challenge the current system by asking these questions and many more.


A Study in Neglect: A Report on Women Prisoners

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A Study in Neglect: A Report on Women Prisoners
by Omar Hendrix, 1972
Women's Prison Association

From 1960 to 1970, the total crime rate for women increased 74%, while the rate for men only increased 25%. This report, based on surveys conducted from July to October 1972, responded to a critical lack of information about the women who constituted this growing population in U.S. prisons. Seeking to answer basic questions about who these women are, what types of crimes they commit, and what happens to them both when they enter the criminal justice system and when they are released, the Women's Prison Association undertook surveys of a sample from the national population of female prisoners and a sample of female prisoners in New York State. Bringing public awareness to the dramatic influx of women in the prison system was a major goal of many of these early studies. The report provides many recommendations for policy changes at every step of the sentencing and imprisonment process, especially emphasizing the importance of improving record keeping in order to keep track of and better understand the issues facing these women and their families.


From Convict to Citizen: Programs for the Woman Offender

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From Convict to Citizen: Programs for the Woman Offender
by Virginia A. McArthur, 1974
District of Columbia Commission on the Status of Women

This document is one of the first acknowledgements that there are issues specific to women in the criminal justice system that need to be addressed. Also noteworthy is the fact that this report, based on public hearings held by the D.C. Commission on the Status of Women, was published by a governmental agency, rather than many of the other advocacy documents which were published by community groups and non-profit organizations. The report identifies some key problems that need to be explored further, primarily the lack of data on female offenders - which remains a constant theme throughout many of the later documents - and the need to distinguish men and women in the criminal justice system and provide programs that serve the specific needs of both groups during sentencing, incarceration, and release.


Voices From Within: The Poetry of Women in Prison

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Voices From Within: The Poetry of Women in Prison
edited by Ann McGovern, 1975
poetry by Bernadine Adams, Leonore Coons, Glenda Cooper, Clementine Corona, Susan Hallett, Theresa Simmons, Susan Smith, and Constance Walker
Magic Circle Press

"Most poets speak for themselves through the voices of their poetry, but unfortunately the Bedford Hills Poets are not heard - their voices are stilled within the walls of the prison they live in."
This collection of poetry written by inmates at the Bedford Hills Correctional Facility, the New York State prison for women, is one of the few documents in this collection that features the words and thoughts of the women themselves. Their poems are about everything from the mundane details of prison life to their hopes, regrets, and aspirations. Silenced by society, they have found their voices through poetry.


Women Behind Bars: An Organizing Tool

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Women Behind Bars: An Organizing Tool
Resources for Community Change, 1975

This book is a compilation of resources, articles, and organizing information about women in prison collected from various sources. The lack of information available to activists working to advocate for women in prison was one of the main reasons why Resources for Community Change put together this booklet. In addition to activist resources, the book also contains poetry, artwork, interviews, and a directory of various support services for women who are currently imprisoned or have been in the past.


Women in Prison: Inequitable Treatment Requires Action

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Women in Prison: Inequitable Treatment Requires Action
United States General Accounting Office, 1980

This report, submitted to Congress in 1980, describes the institutional policies that perpetuate the inequitable treatment of women in prison, denying them access to many of the services that their male counterparts have available to them while incarcerated, including vocational training and in-prison jobs. Although the report briefly suggests community based alternatives to incarceration as one of the ways to improve conditions for women in the criminal justice system, there is no emphasis placed on the benefits of sentencing alternatives for both male and female offenders. As would be expected from a government document, the goal of the report is to suggest ways to use available resources to improve the existing system, not overhaul it.


Incarcerated Mothers Program

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Incarcerated Mothers Program: A Preventative Services Program of the Child Welfare Administration
by Sister Mary Nerney, 1990
Edwin Gould Services for Children

This document is the transcript of a speech given by Sr. Mary Nerney, Director of the Incarcerated Mothers program, at the "Women Challenging the 1990s" hearing on April 25, 1990. The Incarcerated Mothers Program is based in New York and provides services to incarcerated mothers and their children. Nerney gives a summary of the mission of the IMP and describes the population the organization serves - a population that is primarily made up of poor women of color, many of them drug users, who have been disproportionately affected by mandatory sentencing laws enacted in the 1970s and 1980s.


