Ep. 81 - “We Are More” Pt. 1: Redefining False Narratives & Disrupting Trajectories of Women in Prison ft. Sandra Brown

BrownTown shares virtual space with Sandra Brown, formerly
incarcerated survivor and current Senior Advisor and Visiting
Scholar with the Women’s Justice Institute (WJI). In Part One of
the "We Are More" series, BrownTown and Sandra discuss the four
leading criminal legal system trends that have spurred the rise
in women's mass incarceration and meet them with five fundamental
rights and needs as pathways to justice (WJI). At the
intersection of carcerality and patriarchy, the team collectively
addresses and assesses root causes and ways to reverse women’s
incarceration on the path towards prison abolition. Watch the
micro-docs, listen to the series, and take action at
SoapBoxPO.com/We-Are-More and IllinoisPrisonProject.org.


Full transcription here!


GUEST
Sandra Brown is a Chicago native with a love for learning and
helping others. When she became an incarcerated survivor, she
spent over half of her sentence working as a teaching assistant
while striving to earn an education via correspondence courses.
She has helped countless women earn their GEDs as well as
complete various vocational programs. For almost a decade, she
served as president of Toastmasters: A Woman’s Voice,
where she developed communication and leadership opportunities
for up to 60 women each session. Barriers that Brown experienced
during her own educational and empowerment journey while
incarcerated undergirds the work that she does now as a Senior
Advisor and Visiting Scholar with the Women’s Justice Institute
(WJI) in Chicago. Though Brown lives in Los Angeles, she works to
promote economic and educational opportunities to other
justice-impacted women. Some of her advocacy work entails
developing curriculum aimed at understanding decarceration and
domestic violence as well as writing policy papers recommending
ways to support quality higher education degree programs to women
who are incarcerated. Her book Odyssey in Progress is now
available and she has a piece featured in the reSentencing
Journal, published by Tufts University.


 


Mentioned in episode:



Women's Incarceration Rates Are Skyrocketing. These
Advocates Are Trying to Change That by Nazish Dholakia
(Versa)

Twitter thread on crime reporting in the media (Alex
Karakatsanis)

Organizations: Black and Pink, Moms United Against Violence
and Incarceration, Restorative Justice Illinois, Live Free
Illinois, Life Span



"Justice for women isn’t only what happens between arrest and
prison. It’s what happens before, during, and after it."
--Women's Justice Institute


 


ILLINOIS PRISON PROJECT (IPP)
Through advocacy, public education, and direct representation,
the Illinois Prison Project brings hope to and fight in community
with incarcerated people and their loved ones for a brighter,
more humane, more just system for us all. Learn more about the
IPP on their site; follow them on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram,
LinkedIn and YouTube. 


 


CREDITS: Intro music from the Women's Justice
Initiative website and outro soundbite from Sandra Brown. Audio
engineered by Kiera Battles. This series is sponsored by the
Illinois Prison Project.


--


Bourbon ’n BrownTown
Facebook | Twitter |
Instagram | Site |
Linktree | Patreon


SoapBox Productions and Organizing, 501(c)3
Facebook | Twitter |
Instagram | Site |
Linktree | Support