Feminist Solidarity and Political Education

Incarcerated people at the California Institution for Women, with the help of outside allies involved in radical feminist politics, already embodied feminist values in their work. In 1972, the Santa Cruz Women’s Prison Project began to bring college courses and workshops to CIW. The collective members worked in an equitable partnership with incarcerated women, centering their voices and empowering them to make decisions about their own lives. The powerful experience of political education led to a prisoner work strike and events like the 1973 “Alternatives to Prison” conference at CIW. ¹ . 

This 1974 book of creative writing published by the SCWPP and written by the students at CIW embodies their political vision and personal struggles. In the feminist tradition of “the personal as political,” the emotions held in the poetry and prose reveal the oppressive nature of life at CIW.

"No title at all is better than a title like that" courtesy of the Freedom Archives, 1974.