Since 1994, the Women’s Prison Book Project (WPBP) has provided women and transgender –identified persons in prison with free reading materials covering a wide range of topics from law and education (dictionaries, GED, etc.) to fiction, politics, history, and women’s health. We are an all volunteer, grassroots organization. We seek to build connections with those behind the walls, and to educate those of us on the outside about the realities of prison and the justice system. Of the more than two million people confined in U.S. prisons and jails, over 150,000 are women. Eighty percent of these women are there for non–violent crimes, such as shoplifting, prostitution, drug related convictions, and fraud. Of the women convicted of violent crimes, the vast majority were convicted for defending themselves or their children from abuse. More than 1/2 of all women in prison are women of color, and two–thirds of women in prison have at least one child under eighteen. Most of these mothers had primary custody of their children before going to prison. These facts mean that women in prison
have specific needs for particular kinds of information: material on
families, children, women's self–help, women's health, and legal aid
pertaining to women who fight back against their abusers. There are
also many lesbian, bisexual, and transgender prisoners who often have
trouble obtaining information that is relevant to their lives. As new
prisons are built to warehouse the growing number of incarcerated people in
the U.S., the meager resources previously available to prisoners are being
cut or limited to only a few. WPBP is one place where women/transgender
persons in prison can get information that is often unavailable from any
other source. WPBP works to support prisoners; and through that solidarity
work to empower prisoners themselves and build connections through prison
walls. |