Breaking the Silence: Women in Prison = Unequal Justice

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Breaking the Silence: Women in Prison = Unequal Justice
The Correctional Association of New York, 1991

This folder of materials from the Correctional Association of New York consists of a number of fact sheets, press releases, and other information about women in prison in the early 1990s. Among the issues summarized in the fact sheets, there is a focus on both the impact the "war on drugs" has had on women and the relationship between domestic violence and incarcerated women. Beyond all the facts and figures, this material also provides a look into the struggles of imprisoned women and their families, in the form of the stories of two inmates from Bedford Hills Prison and a collection of "Letters from Home" from a child to his mother in prison. For updated information, please visit the Women in Prison Project website.


In the Decade of the Child

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In the Decade of the Child: Addicted Mothers, Imprisonment, and Alternatives
by Jim Murphy, Nancy Johnson, and Wanda Edwards, 1992
New York State Coalition for Criminal Justice/ Center for Justice Education

Increasingly harsh laws against drug possession and trafficking enacted in the 1970s and 1980s have had a major impact on the number of women in prison in the U.S. While in 1986 1 in 8 women were serving time for a drug related sentence, by 1999 that number had jumped to 1 in 3. Estimates place the number of imprisoned women with children at about 75%, making the likelihood that a female prisoner serving a drug related sentence has children quite high. This report was released in order to draw attention to the ways in which the criminal justice system ignores the real social problem of drug abuse by imprisoning women with substance abuse problems and failing to provide them with the treatment they need. Taking a "holistic view of all the problems an addicted person presents," as the report recommends, is the only way to break the cycle of poverty and substance abuse before it is passed down to the next generation - the children of imprisoned parents.


Breaking the Cycle of Despair: Children of Incarcerated Mothers

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Breaking the Cycle of Despair: Children of Incarcerated Mothers
Women's Prison Association, 1995

As the number of women in prison increases, so does the number of children with imprisoned parents. Seventy-five percent of women in prison are mothers, and many are single parents and the primary caregivers for their children. Their incarceration has an immeasurable impact on these children. The Women's Prison Association, founded in 1845, is a New York based organization that helps women who have been imprisoned rebuild their lives and families, providing access to work, housing, health care, and other services. Published in the mid-1990s, this report is a response to the influx of female offenders in the criminal justice system and highlights the ways in which the imprisonment of mothers affects the next generation. It suggests correctional alternatives for women with children and describes the type of support that should be offered to women returning to the community so they can begin to rebuild their family lives.


Protecting Children and Preserving Families

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Protecting Children and Preserving Families
by Ann L. Jacobs, 1995
Women's Prison Association

The Family to Family Initiative, started in 1992, is a foster-care reform program whose principles have been instituted in numerous cities and counties across the U.S., including in New York City. This speech, given by Ann L. Jacobs, Executive Director of the Women's Prison Association, at the Family to Family Initiative Conference in 1995, makes the connection between working for foster care reform and serving the children of incarcerated parents. About 10% of children with incarcerated mothers end up in foster care, and the instability of their situations, as Jacobs points out, can have long-lasting effects.


Mothers in Prison, Children in Crisis Campaign

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Mothers in Prison, Children in Crisis Campaign
JusticeWorks Community, 1999

JusticeWorks Community, a Brooklyn based organization that advocates for alternatives to imprisonment and provides services for women in prison and their families, released this informational folder in 1999 as part of their "Mothers in Prison, Children in Crisis" Campaign. In its 5th year in 1999, the national campaign was founded as an effort to draw public attention to the need for alternatives to imprisonment for mothers, many of whom are serving drug related sentences. The Campaign features an annual Mother's Day Rally in cities across the nation, and the number of cities participating in these rallies has grown from 8 in 1995 to over 20 in 1999.

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