Violation occurs everywhere, even in the institutions we trust most. Robin Levi and Ayelett Walmans’s publication ‘Inside this place not of it: Narratives from women’s prisons’, takes a crucial, unanticipated look into some of the most harrowing cases of human right’s breaches in the female prison system. A timely must-read for women, and men, everywhere.
Over the past year, women across the world have made significant strides in bringing the perpetrators of sexual harassment and exploitation in industry to justice, as part of the ‘me too’ and ‘Times Up movement’. With celebrities heading up the campaign, and protests like the ‘women’s march’ and ‘reclaim the night’ also taking place in the US and the UK, battles for gender equality and challenges against male privilege have bought female voices to the forefront of the media.
Originally published in 2011, but re-released in 2017, a book composed by two women, Robin Levi and Ayelett Waldman, would make a progressive contribution to female empowerment, in a time of great need. By providing a voice to the voiceless, ‘Inside this place, not of it’ sheds long-overdue light onto some of the most shocking collective cases of power abuse and human rights violations. For the making of the book, the authors travelled to female correctional facilities across the US, interviewing a number of women who spoke of the ordeals that led them to imprisonment, and of the subsequent abuse they have faced since being inside. Ex-imprisoned women also share their stories, reflecting on the hardships of their youth and the injustices faced in the penitentiary system.
The stories are compiled into individual narratives, each one unique, but mostly concurrent with experiences of social inequity and impoverishment prior to incarceration, and violation from those in power during the sentence. These women, who represent a mass of silent sufferers, cause us to reconsider the ethical treatment of prisoners, and most importantly realise the dark injustices that are continually overlooked by state led institutions.
Disturbingly, many reported persistent harassment by male staff members while imprisoned. Maria Taylor, abused by her family landlord from the age of ten, and arrested for her involvement in a drug deal gone-wrong, was repeatedly attacked by a male prison officer while serving her sentence. She describes how he would take her aside to assault her, while other officers stood by. Sarah Chase, a victim of child negligence, abuse and a failed suicide attempt arrested for the murder of her step mother, reported a similar case. While staff members involved were fired, they were not released for their indecency but on the basis of ‘other’ grounds, and subsequently were never bought to justice for their actions.
Further experiences highlight the inadequacy and undignified nature of the prison health care system, with women reporting invasions of privacy, lack of access to menstrual pads, the absence of pre-natal care, forced inductions of labour and surgical misconduct. Interviewee Sheri Dwight required a cystectomy to remove ovarian cysts during her sentence, but an investigation five years later revealed the surgeon had removed both of her ovaries without her knowledge or consent. Leaving her less likely to conceive again and with little awareness or understanding of the state of her own body, Sheri is now released and subsequently working to rebuild and reclaim her life, while the prison accept no responsibility for her ordeal.
The experience of Transgender man and Native American, Charlie Morningstar, indicates another layer of victimisation, through the prejudice exercised against LGBT and minority group prisoners. Morningstar was born a female but identifies as male, and experienced an impoverished childhood on an Indian reservation. Now 65 years old, and still serving his sentence, he describes historical and present day segregation from the other prisoners, how he is perceived as a ‘sexual deviant’, experiences of bullying by guards and their persistent refusal to treat him as he wishes to be identified.
Ayelett and Waldman are thorough in their uncovering of practices and negligence’s that appear to be normalised within certain institutions, with many more women describing heightened mental health problems, sexual exploitation by guards, false medical diagnosis’ and lack of care for critical health conditions. They are also explicit in highlighting the class and race barriers to social stability faced by the women prior to imprisonment, and subsequently why the nature of their crimes reinforce them as society’s most vulnerable.
Editors and compilers, Levi (left) and Waldman (right). Levi is a human rights consultant and director, and Waldman is a bestselling author.
While progressive change is being made in active society to reveal concealed violations and promote gender equality, it is crucial that we realise there are still women who have no escape, no-one to tell and no power to change their circumstances. What must be addressed is the assumption that imprisonment is complicit with a lack of humane treatment and the absence of basic civil rights, because instead of being ‘rehabilitated’, many women experience further oppression. As the authors recognise, for the majority who feature in this book, it is the only time their voices may be publicly acknowledged, and the only tool they have to make the challenges to security experienced by female prisoners known. But by reading these narratives, we can make ourselves aware of silenced voices, and by making ourselves aware, we can show greater unity and solidarity for underrepresented women all over the world.
‘To the many people who shared their time and lives with us, including those whose stories we were not able to publish in this collection. And to all those people living inside whose voices are never heard’- Robin Levi and Ayelett Waldman