Tamar Sarai Davis

This article was originally published at Prism

When MCI-Framingham (MCI-F), the sole women’s prison in Massachusetts and the oldest operating women’s prison in the country, was established in 1877 as the Sherborn Reformatory for Women, it was a radical experiment in meeting the needs of incarcerated women. The prison was meant to better serve women who, at the time, were imprisoned in the same facilities as men.

This article was originally published at Prism

The daily emailed list of children wrongfully detained in the county’s juvenile detention center is a constant source of concern for Andrea Lubelfeld, who took over as chief of the Cook County Juvenile Justice Division last August.

This article was originally published at Prism.

In 2013, Marilyn Reyes was in a peer program run by New York Harm Reduction Educators when she first learned about VOCAL-NY, a New York-based grassroots group mobilizing people directly impacted by HIV/AIDS, mass incarceration, the war on drugs, and homelessness.

This story was originally published at Prism.

In late December, J. Stokes was on Twitter when he first learned about the 23-year-old Black woman who was found dead in her apartment after meeting up with a Bumble date in Bridgeport, Connecticut. Wary about the accuracy of stories typically shared on the social media platform, Stokes searched to find a link to a Connecticut-based news site.

by Tamar Sarai Davis

This story was originally published at Prism.

In the wake of the historic demonstrations against police brutality after George Floyd’s murder at the hands of Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin, advocates are sounding the alarm that an escalation in federal law enforcement means some protesters are facing the possibility of life imprisonment solely for property damage.

This story was originally published at Prism.

Sharon Richardson had been incarcerated for 18 years when she was granted a visit to the hospital where her mother was in ailing health. This would be the last opportunity for Richardson to say her goodbyes. When she arrived back at the prison, however, she couldn’t have expected what was in store: her friends, women she lovingly now refers to as her sisters, had been allowed to cook an entire meal for her.

This story was originally published at Prism.

(Content note: This article contains descriptions of domestic violence and abuse.)

Contradictory expectations for women, limited protective mechanisms against domestic violence, a public unwillingness to believe survivors, and an insatiable desire to meet every social problem with a carceral response all converge in the lives of many women who have been abused by their intimate partners.

This story was originally published at Prism.

At sunrise Tuesday morning, a broad coalition of immigrant justice organizers from groups across the New York metropolitan area halted operations at a remote Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) field office in Newark, New Jersey. The site of the protest is largely shaped by its industrial landscape and proximity to Newark International Airport.

This story was originally published at Prism.

Accessing education can be endlessly challenging for those who are currently or formerly incarcerated. For those inside, coursework is often provided through partnerships with surrounding colleges and universities, but issues ranging from constant facility transfers to ineligibility for tuition loans can make completing one’s studies unfeasible.

This story was originally published at Prism.

Elderly incarcerated people are among those most vulnerable to COVID-19, but despite the deadly pandemic, they are still subject to a parole system more concerned with relitigating cases than acknowledging the growth and change of those inside.

As assistant chief investigator in New Jersey’s Office of the Public Defender, Dina Windle knows the ins and outs of the criminal legal system. And a survivor of violence herself, she understands the parts of the system that most people fail to acknowledge—especially when it comes the death penalty and the lack of justice afforded to nearly everyone involved.

As the scheduled execution of Lisa Montgomery draws nearer, attorneys representing Montgomery are requesting that the federal government grant clemency in her case and reduce her sentencing to life in prison without the possibility of parole.

In the early morning of Jan. 13, the U.S. federal government executed Lisa Montgomery, the only woman on federal death row and the first woman to be put to death by the federal government in 67 years.

As people are joining with loved ones either virtually or in person, members of organizations like the Alliance of Families for Justice (AFJ) are finding community with one another in New York. In addition to pushing state officials to better protect incarcerated people, AFJ, a statewide advocacy group of family members with incarcerated loved ones, also offers support and guidance to one another. Typically the group meets biweekly via video conference, but on Dec.

Note: This article includes descriptions of childhood sexual abuse, physical abuse, and intimate partner violence.

Next month, Lisa Montgomery is scheduled to be the first woman executed by the federal government in almost 70 years. She is one of 52 women currently on death row nationwide and the only woman currently on federal death row.

Note: This article includes descriptions of childhood sexual abuse, physical abuse, and intimate partner violence.

Next month, Lisa Montgomery is scheduled to be the first woman executed by the federal government in almost 70 years. She is one of 52 women currently on death row nationwide and the only woman currently on federal death row.

For more than four months, women and gender nonconforming people in three Philadelphia jails have been living with mold, roach and rat infestations, extreme heat and cold, poor ventilation, and ongoing abuse from correctional officers. Conditions like those would be deplorable even if the country wasn’t in the midst of a pandemic, but with the added threat of COVID-19, they may be deadly.

Depending on who you ask, this holiday season will represent something markedly different. For some, it’s a breaking point after a difficult year, where people are loosening their own social distancing protocols out of a desire to visit with family. For others, it will be one of the first holiday seasons they’ve chosen to spend alone as COVID-19 cases continue to spike.

When Alamance County Sheriff Terry Johnson talks about what inspired him to run for the North Carolina office he now holds, he often cites the state’s perhaps most famous sheriff: TV’s Andy Griffith. Johnson, who supported the arrest and pepper spraying of demonstrators at a peaceful get-out-the-vote rally ahead of last week’s election, has said he looks to the level-headed, conflict-mediating Mayberry sheriff as an inspiration.

A new report released by the Prison Policy Initiative outlines a different kind of voter suppression than has typically made headlines this election season: the de facto disenfranchisement of people incarcerated in local jails. According to PPI, an overwhelming majority of the 746,000 people detained in U.S. jails at any given day are legally eligible to vote but are often barred from casting their ballots due to structural obstacles and misinformation.

This story is part of Prism’s series on incarceration as gendered violence. Read the rest of the series here. 

Public discourse and news reporting on criminal justice often paints a picture that renders invisible the experiences of women, girls, transgender people, and gender-nonconforming individuals confined in U.S. federal and state prisons, as well as local jails. The prevailing narrative, which is almost completely male, overlooks that not only do women in the U.S.

This story is part of Prism’s series on incarceration as gendered violence. Read the rest of the series here.

For four women and gender-nonconforming people at California’s Central California Women’s Facility in Chowchilla, ongoing sexual violence was a feature of their incarceration. The prison offered scant avenues for protection or holding the perpetrators accountable, so the group took matters into their own hands.

In Sylvia A. Harvey’s new book, The Shadow System: Mass Incarceration and the American Family, the author explores how mass incarceration creates immense obstacles for not only those inside, but for the families who live and love beyond prison and jail walls.