Overview

Examines how the feminist movements in the late twentieth century ignited prison protests, activism, and reform in women's prisons While the late twentieth century brought about greater rights for women, it also saw a rapid increase in the number of female prisoners. Before their confinement, many incarcerated women had gained access to work and higher education. But once behind bars, they found the only programs available for them perpetuated misogynistic norms. Challenging Confinement is about how incarcerated women incorporated strategies from feminist movements into their activism behind bars. Facing long sentences, overcrowded prisons, and a lack of rehabilitation programs, incarcerated women protested, organized, and filed lawsuits to advocate for gender and racial equality in prison. Drawing on prison grievance reports, oral histories, state archives, and private collections, Bonnie L. Ernst tells the story of how women's movements, beginning in the 1920s and ending in the era of mass incarceration, infused prison activism in Michigan with new energy. Female prisoners and attorneys successfully persuaded the federal court to force state prisons to offer more programming and access to legal services. Mass incarceration swallowed up many of those efforts, but this history demonstrates how core principles of women's movements encouraged incarcerated women to form coalitions and challenge their jailers. By bringing together histories of race, gender, and punishment, Challenging Confinement reveals how incarcerated women worked together to resist, an era of mass imprisonment.

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9781479825561

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Reviews

A fascinating look at the history of race, gender, and punishment in the twentieth century. In covering so many years, topics, and perspectives, Ernst casts a wide net and makes important contributions to our understanding of the origins of the feminist fight against mass incarceration. -- Wendy L. Rouse, author of Public Faces, Secret Lives: A Queer History of the Women's Suffrage Movement An interesting look at how incarcerated women used the women’s liberation movement to fashion their own protests against gender-based discrimination and demands for equitable treatment, focusing on opportunities and resources comparable to those offered to male prisoners. Ernst’s selection of Michigan as a case study is persuasive partly because it spurred the first major court case on gender discrimination and imprisonment and influenced similar prisoner demands across the country. Ernst carries her study up through the 1990s, addressing important federal legislation such as the Violence Against Women Act and the Prison Litigation Reform Act, and the impact of these laws on women in Michigan’s state prisons. -- Christina Greene, University of Wisconsin-Madison Ernst illustrates the creative ways in which incarcerated women harnessed the power of feminist movements to seek rehabilitation, access to education, and connections with professionals who could advocate for their causes. Making use of archival sources like prison records, incarcerated women’s internal and external correspondence, and prison publications, Ernst uncovers how these women became their own advocates and laid the groundwork for modern-day abolitionist thought. -- Beth S. Slutsky, author of Gendering Radicalism: Women and Communism in Twentieth-Century California

"""A fascinating look at the history of race, gender, and punishment in the twentieth century. In covering so many years, topics, and perspectives, Ernst casts a wide net and makes important contributions to our understanding of the origins of the feminist fight against mass incarceration.""--Wendy L. Rouse, author of Public Faces, Secret Lives: A Queer History of the Women's Suffrage Movement ""An interesting look at how incarcerated women used the women's liberation movement to fashion their own protests against gender-based discrimination and demands for equitable treatment, focusing on opportunities and resources comparable to those offered to male prisoners. Ernst's selection of Michigan as a case study is persuasive partly because it spurred the first major court case on gender discrimination and imprisonment and influenced similar prisoner demands across the country. Ernst carries her study up through the 1990s, addressing important federal legislation such as the Violence Against Women Act and the Prison Litigation Reform Act, and the impact of these laws on women in Michigan's state prisons.""--Christina Greene, University of Wisconsin-Madison ""Ernst illustrates the creative ways in which incarcerated women harnessed the power of feminist movements to seek rehabilitation, access to education, and connections with professionals who could advocate for their causes. Making use of archival sources like prison records, incarcerated women's internal and external correspondence, and prison publications, Ernst uncovers how these women became their own advocates and laid the groundwork for modern-day abolitionist thought.""--Beth S. Slutsky, author of Gendering Radicalism: Women and Communism in Twentieth-Century California"

"""A fascinating look at the history of race, gender, and punishment in the twentieth century. In covering so many years, topics, and perspectives, Ernst casts a wide net and makes important contributions to our understanding of the origins of the feminist fight against mass incarceration."" -- Wendy L. Rouse, author of Public Faces, Secret Lives: A Queer History of the Women's Suffrage Movement ""An interesting look at how incarcerated women used the women’s liberation movement to fashion their own protests against gender-based discrimination and demands for equitable treatment, focusing on opportunities and resources comparable to those offered to male prisoners. Ernst’s selection of Michigan as a case study is persuasive partly because it spurred the first major court case on gender discrimination and imprisonment and influenced similar prisoner demands across the country. Ernst carries her study up through the 1990s, addressing important federal legislation such as the Violence Against Women Act and the Prison Litigation Reform Act, and the impact of these laws on women in Michigan’s state prisons."" -- Christina Greene, University of Wisconsin-Madison ""Ernst illustrates the creative ways in which incarcerated women harnessed the power of feminist movements to seek rehabilitation, access to education, and connections with professionals who could advocate for their causes. Making use of archival sources like prison records, incarcerated women’s internal and external correspondence, and prison publications, Ernst uncovers how these women became their own advocates and laid the groundwork for modern-day abolitionist thought."" -- Beth S. Slutsky, author of Gendering Radicalism: Women and Communism in Twentieth-Century California"

Author Information

Bonnie L. Ernst is Assistant Professor of Criminal Justice at Indiana University Bloomington.

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