Gendered Justice in the American West : Women Prisoners in Men's Penitentiaries

by Butler, Anne M.

• ISBN13: 9780252068799
• ISBN10: 0252068793
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2000-02-01
• Publisher: Univ of Illinois Pr

Summary

Anne M. Butler's shocking study shows that the distinct gender disadvantages already faced by women within western society erupted into intense physical and mental violence when they became prisoners in male penitentiaries.

Drawing on prison records and the words of the women themselves, Gendered Justice in the American West places the injustices women prisoners endured in the context of the structures of male authority and female powerlessness that pervaded all of American society. Butler's poignant cross-cultural account explores how nineteenth-century criminologists constructed the "criminal woman"; how the women's age, race, class, and gender influenced their court proceedings; and what kinds of violence women inmates encountered. She also examines the prisoners' diet, illnesses, experiences with pregnancy and child-bearing, and survival strategies.

Table of Contents

Abbreviations	xi
Preface	xiii
Introduction	1	(20)
The Woman Prisoner	21	(28)
The Male Prison World	49	(32)
Women of the Prison World	81	(31)
Women's Worlds of Violence	112	(36)
Women's Health inside the Walls	148	(26)
Women and Prison Work	174	(25)
Women Prisoners Respond	199	(26)
Conclusion	225	(10)
Selected Bibliography	235	(14)
Index	249