NYC Radical Reference members have written a letter in support of the Humane Alternatives to Long-Term (HALT) Solitary Confinement Act, which is pending in the New York State legislature. For more information, see the work of the New York Campaign for Alternatives to Isolated Confinement at nycaic.org/legislation.
We are writing as librarians and other library workers in support of the passage of the Humane Alternatives to Long-Term (HALT) Solitary Confinement Act (A. 3080 / S. 4784). Thousands of people, disproportionately Black and Latinx, are in solitary confinement in NY prisons each day, which means 22 to 24 hours a day in a cell without any meaningful human contact or programs. These conditions are recognized—including by the United Nations—as torture. The HALT Act would include restrictions on criteria for placement in solitary confinement, alternatives to isolation, and a 15-day limit on solitary confinement. Advocates note that states that have reduced the use of solitary have seen a positive impact on safety for both incarcerated people and corrections officers.
What are the rates of incarceration for American Indians compared to Whites? or, What is the chance that as an American Indian you will be incarcerated in your lifetime? (Need source as well. The information I'm finding on the internet is mostly unsourced or refers to a mother jones article that I can't find.)
The earlier comments had some great suggestions for places to look for information. Doing some additional research, the ACLU has put out some great and fairly recent information on a state-by-state analysis of standards for pregnancy-related health care in U.S. prisons. You might start your search by checking out their 2008 report, available here.
Basically, all US prisons are instructed to provide basic prenatal care for women inmates, but the extent to which they do so varies wildly from state to state, as you'll see both in the state-by-state analysis listed in the ACLU report, and in the 2010 report listed in the comments above, which essentially provides a letter grade for each of the states based on statistics gathered by the ACLU. So although I wasn't able to calculate the percentage of prisons that provide prenatal care, the ACLU report should give you a fairly recent breakdown on a state level, and also provides links to the Department of Corrections for each state.
I also located some databases that might be useful for you in doing further research. The National Criminal Justice Reference Service is run out of the Justice Department, and in doing some cursory searching, found some articles that would likely have additional statistics for you, particularly if you were looking to drill down to the state level. For example, this article works through statistics on female prisoners in Michigan, and this one has a similar focus on Nebraska.
You might also check out Criminal Justice Abstracts for additional resources related to women's reproductive rights in prison.
Works cited
I'm looking for information regarding reading groups in prison. So far, I've been able to find some information about a group called Prison Reading Groups in the UK, but I'm wondering if there are any projects like that happening in the States?
How or where would I find statistics on how many women incarcerated in the U.S. in the 1970s obtained their GEDs or high school diplomas BEFORE incarceration?
I'm seeking the source of the following quotation:
"In prison, there were no rifles for training, no stone fortresses from which to shoot. Behind those walls, our rifles were books. And through study, stone by stone we built our fortress, the only one that is invincible: the fortress of ideas."
~Fidel Castro
I would like to find the primary source (speech, autobiography, newspaper article, interview, whatever it may be). If I can't find the primary source, any authoritative reference such as a reputable collection of quotations will do. I need the full citation, including page number, publisher, year, etc.
This has been particularly frustrating, because almost all references to this quote are on anti-Castro websites, none of which cite the source of the quote.
I may have more requests for help with quote verification in the coming weeks. Thank you.
In 1991, women at P4W (or Prison for Women, Canada's only federal prison for women) rioted. Their riot was sparked by the 4th suicide of a Native woman within a 16-month time period. They barricaded themselves in the recreation room. The state responded by sending in prison guards with tear gas and attack dogs.
Where would I find media coverage (if any) of this event? (This is NOT the same as the 1994 P4W riots where a riot squad violently "extracted" sleeping women from their cells after a physical fight between the women and guards)
