The webpage below may therefore be poorly formatted. Yours, The PARC webcrew. Inc. All rights reserved. The California Coalition for Women Prisoners fights for the human and civil rights of women prisoners in California, including medical care and compassionate release for terminally-ill prisoners. Some information about domestic violence .
Many women are in prison for defending themselves against their abusers.
Given that our society is still highly male supremacist, it is logical that prisons would reflect this social dynamic. In fact, because prisons and the criminal prosecution system are so carefully removed from the scrutiny of prisoners' supportive communities and advocates, blatant sexism and victimization often go unchecked. Cops, attorneys, judges, and guards go out of their way to brutally enforce control over the lives and bodies of women prisoners. The issues of women in prison cut across each of the other critical issues of the expanding imprisonment industry. Although the proportion of prisoners who are women is relatively small, women make up the fastest growing subset of the entire prison population.