Haddonfield Friend Michele: 13 years of birthing stories from wise women. SJ Dodgson MJoTA 2013 v7n2 p1126
Two days ago, on Nov 24 2013, I traveled less than a mile from my house to listen to Dr Michele Tarter and 2 of her associates talk about their weekly visits to a women's prison in central New Jersey. The mission of the visits, which Dr Michele has developed over 13 years, is to give voice to women who are imprisoned. The whole session was videoed, I hope before too long to add the link.
Dr Michele and her associates talked about the lack of humanity in the treatment of imprisoned women. Whatever happened, whatever did not happen, whether accused rightly or wrongly, once a judge has said that a woman is to be imprisoned, she loses all rights to he own clothes, her own food, when she can wash, and has lost all decisions about how her time is to be spent.
Because of the massive bad press for anyone with visible African ancestry (and we all have African ancestry, my brown eyes came from Africa), daughters of Africa are accused more frequently, imprisoned more frequently and imprisoned for longer. These facts are indisputable, and tragic, and Dr Michele talks about visting women who have been imprisoned before their children started school, and all through their teenage years.
