Messages From Site Visitors

SEXUALLY ASSAULTED IN PRISON OR JAIL?

The National Prison Project of the American Civil Liberties Union wishes to bring lawsuits on behalf of persons who have been sexually assaulted while in prison or jail, either by other prisoners or by staff. We are interested in hearing from both former prisoners and persons who are still incarcerated.

Please write to the address below and provide as many details as possible, including when and where the assault took place, whether you reported the assault, and what action, if any, was taken by prison, jail, or law enforcement authorities.

Legal representation, if provided, will be free of charge.

PR Project
Craig Cowie, Attorney
ACLU National Prison Project
733 15th St. N.W., Suite 620
Washington, DC 20005
Prisoners should send their letters by legal mail.

National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers (NACDL)
1025 Connecticut Avenue, NW, Suite 901, Washington, DC 20036
(202) 872-8600 • Fax (202) 872-8690 • [email protected]

From: Eric Ifere [email protected]
Prisoners Custodial Rights and Welfare Initiative (PRIWIN) is a Charitable and Non Governmental Organization in Nigeria committed to exposing and challenging the institutionalized inhuman and degrading treatment of prisoners in our Jails/prison centers.

To accomplish these goals, the Organization is to identify reforms and establish innovative programming in tackling issues concerning the welfare and rights of prisoners.

Currently, we are embarking on a project topic – RESOURCE DIRECTORY ON PRISON CRISIS IN NIGERIA – 1980 – 2000. which among other issues will include:

• Cases of medical neglect in our prison centers
• Urgent alert
• Political prisoners
• Number of persons on death penalty row.
• Guard brutality in our prisons.
• Prison population statistics.
• Population of those awaiting trial and in detention.
• Incidents of deaths in prison custody.

Please kindly include us in your mailing list for other useful resource materials and collaboration.

Sincerely yours,
ERIC IFERE
Executive Director, PRIWIN

I am currently a graduate student at Wolfson College, Oxford University and am writing a dissertation on social attitudes and public opinion to the death penalty in the United Kingdom and the United States of America between 1945 and 2000. I am particularly interested in the content of the debates in Massachusetts as a 'no death penalty' state that nearly had death penalty legislation introduced. My central tenet is that public opinion, despite first impressions, is no more marginalised on this issue than the other western nations that have abolished the death penalty but that the structure and nature of the political system has dictated the pace of change. This follows on from similar arguments proposed by Zimring and Hawkins in their book and the idea of an elite leadership hypothesis put forward by John Braithwaite. I am therefore interested in those involved in the Mass debate including the actual politicians and those surrounding the debate such as professionals (lawyers, doctors, academics) and journalists and the main reason for their position on the issue. Principally, were politicians super sensitive to what they perceived as the weight of public opinion? Any help and contacts or views in my research would be much appreciated.
James Thorpe Wolfson College University of Oxford Oxford. OX2 6UD. United Kingdom. Email: [email protected]

In the latest MCLS Notes (January 2001), Massachusetts Correctional Legal Services reports on recent corrections-related news such as "Legislature Investigates Shirley Shakedown", numerous corrections-related legal cases, and an intriguing segment on "Spectacular Opposition to Regulations Prohibiting Ex-Prisoners From Working in Human Services". The publication can be accessed via the MCLS website: http://www.mcls.net.

Prisoners Writing: Discourse from Behind Bars

Call for Papers
Genre seeks essays for its special Spring 2002 issue:

The focus of this special issue tackles the broad and compelling topic of prisoners writing. Some 2 million Americans are currently behind bars. America's rate of imprisonment is the highest in the world. As a vehicle to stimulate a variety of disciplinary and interdisciplinary approaches to the genre of prison writing and its social functions, the journal is calling for historical perspectives on prison writings, both nationally and internationally. In particular, the editor encourages essays on the genre that highlight explicit concerns with the theoretical, literary, institutional, gendered or political dimensions of discourse from behind prison walls. We seek articles that include efforts to evaluate the merits of previous approaches to this genre and compare them with those more recent formulations. We will consider articles, essays and review essays that explore prison culture from the prisoner's perspectives on a broad plane of issues. These perspectives include, but are not limited to: the place in literature for contributions of prisoner writings, classics of prison literature, inmate artistic cultural expression, music driven by the culture of prison life both past and present, international perspectives on alternatives to incarceration, immigration and exile, resistance and riots, the American 'race to incarcerate,' gender dynamics among inmates, staff and their families, mothering/fathering from prison, disproportions of race in prisons, youth in prison, mental and medical care issues for inmates, queer perspectives on imprisonment, living with HIV/Aids, the wave of privatization facing America's prison's today, exploration of the boundaries defining global/national political prisoners, and historical reflections on incarceration. Comparative and international studies on any of the above topics are encouraged.

Printed manuscripts, in triplicate and accompanied by return postage, should follow the MLA Style Sheet with notes placed after the text. Critical articles should not exceed 10,000 words, and non-commissioned book reviews should not exceed 2500 words. Deadline for submissions is December 1, 2001. All correspondence regarding this special issue should be addressed to:

I work for Catholic Charities of Southern worcester county. I am in the parent aide program and I give talks to dads about being a Dad. I would like to talk to Dads in the West Boylston facility about dads' issues but I do not know who to contact or get started . Are there dads' groups now, if so please forward the names to me. I believe I would have to find funding for the project as this has never been done by my group before. I do think I can find money out there its just the point who do I talk to to get it started.
THANKS
STEVE TONKEN
[email protected]

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Kevin Pranis
Grassroots Leadership/Prison Moratorium Project
c/o DSA 180 Varick Street, 12th Floor
New York, NY 10014
(646) 486-6715
(212) 727-8616 (fax)
(917) 860-4635 (cell)
[email protected]
[email protected] (text messages up to 15 words)
www.nomoreprisons.org