The Intercollegiate Women’s Studies program of the Claremont Colleges presents "Women, Prisons, and Criminal Injustice," a forum to raise public awareness of injustice against women in prison, on February 25 and 26 in the Scripps College Humanities Auditorium, 981 N. Amherst Avenue, Claremont. The event is free and open to the public.
The issues to be addressed include the psychological effects of incarceration; the state of the prison system, including the impact of the Three Strikes Law, the war on drugs and the prison-industrial complex; the criminalizing of women’s behaviors; problems and abuses imprisoned women face, such as sexual assault, inadequate medical treatment and separation from children; life after prison; and interventions and alternatives that address these issues.
Participants include MacArthur fellow Ellen Barry, founder of Legal Services for Prisoners with Children; Craig Haney, professor of psychology at UC Santa Cruz and investigator in the original Stanford Prison Experiment; the Honorable LaDoris Cordell, Superior Court Judge of Santa Clara County; the Honorable Peggy Hora, Superior Court Judge of Alameda County; Claremont Colleges faculty members Jean Schroedel (Claremont Graduate University) and Darcy Buerkle (Pitzer College); and many others. There will also be a performance by Rhodessa Jones, founder of The Media Project: Theatre for Incarcerated Women. Jones’ performance will be held at 8:00 p.m., February 25, in the Rose Hills Theatre, Smith Campus Center, Pomona College, 170 E. Sixth St.
The conference begins at 1 p.m. on Friday, February 25, and concludes at 4 p.m. on Saturday, February 26. An exhibit of materials related to the conference will be on display at the Honnold Library beginning January 31. For more information, please contact Intercollegiate Women’s Studies at (909) 607-3250.