Women, Writing, and Prison: Activists, Scholars, and Writers Speak Out

by Tobi Jacobi Colorado State University (Editor), Ann Folwell Stanford (Editor), Kathleen Adams (Editor)

Overview

This collection includes a kaleidoscope of voices and perspectives from prisoners, former prisoners, scholars, and activists to examine the extraordinarily invisible and closed system of incarceration that characterizes the massive U.S. prison industry. The book explores in multiple ways, the role of writing in carceral settings, including material realities, ethics, and social justice. It is a book about the power of writing as well as its limits. It is a book that celebrates and critiques, challenges, and reveals. It is a book that, like the writing of incarcerated women, repays careful reading.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781475808247
Publisher:	Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc.
Publication date:	11/13/2014
Series:	It's Easy to W.R.I.T.E. Expressive Writing
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	250
File size:	775 KB

About the Author

Tobi Jacobi is an associate professor of English at Colorado State University where she teaches writing and literacy classes. Her research focuses on understanding the problems and possibilities of situating women’s prison writing workshops as alternative literacy training. She has taught life-writing at a county prison in upstate New York and currently facilitates a women’s prison writing project in Fort Collins, CO.

Ann Folwell Stanford is Vincent DePaul Professor of multidisciplinary and literary studies at the School for New Learning, DePaul University. A poet, she founded and directed the DePaul Project on Women, Writing, and Incarceration after having written poetry with women at Cook County Jail for over seven years. Her book, Bodies in A Broken World: Women Novelists of Color & The Politics of Medicine, was published in 2003. Her articles have appeared in African American Review, American Literature, Literature and Medicine, Feminist Studies, and other journals and books.

Table of Contents

Foreword- Sister Helen Prejean
Dedication
Preface-Ann Folwell Stanford and Tobi Jacobi
Introduction-Ann Folwell Stanford
Where We Are From-SpeakOut Writers

Section 1: Writing and Reclaiming Self
1. My Words are Brain and Bone Marrow-Jessica Hill
2. From Nonna’s Table to Book Signings: Under the Influence of the Pen-Nancy Birkla
3. This Ain’t No Holiday Inn, Griffin: Finding Freedom on the Blank Page-Dionna Griffin
4. A Symphony of Medicine-Shelley Goldman, a/k/a S. Phillips
5. The Girl Behind the Smile-Judith Clark
6. Writing to Survive the Madness: Letters from Prison-Sarah Anonymous and Patricia O’Brien
7. My Voice through a Deadbolt Door-Crista Decker
8. Rolling with the Punches-Irene C. Baird

Section II: Bridging Communities: Writing Programs and Social Practice
9. Good Intentions Aside: The Ethics of Reciprocity in a University-Jail Women’s Writing Workshop Collaboration-Sadie Reynolds
10. Jumble of Thoughts-Sandy Sysyn
11. Incorporeal Transformations: The Power of Audience for Women Writing in Prison-Tom Kerr
12. Writing Exchanges: Composing across Prison and University Classrooms-Wendy Hinshaw and Kathie Klarreich
13. Mothers and Daughters: Meditations on Women’s Prison Theatre-Jean Trounstine
14. As Others Stand By and Ask Questions-Roshanda Melton
15. Poetry, Audience, and Leaving Prison-Hettie Jones

Section III: Writing, Resistance, and the Material Realities of US Prisons and Jails
16. “…to speak in one’s own voice”: The Power of Women’s Prison Writing-Judith Scheffler
17. Writing is My Way of Sledge Hammering These Walls-Taylor Huey
18. She Bore the Lyrical Name of Velmarine Szabo-Clarinda Harriss
19. “You Just Threatened My Life”: Struggling to Write in Prison-Velmarine O. Szabo
20. Out at the Swamp and Back-Gretchen Schumacher
21. I am Antarctica: I Shriek, I Accuse, I Write-Boudicca Burning
22. No Stopping Them: Women Writers at York Correctional-Bell Gale Chevigny
23. Dear Shelly: Reflections on the Politics of Teaching Inside-Tshehaye Hebert
24. All with the Stroke of a Pen-Joyce Cohen
25. The Prisoner’s Lament-Samsara

Afterword Tobi Jacobi
Hope is There Cree
About the Authors
Appendix
Resources for Facilitating Prison Writing Workshops
Selected Bibliography
Index

Editorial Reviews

Women, Writing & Prison is the deepest and most helpful book I’ve read about teaching the arts inside prison walls. The authors tackle the complex challenges of working within a criminal justice system that by its very nature brutalizes those who are locked into it. The women’s stories, and those of the teachers/activists who work with them, remind us that writing is a pathway to freedom within—a practice that affirms our humanity and reassures us that not only do we exist, but also, we have wings to fly.

Kathryn Watterson

These writings undermine the very foundation of our nightmarish and shameful prison system. Like crews boring a tunnel from opposite ends, the writers from inside and outside meet in the middle with affirmations of life and humanity that offer a potent antidote to the deathly cruelties of the American gulag. And because the vast majority of women prisoners are incarcerated for non-violent crimes of poverty, this volume exposes the fundamental assumptions of the American criminal justice system as instruments of brutal class control.

Bruce Franklin

This powerful volume is the best possible portal for approaching the vital impact of the word in the context of incarceration. The voices of advocates, activists, academics—and, most brilliantly, the voices of incarcerated and formerly incarcerated women—deploy astonishing and effective languages of clarity, truth, and justice. The rational passion on these pages is startling and unforgettable.

Rickie Solinger

This book provides glimpses of prison life that most of us would not otherwise know. As the women write, thoughts guarded so closely come spilling out upon the page. They invite us into their worlds to see them as human beings with human issues they are trying to resolve. I was moved by the beauty of their poetry and the poignancy of their life stories.

Maureen McCormack

This invaluable book shines a bright light on the harsh reality of women in prison, some of the most forgotten people in our country today. Languishing year after year locked away from society with few opportunities to express themselves, most have little opportunity to expand their minds, to grow and appreciate themselves as individuals.
Writing and reflection through sharing poetry, prose and their deepest dreams in a safe and supportive group is a powerful form of restorative justice. When women acknowledge their truths and resist the dehumanizing experience of prison, it is possible for them to come to terms with their tangled past and painful present.
Programs such as those described should be required in every jail and prison. Such healing innovations can make the difference to untold numbers of people caught in the United States web of incarceration.

Susan Spangler Hendricks

A brilliant and necessary book bringing the voices of women in prison to the forefront. Not only do we witness the writings of the women, but also the writings of those teachers, scholars, and activists who share their experiences and awaken our hearts. This collection is astounding, igniting our moral passion and a must read for all of us.

JoAnn Flynn

A moving, sometimes unsettling, account of women caught within the prison industrial complex. Weaving together the voices of incarcerated and formerly incarcerated women, community activists, and academics, this innovative anthology reminds us why writing matters.

Patrick W. Berry