Resistance Behind Bars: The Struggles Of Incarcerated Women

(Paperback, New edition)

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Resistance Behind Bars is an important and uplifting call to end prisons as they currently are, supported by stories of struggles and uprisings in women's prisons over the years. While many have heard of the 1971 Attica prison uprising, the 1974 August Rebellion remains relatively unknown even in activist circles. Resistance Behind Bars is determined to challenge and change such oversights. As it examines daily struggles against appalling prison conditions and injustices, the book details collective organising and individual resistance among incarcerated women

Reviews

"Victoria Law's eight years of research and writing, inspired by her unflinching commitment to listen to and support women prisoners, has resulted in an illuminating effort to document the dynamic resistance of incarcerated women in the United States."
--Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz

"Written in regular English, rather than academese, this is an impressive work of research and reportage"
--Mumia Abu-Jamal, death row political prisoner and author of Live From Death Row

"Finally! A passionately and extensively researched book that recognizes the myriad ways in which women resist in prison, and the many particular obstacles that, at many points, hinder them from rebelling. Even after my own years inside, I learned from this book."
--Laura Whitehorn, former political prisoner

"Excellently researched and well documented, Resistance Behind Bars is a long needed and much awaited look at the struggles, protests and resistance waged by women prisoners. Highly recommended for anyone interested in the modern American gulag."
--Paul Wright, former prisoner, founder/publisher of Prison Legal News, editor of Prison Nation: The Warehousing of America's Poor and Prison Profiteers: Who Makes Money from Mass Incarceration

"Repression tries not only to crush but to quiet. But as Vikki Law shows in this multifaceted book, all that is unseen is not absent. Guided by years of anti-prison organizing and a palpable feminist practice, Law documents the many ways women challenge the twin forces of prison and patriarchy, each trying to render women invisible. In the face of attempts at erasure, women prisoners resist to survive and survive to resist. We would do well to pay attention."
--Dan Berger, co-editor, Letters from Young Activists

"Resistance offers us a much-needed, much broader and nuanced definition of resistance--a woman's definition based on the real material conditions of women. I hope that when one reads about the experiences of women prisoners' organizing and resistance, the reader, both woman and man, will begin to glimpse the possibilities and necessity of such forms as we continue to struggle for a more just and equal world free from all forms of oppression. If women worldwide are unable to liberate themselves, human liberation will not be possible."
--Marilyn Buck, anti-imperialist political prisoner, activist, poet and artist

Author Bio

Victoria Law is a writer, photographer, and prisoner rights supporter. She helped initiate NYC Books Through Bars, a group that sends free books to prisoners nationwide, and she writes articles and gives public presentations about the needs of women in prison. Since 2002 she has worked with women incarcerated nationwide to produce Tenacious: Art and Writings from Women in Prison and has facilitated having incarcerated women's writings published in larger publications. She is the coeditor of Don't Leave Your Friends Behind: Concrete Ways to Support Families in Social Justice Movements and Communities. Laura Whitehorn has been a political activist since the 1960s. She spent 14 years in prison for the Resistance Conspiracy case. Released in 1999, she is now a senior editor at POZ magazine. They both live in New York City.