Book Talk This Tuesday at Columbia Law School-- "Inside This Place, Not of it: Narratives from Women's Prisons in the United States"

Olivia and Sean brought to my attention what looks to be a great lecture at Columbia Law School. This Tuesday, February 7th at 6pm, author and lawyer Ayelete Waldman and human rights advocate Robin Levy will discuss their recent book as part of Columbia's Oral History seminar series. Their book is called "Inside This Place, Not of it: Narratives from Women's Prisons in the United States" and as the title suggests discusses the social existence and experience of incarcerated women, both inside and out the confines of prisons.

Here are the details for attending the talk. If you cannot make the talk, then pick up the book, and keep in the back of your mind as you soak in the human component from narratives how rapidly mass incarceration has impacted women.

S0me quick facts from Sentencing Project:

More than one million women are currently under the supervision of the criminal justice system in the U.S.

More than 200,000 of these women are confined in state and federal prisons or local jails.

Expanding at 4.6% annually between 1995 and 2005, women now account for 7% of the

population in state and federal prisons

The number of women in prison has increased at nearly double the rate of men since 1985, 404% vs. 209%.

Women in state prisons in 2003 were more likely than men to be incarcerated for a drug offense (29% vs. 19%) or property offense (30% vs. 20%) and less likely than men to be incarcerated for a violent offense (35% vs. 53%).

-- DHC