Twenty percent of all women coming into the New York state prison system either have AIDS or are HIV positive. In response to this very real scenario, a group of inmates at the women's prison at Bedford Hills, New York, created the A.C.E. (AIDS Counseling and Education) Program. This book documents the A.C.E. Program from its beginnings, recorded in the women's own voices, and details nine workshops that anyone can use. 35 illustrations and photos.
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Editorial Reviews
Amazon.com Review
In New York State in the 1980s, one in five women entering prison was infected with HIV, the virus that causes AIDS. Those pegged as carriers were ostracized by others fearful that the deadly disease could spread in any number of ways in close quarters. At the maximum-security prison Bedford Hills, a group of women banded together with the support of their superintendent to launch a peer-counseling and education program called ACE. "We are women, convicted of crimes, who, in spite of it all, created something that is making a difference in many people's lives," they write in the introduction to Breaking the Walls of Silence. Their struggles with illness are eclipsed by politics, motherhood, and contentious personal and political issues that have swirled around the program they developed. Safe sex--a linchpin of AIDS prevention--was such a hot-button issue, for example, that ACE was nearly quashed in its infancy because administrative rules insist there is no sex in prison. Because AIDS research has forged ahead so swiftly, however, much of the information in the second half of the book, which offers an extensive and generally well conceived curriculum for peer education on AIDS, is already outdated. But the story of these women's struggle remains an important one. --Francesca Coltrera
From Kirkus Reviews
a widely applicable model AIDS program. AIDS is the leading cause of death in New York State prisons, and among those entering prison, HIV infection is present in twice as many women as men. The ACE program (ACE stands for AIDS Counseling and Education) was begun by a group of women inmates in Bedford Hills prison, who in 1988 saw the need to reach out to those among them already suffering with AIDS and to educate the entire Bedford Hills population about the disease. They tell their story here. Creating such a program within the restrictions and bureaucracy of a prison was not easy, but aided by a $250,000 grant from the AIDS Institute, which funded an outside community agency to work with the women, the program gradually took shape. ACE developed workshops and seminars, provided counseling, and held memorial services inside Bedford Hills. The original manual was expanded for use by other prisons and then later into its present form, which is both manual (Part II) and history of ACE (Part I). What makes ACE's story powerful is not the facts of its history, but the voices of the women recounting that story and at the same time telling their own stories. Not all have AIDS, but all are affected by it, and the pain of prison life, even absent AIDS, is made abundantly clear. The manual itself describes the various teaching methods used and, for each of the nine workshops, outlines the goals and curriculum content. Topics include the stigma of AIDS, transmission, testing, treatment, and how it impacts women as caregivers and mothers. The volume includes a preface by Whoopi Goldberg. A valuable handbook for any group, in or outside prison, involved in AIDS education, but even more, a testament to the humanity of a group of dedicated women. (35 b&w illustrations) -- Copyright ©1998, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
i was one of those women,
By "durdan02" (new york) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Breaking the Walls of Silence: Aids and Women in a New York State Maximum Security Prison (Hardcover)
My name appears as the last entry on the page of women inmates infected with HIV (aka Francine Rodriquez). The ACE program helped me to be where I am today. I was an ACE staff member during the years of 1996-2000. That program, along with: the inmate women, inmate ACE staff member, civilan supervisors and prison administration helped me become the woman I am today. Today I work in Amethyst Women's Project which is a crisis intervention/referral service. In this agency I work as a HIV educator/outreach worker, facilitator of Women's HIV Support Group and I work in the feild of substance abusers. My life is complete today. It was behind those walls where I was able to grow and to face many of my life issues that kept me from moving on and giving myself a better life. When I was paroled in 2000 I left behind many women whose lives have touched mine as I have touched theirs. A few of my friends have sentences that range from` 15, 20, 25 yrs. to life. Those women are not only doing time they are also living and fighting the HIV virus that resides within them. I made it out alive--not many will. The voices of those women deserve to be heard for there are many. I am just one....
5.0 out of 5 stars
i was one of those women,
By "durdan02" (new york) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Breaking the Walls of Silence: Aids and Women in a New York State Maximum Security Prison (Hardcover)
My name appears as the last entry on the page of women inmates infected with HIV (aka Francine Rodriquez). The ACE program helped me to be where I am today. I was an ACE staff member during the years of 1996-2000. That program, along with: the inmate women, inmate ACE staff member, civilan supervisors and prison administration helped me become the woman I am today. Today I work in Amethyst Women's Project which is a crisis intervention/referral service. In this agency I work as a HIV educator/outreach worker, facilitator of Women's HIV Support Group and I work in the feild of substance abusers. My life is complete today. It was behind those walls where I was able to grow and to face many of my life issues that kept me from moving on and giving myself a better life. When I was paroled in 2000 I left behind many women whose lives have touched mine as I have touched theirs. A few of my friends have sentences that range from` 15, 20, 25 yrs. to life. Those women are not only doing time they are also living and fighting the HIV virus that resides within them. I made it out alive--not many will. The voices of those women deserve to be heard for there are many. I am just one....
1 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Now, will anybody hear us?,
By jasper26@rocketmail.com (Whitestone, New York City) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Breaking the Walls of Silence: Aids and Women in a New York State Maximum Security Prison (Hardcover)
What a wonderful idea and help for all women. Now will anyone here them? It sounds like a good idea but will anyone in this world here anything from the women in prison? Do we still stoop so low that we do not honor a women in prison and the help about aids is invaluable. How can we get this out into the public? Will the health of our country be changed if we hear their voices? I want people to hear there voices and make them credible. We need the knowledge and the pain and suffering which these women have to put up with and poor health care could break your heart. Many times women do things against others not for the same reasons men do, but for lack of money and a place to live. Many times they must have food for there children and diapers for there little ones, that is the heart of being a women. Sometimes things happen and they are sent to prison. Many times they already have aids but remember it was given to them by men! How can we as a group help them and hear there voices? Think of that! They are alive even in the worst conditions so I think whatever knowledge they have it should be brought out to the schools, to the radio, to the tv etc. We need to know.
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