Recovering Carceral Feminist-Ask Me How!

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Thank you for lifting up her life, Mariame.

We have utterly failed as a society when we cage people and are smugly certain that we never need to revisit those decisions. There are so many people dying in prisons who do not need to be there. Today, there is one less. Love and light to you. I'm sorry we failed you.

I know that LWOP means that people are supposed to die in prison. But society didn't need her to die there. She posed no threat to anyone. She would have been a valued and valuable member of the community.

She leaves behind family--siblings, children, grandchildren--and friends who loved her dearly and never stopped hoping that she would return, despite her life without parole sentence. And she leaves behind a commutation request, filed over a year ago and never acknowledged.

She suffered a serious health setback eight years into her incarceration, at 32 years old. She had repeated surgeries and required much medication. Not only would she never have hurt anyone (prison staff noted her kindness and compassion), she could not have hurt anyone.

While incarcerated, she discovered a deep faith that led her to minster to others through bible study, as a worship facilitator, and through the joy of dance. She participated in programming designed to help people recognize the harm they had done and take accountability for that harm.

Just to get it out of the way--yes, the crime was terrible. But like many women, her role in the crime was minimal and was a product of duress. My client was involved in something she couldn't find her way out of without seriously jeopardizing her life and the lives of her family. So she stayed.

One of my clients died yesterday. She was an absolutely lovely woman, full of faith and joy and light. She cared deeply about the people around her. She was a source of encouragement and support to the women she was incarcerated with. She was 51 years old and had spent 28 years in prison.

To the guy spotted reading Imperfect Victims on the B train last week: I can’t tell you how much I appreciate it. And I hope they liked the flowers. ❤️

This is news to me, a Jew who doesn't feel like I have lost anything because of Zohran's victory.

My goodness. Imagine showing everyone how much your brain is just absolutely pickled in fear and bigotry.

The ideas underlying socialism are hardly toxic. Inclusion, community, compassion, opportunity, effective governance are all fundamental, widely embraced. The term socialism itself has been cynically stigmatized. But with a little good sense, we can move past that and focus on values & results.

It’s been so long since there was good news that I forgot you could scroll and smile at the same time.

study after study after study shows that literally just handing people money and telling them "do what you want with this" reduces homelessness, increases food security for children, makes it more likely people will find and retain jobs.1

That’s exactly what I was going to say-and I’m currently in that deanship

Blue sky, white clouds, red and yellow leaves on trees

Blue sky.

We’ve Entered the Gaslighting Phase of Covid in Prisons Covid is spreading, but incarcerated people are being told vaccines aren’t necessary.

Getting COVID is terrible. Getting COVID in prison, as @victorialaw.bsky.social explores in her latest book, Corridors of Contagion, is still a potentially deadly nightmare. Read about it here: www.thenation.com/article/soci.... And get the book here: www.haymarketbooks.org/books/2447-c...

Inside the Prison Heat Crisis Dispatches from Florida, Maryland, and Washington

So excited for Kim Hricko, whose essay is part of the "Inside the Prison Heat Crisis" series at The Jump Line. Read it here: thejumpline.substack.com/p/inside-the...

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New N.Y.P.D. Unit to Focus on Domestic Violence as Cases Surge

The average salary for NYPD investigators is $100K. $100K x 450 investigators = $45 million/year. Imagine what we could do to decrease intimate partner violence with $45 million a year? But yeah, let's fund more cops instead. www.nytimes.com/2025/10/16/n...

Trump Ties Domestic Violence Prevention To Border Security, Law Enforcement President Donald Trump marked National Domestic Violence Awareness Month with a proclamation linking family safety to border enforcement, law-and-order initiatives, and digital protection laws.

That this administration is committed to "aggressively arresting and prosecuting every criminal who terrorizes our fellow citizens and their families" tells you everything you need to know about the effectiveness of criminalization as a response to IPV. www.yahoo.com/news/article...

The Girlfriends S3/Bonus Ep 3: Is Abolition the Answer? Podcast Episode · The Girlfriends: Jailhouse Lawyer - Season 3 · S3, E11 Bonus · 42m

I told Anna Sinfield that the first season of The Girlfriends made me yell at the radio. She interviewed me anyway. 🤷‍♀️ Listen here: podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/t...

Right. That's my point. She acknowledged DVAM. She didn't acknowledge publicly that she had denied clemency to several criminalized survivors. I know that because I represent one of them and am in touch with the people who represent the others.

Trump says ending cash bail endangers women. Advocates say it protects them. Recent reforms now require safety risk assessments when considering pretrial release from jail. These can benefit women on multiple levels, from those accused of crimes to survivors of gender-based vi...

Ending cash bail prevents criminalized survivors of gender-based violence from being held unnecessarily. Kudos to the anti-violence advocates in Illinois advocating for maintaining Illinois' bail reform law. 19thnews.org/2025/10/cash...

My relationship to Judaism right now is...complicated. I didn't go to temple today. But I took the Yom Kippur Torah portion to heart: "Is not this the fast that I have chosen...to let the oppressed go free and that ye break every yoke." I took my fast to court. And the world got a little more just.

I'm not sure it's publicly available (I can't imagine the governor is publicizing it). I know because I represent one of the women and am in touch with the advocates who have worked with the others.

The Governor of Michigan seems to be aware of domestic violence and yet just denied clemency to multiple criminalized survivors of violence. Is that irony? Or is it just deeply enraging? www.michigan.gov/whitmer/news...

Former California Police Officer Sentenced to Five Consecutive Life Sentences for Sexually Assaulting Four Women He Encountered While On Duty J. DeShawn Torrence, 41, a former Sanger, California, police officer, was sentenced today to five consecutive life sentences for sexually assaulting four women whom he encountered during the course of...

Tell me again how police keep us safe from sexual violence. www.justice.gov/opa/pr/forme...

I learned today that the reason that I do not read science fiction is because I am a science idiot. 🤷‍♀️