Women Behind Bars: The Crisis of Women in the U.S. Prison System [Paperback]

Silja J. A. Talvi (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 2, 2007

More and more women—mothers, grandmothers, wives, daughters, and sisters—are doing hard prison time all across the United States. Many of them are facing the prospect of years, decades, even lifetimes behind bars. Oddly, there’s been little public discussion about the dramatic increase of women in the prison system. What exactly is happening here, and why?

The answers are in Women Behind Bars, in which investigative journalist Silja Talvi sheds light on why American girls and women are being locked up at such unprecedented rates.

Talvi travels across the country to weave together interviews with inmates, correctional officers, and administrators, providing readers with a glance at the impact incarceration has on our society. With a combination of compassion and critical analysis, Talvi delivers a timely, in-depth analysis of a growing and extremely complicated issue.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Like mirrors in a house of horrors, the women in Talvi's book reflect the distorted collective flaws of our society: violence, addiction, poverty, pervasive low self-esteem and families trapped in chronic financial and emotional crises." -- Ms. Magazine

"This comprehensive and passionately argued indictment of the inhuman treatment of female prisoners is the sort of shocking expose too seldom seen in these media days of so much celebrity fluff." -- Seattle Post-Intelligencer

"What's most affecting about Talvi's book is that each female prisoner - whether she's a killer or a pawn in the drug wars - gets a chance to tell her story. Women Behind Bars is both a tremendous labor of love and an example of the kind of justice that compassion and diligence can produce, even if it may not be sufficient to open the minds of those who decide how women live and die in the U.S. criminal justice system." -- Bitch Magazine

"...Talvi's solid research, poignant anecdotes and one-on-one interviews with prisoners and correction officers make Women Behind Bars a compelling well-rounded read." -- Seattle Magazine

Talvi interviewed hundreds of imprisoned girls and women, and she expertly combines their stories with the disturbing facts and figures that, on their own, don't inspire nearly enough outrage. The author's vivid descriptions of these women's lives, and her exasperation over their "invisible struggle,' render Women Behind Bars a surprisingly readable treatise on a cumbersome topic. -- UTNE Magazine

Product Details

• Paperback: 300 pages
• Publisher: Seal Press (November 2, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1580051952
• ISBN-13: 978-1580051958
• Product Dimensions: 8.1 x 5.5 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #623,338 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

By nature and by profession, I am thoroughly curious about other human beings on a daily basis. It's in my blood to pay attention to what's happening all around us: watching social cues, patterns of behavior, subtle and egregious violations of human dignity. It's neither fair nor appropriate for this kind of curiosity to be a one-way process. My relationship to the people I write about isn't a disconnected, detached one.

With all that said, here's a bit about me for those of you curious to read more about what I do, why I do it, and the people and social environments that shaped the woman I am today.

I am a full-time, investigative journalist and essayist with credits in over 75 publications, including The Nation, Salon and the Christian Science Monitor. In fall of 2005, I became a Senior Editor at In These Times magazine. My book, Women Behind Bars, is the culmination of years of research, prison visits, and interviews with prisoners, juvenile detainees, advocates, law enforcement, and correctional employees.

The hybrid nature of my ancestry led me, early on, to pursue multicultural sourcing and reporting as a constant in my work. It is essential for me to approach the concepts and subjects of my articles with respect, and to begin each story with an open and questioning mind. In this sense, I consider my profession to be a blessing: I am always learning about something new, constantly being exposed to different kinds of people, ideas, life experiences, and ways of looking at the world. (The business and profit-minded aspects of this profession are another matter altogether.)

My articles on social issues--with a particular emphasis on criminal justice, ethnicity and gender--have garnered 12 Society of Professional Journalists regional awards in the Pacific Northwest. I was honored in 2005, 2006 and 2007 to receive four consecutive PASS awards from the National Council on Crime and Delinquency for excellence in magazine journalism, as well as a 2006 national New American Media award for immigration-related reporting.

My work has also also appeared in numerous book anthologies including but not limited to: Body Outlaws (Seal Press/Avalon), The W Effect: Bush's War on Women (The Feminist Press, , Prison Nation (Routledge), as well as the forthcoming Prison Profiteers (The New Press), and It's So You (Seal Press), edited by Michelle Tea.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

14 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Superb, compelling reading., November 6, 2007

By 

S. Morris (Seattle, WA United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Women Behind Bars: The Crisis of Women in the U.S. Prison System (Paperback)

The last thing I expected upon opening a non-fiction book on the subject of women in prison would be that the book would be so compelling that I couldn't put it down, but that was the case! The author combines statistics and facts with dramatic accounts of prisoner experiences, and appropriately weaves in her own observations, pertinent interviews, analyses of historic trends, cross-cultural comparisons, and covers many important political issues and facets of the criminal justice system.

I found the accounts of medical neglect to be heart breaking, as were the stories about mistreatment of the mentally ill. The issues raised, especially the damaging effects of prolonged isolation, are very important issues that out society is neglecting to address. While this book focuses on these issues in women's prisons, the authors observations are just as applicable to men.

This book is not a detached theoretical look at the issue, it is very humane and personal work that will surprise readers and will hold your interest far more than you might anticipate. I highly recommend it.

I believe this book should be required reading in all university criminal justice and women's studies programs--and would be beneficial in the social work curriculum, as well.

9 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Essential Reading, December 6, 2007

By 

Norman Stamper "Norm Stamper" (San Juan Islands, Washington) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Women Behind Bars: The Crisis of Women in the U.S. Prison System (Paperback)

The plight of women behind bars in U.S. prisons is a national disgrace. Not since my first reading of two quite different books--The Jungle and To Kill a Mockingbird--have I been so moved, and educated, by a story of social injustice. The genius and the beauty of Silja Talvi's book is that she removes herself from the telling of these women's stories. It's as if the inmates are speaking directly to the reader, daring us not to turn away from them, to go on about our lives as if we hadn't witnessed such sweeping, and deeply personal, outrages. Talvi's exquisite blending of reportorial facts and figures and personal narratives makes for compelling reading. It should rouse anyone with a pulse and a conscience to action on behalf of a heretofore silent, invisible, and oppressed group of our fellow human beings.

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Misspellings everywhere, should have been edited first, December 19, 2009

By 

Alicia Tipton "Mrs. Prof" (New York, New York) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Women Behind Bars: The Crisis of Women in the U.S. Prison System (Paperback)

The problem I have with this book is that it is poorly edited (if edited at all) and it takes away from the interest in the subject that the book covers. I was really surprised that so many errors were in the book. Beyond that, the book is mediocre at best when it comes to information on the topic. More time should have been spent putting the book together before putting it out and selling it to us.