Chicago Books to Women in Prison

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The Parties Never Stop! Join us Friday April 18th

Published April 5, 2008 Events Leave a Comment

Yes, make it a double-CBWP week with Danny’s on Monday and AV-aerie on Friday!

We’re having a party with local djs (including Gutter Butter, Jessica Hopper, and others) on Friday, April 18th at AVaerie (2000 W Fulton). This is a benefit for Chicago Books to Women in Prison.

Details:
Friday, 4/18
@ AVaeire, 2000 W Fulton
Doors at 9pm.
$10 suggested donation at the door. Get in for $8 if you bring a paperback dictionary to donate.
There will be a drawing for prizes, including a 1-year iGo membership, massage gift certificates, a refurbished bike from Working Bikes, and other awesome stuff.

Come to Danny’s on April 14th!

Published March 24, 2008 Events Leave a Comment

Get Nerdy with the hot bookworms from Chicago Books to Women in Prison Monday, April 14th, 9pm-2am, at Danny’s 1951 W Dickens. Danny’s is giving CBWP 50% of the bar as part of their 2nd Monday Peace Parties.

Fundraiser: Top Girls at Live Bait Theatre

Published March 5, 2008 Events Leave a Comment

We would like to invite you all to support Chicago Books to Women in Prison’s next fundraiser, a play called Top Girls at Chicago’s Live Bait Theatre.

Here’s what wikipedia has to say about Top Girls

The play is set in Britain and implicitly condemns the increasing incidence of Thatcherist values in society, and especially their effect on Feminism . . . It comments on the contrast between American feminism, which celebrates individualistic women who acquire power and wealth, and British socialist feminism, which involves collective group gain. I The play argues against the style of feminism that simply turns women into new patriarchs and argues for a more socialist feminism that is about caring for the weak and downtrodden. The play questions whether it is possible for women in society to combine a successful career with a thriving family life.

We have about 20 tickets left for each night on Sat, March 15 (8p) and Sun, March 16 (7p). Tickets are sliding scale: $15-$25. Bring a date!

To buy a ticket (or two) please email us at chicagobwp@hotmail.com with your name, night preference, and donation level. You can pay via personal check or paypal, and your tickets will be waiting for you at the theatre.

Prison’s Not Just a ‘Man’ Thing: black women’s lifetime likelihood of going to prison is nearly as high as white men’s

Published January 3, 2008 Uncategorized Leave a Comment
Tags: lifetime likelihoods, racial disparity

In general, women have lower lifetime chances of incarceration than men; however, black women (3.6%) have nearly the same chance as white men (4.4%) of serving time in prison. Among women, blacks are more than twice as likely as Hispanics (1.5%) and 7 times more likely than whites (0.5%) to be admitted to prison during their lives.

Gendered Differences in Child Care Means Incarceration Disproportionately Burdens Women

Published December 28, 2007 Uncategorized Leave a Comment
Tags: child custody, gender disparities, mothers

According to a special report by the Bureau of Justice Statistics, women are more likely to lose their children due to imprisonment (BJS 2000). Among state prisoners, 65% of women and 55% of men have minor children. While 58% of these mothers lived with their children prior to admission, only 36% of fathers did. Mothers (46%) were also more likely than fathers (14%) to have been the only parent living with the children in the month before their arrest. Not only this, about 90% of fathers in state prison said that their children now lived with their mother, while only 28% of mothers said the father was the child’s current caregivers. Given this, it is not surprising that 10% of incarcerated mothers but only 2% of incarcerated fathers reported that their children were currently in foster care.

Now Accepting PayPal Donations

Published November 29, 2007 Uncategorized Leave a Comment

We have now made it much easier to give to CWBP, simply use any major credit or debit card through paypal. Give as little or as much as you like, click here, or use the sidebar link under “donations” from any page on the site.

National Conference of Prison Book Projects, November 2-7

Published September 14, 2007 Uncategorized Leave a Comment

Urbana-Champaign Books to Prisoners is hosting a National Conference of Prison Book Projects. Prison book project workers from all over North America will gather in Urbana, IL to share knowledge and build relationships. Paul Wright, founder and editor of Prison Legal News, will be the keynote speaker. For more information, visit http://www.books2prisoners.org/conference/.

Article: When Did Used Books Become Contraband?

Published August 16, 2007 Uncategorized Leave a Comment

Thanks to a controversial “approved vendor system,” state prisons are slowing the flow of books behind bars.

By Karla Starr

Read the article

Article on Warrenville Prison

Published July 16, 2007 Uncategorized Leave a Comment

The Chicago Tribune published this article discussing how Warrenville prison is taking into account the special needs of girls.

http://www.chicagot ribune.com/ news/local/ chi-juvygirls16j ul16,1,364646. story?coll= chi-news- hed

Behind bars, but still girls

Military-style regimens fall short in halting criminal behavior of girls, who have different emotional needs and are often trauma victims, experts say.

By Ofelia Casillas
Tribune staff reporter

July 16, 2007

Bound Struggles Release Party to Connect Issues of Incarceration, Violence Against Women

Published June 1, 2007 Events , Press Release Leave a Comment

For Immediate Release
Contact: Jack Slowriver
chicagobwp@hotmail. com

Chicago Books to Women in Prison (CBWP) will release a special edition of its prisoner-authored publication Bound Struggles at a party and performance showcase on Saturday, June 23rd, 2007, 6-9 PM, at Mercury Café, 1505 W. Chicago Avenue, Chicago.

This performance will be the culmination of a six-month project with formerly and currently incarcerated women, made possible by grant support from Chicago Foundation for Women. This event is also hoped to raise funds and raise awareness for the “No Child Left Behind Bars” campaign organized by Critical Resistance Chicago.

Bound Struggles is dedicated to bringing the voices of women in prison into the public arena and building solidarity/supportive connections with readers/writers/organizations on the outside; past issues have featured writing and artwork on themes including education, family, health, and activism. The sixth issue, to be released on June 23rd, will address the connections between violence against women and incarceration of women in Illinois.

About CBWP:
Chicago Books to Women in Prison is a volunteer collective working since 2003 to distribute books free of charge to women in prison nationwide. We are dedicated to offering women behind bars the opportunities for self-empowerment, education, and entertainment that reading provides. More information can be found at http://chicagobwp.org.

About Critical Resistance:
Critical Resistance seeks to build an international movement to end the Prison Industrial Complex by challenging the belief that caging and controlling people makes us safe. Critical Resistance’s vision is the creation of genuinely safe, healthy communities that respond to harm without relying on prisons and punishment.