Women’s Prison Activism
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.