Rethinking Anti-Violence Strategies - Sudbury

In the INCITE! Anthology The Color of Violence, Julia Sudbury's piece titled "Rethinking Antiviolence Strategies" is a remarkable text that states, "And for all women prisoners, the state acts as a punitive perpetrator of violence, subjecting women to invasive body searches, emotional and physical isolation, and physical and verbal abuse." (13). She goes on to describe the types of violence endured by women around the world. After I read this, I thought of the many types of violence enacted on women in prison institutions that are seldom seen nor heard about, and this made me feel very angry. Women in prisons are abused, neglected, and left to rot, particularly when it comes to women of color.

Immediately upon reading this piece, I thought of the percentage of women living in prisons at this time, and how many young girls are fated to end up there. There is a lot of discussion around prisons within the last few years because of tv shows like Orange is the New Black and Wentworth, which I both admittedly love. But are these portrayals realistic and/or constructive? And is that the point? Sudbury discusses the prison system in varying countries, like Britain, America, and Canada, comparing their treatment of women. This was important in order to understand that even the countries seen as more "refined" and less "barbaric" are still using a punitive system that enforces recidivism rates as well as social and economic crises.

Before Sudbury's piece, the authors and co-editors of The Color of Violence mention the alternatives that have been offered to the current punitive prison systems on page 8 of the introduction, which they say is from a "restorative and reconciliatory framework" instead. This is an interesting and necessary counterpoint when it comes to discussing prison abolition. The authors mention that despite the initial temptation that this framework would bring, it actually tends to isolate women, people of color, and other marginalized communities as well. This simply means that the alternatively offered framework needs adjustment, which absolutely can be done.

I'm including this screenshot of a scene from Orange is the New Black, where one inmate who is latinx (Blanca) takes a stand against the guards, and one of the white inmates (Piper) eventually follows suit. While watching the show, I was not thinking about the inequalities these two people would face in this situation, but now I cannot ignore the implications that a woman of color would face for being an activist in prison versus a more privileged woman. As Sudbury mentioned, women are consistently forced into a violent mess of a prison system, and there are certain populations of women that are affected the most negatively in this "correctional" system. OITNB definitely tackles race relations as well as violence performed by workers in the prison, but I question if it is effectively getting the point across that prisons are inherently violent and toxic.

I would love to discuss popular culture references to women's prisons in class! Perhaps watch some clips of these shows, especially scenes with activism taking place. These television shows have been a site for some of the actors to highlight issues with sexism and racism, which could be interesting to discuss and look at their social media sites.