Vive la révolution!

Women's imprisonment is placed under the spotlight in this week's New Statesman by Sophie McBain. Documenting the hardship and trauma faced by women prior to and during imprisonment, the piece outlines the case for radical rethink in current approaches to women who break the law.

Rachel Halford, director of Women in Prison, is interviewed in the article and calls for a 'a complete abolition of the women’s prison estate as it exists today'. 

On the topic of abolition, we came across two pieces on the Feminist Wire website. One from Angela Y Davis and Mumia Abu Jamal on 'Alternatives to the present system of capitalist injustice' and another from Beth E Richie on 'How anti-violence activism taught me to be a prison abolitionist'. If abolition is your bag, then you might like this resource for community organising and transformative justice as well as this handbook, Instead of Prisons. 

Related items

The injustices of incarceration (29 January, 2014)
Criminal justice and reducing the harms that women face (27 January, 2014)
The Centre's Justice Matters for Women initative
Violence against women: fighting the global scourge (22 June, 2013)