Inner Lives : Voices of African American Women in Prison

by Johnson, Paula C.

• ISBN13: 9780814742549
• ISBN10: 0814742548
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2003-04-01
• Publisher: New York University Press

Summary

View the Table of Contents. Read the Preface.Johnson gives these women visibility and voice as they relate their lives, their crimes, and their efforts to remain connected to families and communities...powerful.-- BooklistJohnson's Inner Lives provides both a serious intervention in the literature on prisons and a venue through which incarcerated and formerly incarcerated Black women can speak for themselves. It challenges readers to take action.--Black RenaissanceInner Lives soars when the women are allowed to speak for themselves.--BookJohnson illuminates how the race and gender of African American women affect how they are treated in the American criminal justice system.--The Women's Review of BooksJohnson provides a historical look at African American women in the U.S. criminal justice system from the colonial period to the present.--Law's Social InquiryThe rate of women entering prison has increased nearly 400 percent since 1980, with African American women constituting the largest percentage of this population. However, despite their extremely disproportional representation in correctional institutions, little attention has been paid to their experiences within the criminal justice system.Inner Lives provides readers the rare opportunity to intimately connect with African American women prisoners. By presenting the women's stories in their own voices, Paula C. Johnson captures the reality of those who are in the system, and those who are working to help them. Johnson offers a nuanced and compelling portrait of this fastest-growing prison population by blending legal history, ethnography, sociology, and criminology. These striking and vivid narratives are accompanied by equally compelling arguments by Johnson on how to reform our nation's laws and social policies, in order to eradicate existing inequalities. Her thorough and insightful analysis of the historical and legal background of contemporary criminal law doctrine, sentencing theories, and correctional policies sets the stage for understanding the current system.

Author Biography

Paula C. Johnson is Professor of Law at Syracuse University College of Law and Co-President of the Society of American Law Teachers.

Table of Contents

Foreword	vii
Joyce A. Logan
Preface	ix
Acknowledgments	xi
Introduction	1	(18)
I Analysis of African American Women's Experiences in the U.S. Criminal Justice System	19	(32)
II Profiles and Narratives of African American Women in the U.S. Criminal Justice System	51	(222)
Currently Incarcerated Women	55	(76)
DonAlda	57	(7)
Cynthia	64	(14)
Mamie	78	(11)
Elizabeth	89	(7)
Rae Ann	96	(11)
Donna	107	(9)
Martha	116	(8)
Marilyn	124	(7)
Formerly Incarcerated Women	131	(74)
Bettie Gibson	133	(9)
Joyce Ann Brown	142	(16)
Betty Tyson	158	(9)
Karen Michelle Blakney	167	(8)
Ida P. McCray	175	(8)
Millicent Pierce	183	(7)
Joyce A. Logan	190	(5)
Donna Hubbard Spearman	195	(10)
Criminal Justice Officials and Support Networks	205	(68)
Judge Juanita Bing Newton	207	(13)
Assistant Warden Gerald Clay	220	(7)
Grace House Administrators: Rochelle Bowles, Mary Dolan, Annie Gonzalez, and Kathy Nolan	227	(10)
Sandra Barnhill, Director, Aid to Children of Imprisoned Mothers (AIM)	237	(6)
Rhodessa Jones, Director, Medea Theater Project	243	(9)
Professor Brenda V. Smith	252	(9)
A Family Story: Renay, Judy, Debbie, and Kito	261	(12)
III Conclusions and Recommendations	273	(12)
Afterword	285	(4)
Angela J. Davis
Appendix A: Self-Study Course on African American Women's History	289	(4)
Appendix B: Resource Directory	293	(12)
Notes	305	(20)
Bibliography	325	(10)
Index	335	(4)
About the Author	339