This comes from Jon’s Jail Journal – the post for January 3, 2010. I’m giving you the lead and linking you back there for the rest, because if you haven’t checked out his blog, you need to now. It’s a blogspot for bloggers from jails and prisons with special focus on TentCity and Joe Arapio. Anyone who can get copies of this blog post inside, send them. Women’s resistance is worth making the extra effort to pay attention to. We need to figure out how to support them, which starts with letting them know we hear them…
Changes at Perryville Women’s Prison (Part 1 by Lifer Renee)
Renee – As a teenager, Renee received a 60-year sentence from a judge in Pima County. 15 years into her sentence, she’s writing from Perryville prison in Goodyear, Arizona, providing a rare and unique insight into a women’s prison.
After Marcia Powell died because of the guards, so much has happened. I went a round or two with depression. Her death was a slap in the face of what the reality of my life is. All of us who reside in this prison felt it. It was hard to deal with, but life goes on.
Her death has changed the dynamics of life here drastically. There are now larger “rec enclosures” no longer to be referred to as cages. In the guards’ inner circles, they are referred to as “play pens.” There are mister systems and shade structures.
There is a new administration: DW [Deputy Warden], ADW [Assistant Deputy Warden], and captain. The DW is out of control. If you have an opinion, something to say and it goes against what he says, you’ll find yourself moved to the hole in the blink of an eye. This has happened to several women. They also move you into the kitchen with 56 other women if you ask for a room change because you do not get along with your roommate, and this is escalating the fighting.…
source and props to: Prison Abolitionist
