March 19, 2003

Contact: Sarah Ray

802-443-5794
sray@middlebury.edu
Posted: March 19, 2003

MIDDLEBURY, VT
- On April 8, 21 and 24, the Middlebury College Women’s and Gender Studies
Program will present its “Women in Prison” symposium, a seminar
series examining the circumstances leading to a woman’s imprisonment and
the potentially dangerous conditions she endures once put behind bars.
The symposium will incorporate a variety of multi-media events, from documentaries
filmed inside jailhouse walls to a lecture given by a former inmate. All
events are free and open to the public.

Each year, the number
of women locked up in the United States increases dramatically. Greater
than 90,000 women are currently in prison-seven times more than in 1980.
This number grows faster each year according to Theodore Sasson, co-author
of “The Politics of Injustice,” associate professor of sociology
and anthropology at Middlebury, and one of the symposium organizers.

Sasson also points
out that the events leading to a woman’s imprisonment and the environment
she experiences upon arrival are vastly different from a man’s: Women
tend to commit less violent crimes, and when they do, such offenses frequently
arise in response to previously suffered abuses. Most jailed women wrestle
with issues of pregnancy and single parenthood as well. Amnesty International
reported in 1999 that “sexual misconduct and various forms of abuse
and neglect of women inmates so pervade the U.S. correctional system that
human rights violations are virtually a daily part of prison life.”

Deborah Grant, director
of the Middlebury College May Belle Chellis Women’s Resource Center and
one of the symposium organizers, said, “Women have suffered greatly
while in jail and prison. Society needs a better understanding of what
exactly goes on behind closed prison doors.”

The symposium begins
at 4:30 p.m. on Tuesday, April 8, with a talk by Kathryn Watterson called
“Women in Prison.” Watterson is lecturer in the Council of Humanities
at Princeton
University and has also written numerous works of nonfiction, three of
which The New York Times chose as Notable Books of the Year. Watterson
will discuss her book “Women in Prison: Inside the Concrete Womb,”
the basis for the 1999 ABC “Nightline” six-part documentary,
“Crime and Punishment: Women in Prison.” The event will take
place in Warner Hemicycle on College Street (Route 125).
During the week of April 13, there will be a display of books on the subject
of women in prison in an exhibit case at the entrance to the Meredith
Wing of Starr Library, on South Main Street (Route 30). In the same location,
visitors may view a video of poetry readings given by inmates at a woman’s
prison, the Bedford Hills Correctional Facility in Westchester County,
N.Y., from Sunday, April 13-Thursday, April 17, at 7:30 p.m.
On Monday, April 21, at 7:30 p.m., Alexandra Juhasz, associate professor
of media history and theory, video production/post-production and women’s
studies at Pitzer College in Claremont, Calif., will present the documentary
she directed and produced, “RELEASED-Short Videos about Women and
Prison,” in Dana Auditorium in Sunderland Language Center on College
Street (Route 125). Juhasz has produced more than 15 films and videos
and will engage in a discussion about her work following the screening.
“Doing Time in NY” is the final lecture in the “Women in
Prison” series and will take place on Thursday, April 24, at 4:30
p.m. in Warner Hemicycle. The presenter, Jan Warren, was incarcerated
for more than 12 years under New York’s Rockefeller drug laws, and has
since become an advocate for women in prison. Warren is currently the
associate director of the College and Community Fellowship at CUNY Graduate
Center’s Center for the Study of Women and Society. She is also a contributing
writer to “Aliens at the Border, Doing Time: Twenty-five Years of
Prison Writing, and Borrowed Light.”
Several Middlebury College organizations co-sponsored one or more of the
symposium events: the sociology/anthropology department, the office of
institutional diversity, the film and media culture program, and Ross
Commons.
For more information, please contact Deborah Grant, director of Middlebury
College’s Chellis House, at 802-443-5937, or dgrant@middlebury.edu.
To follow are events calendar listings:

Events
Calendar Listings

“Women
in Prison” Symposium
Middlebury College
Tuesday, April 8; Monday, April 21; and Thursday, April 24

Tuesday,
April 8

4:30
p.m.
Lecture: “Women in Prison”
Kathryn Watterson, author and Lecturer in the Council of Humanities at
Princeton University
Warner Hemicycle, Warner Hall, Middlebury College Street (Route 125)
Free

Sunday,
April 13-Thursday, April 17

Book
Display: Books related to the subject of women in prison will be on
display.
Exhibit case at the entrance to Meredith Wing, Middlebury College Starr
Library on South Main Street (Route 30)
Free

7:30
p.m. Each Night
Video Screening: A video of poetry readings by inmates from
a women’s prison, the Bedford Hills Correctional Facility in Westchester
County, N.Y., will be on display.
Entrance to Meredith Wing, Middlebury College Starr Library on South Main
Street (Route 30)
Free

Monday,
April 21

7:30
p.m.
Documentary Screening and Discussion: “RELEASED-Short Videos
about Women and Prison”
Alexandra Juhasz, Associate Professor of Media History and Theory, Video
Production/Post-Production and Women’s Studies at Pitzer College
Dana Auditorium in Sunderland Language Center, Middlebury College, College
Street (Route 125)
Free

Thursday,
April 24

4:30
p.m.
Lecture: “Doing Time in NY”
Jan Warren, Associate Director of the College and Community Fellowship
at CUNY Graduate Center’s Center for the Study of Women and Society.
Warner Hemicycle, Warner Hall, Middlebury College, College Street (Route
125)
Free

For
more information, please contact Deborah Grant, director of Middlebury
College’s Chellis House, at 802-443-5937, or dgrant@middlebury.edu