Resistance Behind Bars: The Struggles of Incarcerated Women

"Written in regular English, rather than academese, yet full of fire, this is an impressive work of research and reportage. I hope you're able to get this to a greater audience, and that it sparks awareness and resistance. Well done!" –Mumia Abu-Jamal

“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. Law breaks the AIDS barrier, recognizing and recording prisoner organizing on HIV as resistance against stigma and medical malpractice in the prison system.”
–Laura Whitehorn, former political prisoner

“Victoria Law's eight years of research and writing, inspired by her unflinching commitment to listen to and support women prisoners, have resulted in an illuminating effort to document the dynamic resistance of incarcerated women in the United States. Her work focuses not only on renowned political prisoners, but on the lives of ordinary women of all colors and ages, many being mothers separated from their children. Law makes clear that besides their myriad means of struggle and mutual assistance, they have one thing in common: they are poor and working class, without the resources needed to achieve what passes for justice in the United States. A prison abolitionist herself, the author is well aware that in that long fight, women prisoners deserve support and honor in their daily efforts.” --Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz, historian, feminist, indigenous rights activist, author, most recently of Roots of Resistance: History of Land Tenure in New Mexico

“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

“Constituting 6% of the US prison and jail population, but over 130,000 in number, and growing, women are an all but invisible segment of the prison population. The issues unique to women, and their behind bars struggle for justice and equality, are even more ignored by mainstream media than that of their male counterparts. Resistance Behind Bars is a long needed and much awaited look at the struggles, protest and resistance waged by women prisoners. Excellently researched and well documented, this incisive book brings to light aspects of imprisonment unique to women, how the gender common issues of captivity impact women and the response, protest and resistance to captivity by women. Highly recommended for anyone interested in the modern American gulag.”
--Paul Wright, former prisoner, founder/editor of Prison Legal News, and co editor of The Celling of America: An Inside Look at the US Prison Industry, 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, Outlaws of America: The Weather Underground and the Politics of Solidarity

“By documenting the myriad rebellions of the most despised and abused, Law has fulfilled a task long-deferred by prison activists. A meditation on the 'weapons of the weak' that challenges dominant conceptions of what constitutes resistance and liberation, Resistance Behind Bars deserves a wide readership not only among those disturbed by mass incarceration, but by all students of the human spirit in the face of adversity.”
--Daniel Burton-Rose, author, Guerrillas In Our Midst: The George Jackson Brigade and the Anti-capitalist Underground of the 1970s, co-editor, The Celling of America: An Inside Look at the U.S. Prison Industry