Global lockdown : race, gender, and the prison-industrial complex 9780415950565, 0415950562, 9780415950572, 0415950570, 9781315810812, 1315810816

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Race, Gender, and the Prison-Industrial Complex

Global Lockdown

M a i Lockdown Race, Gender, and the Prison-Industrial Complex

E

JULIA

d i t e d

b y

SUDBURY

13 Routledge Taylor & Francis Croup LONDON AND NEW YORK

First published 2005 by Routledge Published 2013 by Routledge 2 Park Square, M ilton Park, A bingdon, O xon 0 X 1 4 4RN 711 Third Avenue, New York, NY, 10017, USA Routledge is an im print o f the Taylor & Francis Group, an inform a business C opyright © 2005 by Taylor and Francis Books, Inc.

All rights reserved. No part o f this book m ay be printed o r utilized in any form or by any electronic, m echanical o r oth er m eans, now know n o r hereafter in ­ vented, including photocopying and recording, o r any o th er in form ation sto r­ age o r retrieval system , w ithout perm ission in w riting from the publisher. Library o f Congress C ataloging-in-Publication Data G lobal lockdow n : race, gender, and the priso n -in d u strial com plex / edited by Julia Sudbury, p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. 1. Female offenders. 2. W om en prisoners. I. Sudbury, Julia. HV6046.H586 2004 365'.6'082— dc22 2004013889

ISBN 13: 978-0-415-95056-5 (hbk) ISBN 13: 978-0-415-95057-2 (pbk)

Table of Contents A cknow ledgm ents

ix

In tro d u c tio n : F em inist C ritiques, T ran sn atio n a l L andscapes, A bolitionist V isions JULIA SUDBURY

xi

Part I: Criminalizing Survival Chapter 1

3

D om estic E nem ies a n d C arceral Circles: A frican W om en a n d C rim in a liz atio n in Italy ASALE ANGEL-AJANI

Chapter 2

19

C h allenging the C rim in a liz atio n o f W om en W ho Resist LISA NEVE AND KIM PATE

Chapter 3

35

V ictim s a n d A gents o f C rim e: T he N ew C ru sad e A gainst Trafficking KAMALA KEMPADOO

Chapter 4

57

T he P riso n -In d u stria l C om plex in In d ig en o u s C alifornia STORMY OGDEN

Chapter 5 T h ro u g h th e Eyes o f a S tro n g Black W om an S urvivor o f D om estic Violence: A n A ustralian Story ROBBIE KINA

67

vi • Julia S u d b u r y

Chapter 6 Queering Antiprison Work: African American Lesbians in the Juvenile Justice System B ETH R IC H IE

Chapter 7 Im prisoned for Z in a : G eopolitics and W om en s Narratives in Pakistan SH A H N A Z KHAN

Part II: W omen in the Global Prison Chapter 8 M odern Day Slavery: Inside the Prison-Industrial Com plex KEM BA SM IT H

Chapter 9 Remaking Big Government: Im m igration and Crime Control in the United States REBECCA B O H R M A N A N D N A O M I MURAKAWA

Chapter 10 Las Mujeres Olvidadas: W om en in M exican Prisons C RISTIN A JOSE K A M PFN ER TRANSLATED BY DEREKA R U SH BR O O K

Chapter 11 Latinas and the War on Drugs in the United States, Latin America, and Europe JUANITA D IA Z -C O T T O

Chapter 12 From N eighborhood to Prison: W om en and the War on Drugs in Portugal M A N U ELA IV O N E PEREIRA DA C U N H A

Chapter 13 “Mules,” “Yardies,” and Other Folk Devils: M apping Cross-Border Im prisonm ent in Britain JULIA SUDBURY

Chapter 14 Nigerian W om en in Prison: Hostages in Law BIKO A G O Z IN O

Tabic o f C o nte nts • vii

Chapter 15

201

O ccu p ied T erritories, R esisting W om en: Palestinian W om en Political P risoners ELHAM BAYOUR

Chapter 16

215

Playing G lobal C op: U.S. M ilitarism and th e P riso n In d u strial C o m p lex LINDA EVANS

Part III: From Criminalization to Resistance Chapter 17

231

Pierce the F uture fo r H ope: M o th ers and P riso n ers in the Post-K eynesian C alifornia L andscape RUTH W ILSON GILMORE

Chapter 18

255

T he Justice for W om en C am paign: In carcerated D om estic V iolence Survivors in P o st-A p arth eid S o u th Africa LISA VETTEN AND KAILASH BHANA

Chapter 19

271

R eproductive Rights in N epal: From C rim in a liz atio n to R esistance MELISSA UPRETI

Chapter 20

285

Sisters Inside: Speaking O u t A gainst C rim in a l Injustice DEBBIE KILROY

Contributor Biographies Selected Bibliography Index

295 301 319

Acknowledgments T his b o o k is inspired b y the m any w om en in p riso n w ho have sh a red th eir sto ­ ries w ith m e over the years. I dedicate it to each o f th em k now ing th a t I can never pay back the generosity and tru st they have show n m e. T he b o o k has been a lab o r o f love (an d som etim es tears) for m an y people. I am indeb ted to the m any c o n trib u to rs w ho stayed c o m m itte d to o u r vision for the bo o k th ro u g h o u t the lengthy process. I am grateful in p a rtic u la r for the d edication an d su p p o rt o f Asale Angel A jani, w ho w orked o n early stages o f the project. I th a n k th e m any activist-intellectuals w ho have shaped the analysis gathered in these pages, in p a rticu la r A ngela Y. Davis, w ho first en co u rag ed m e to a d o p t a research agenda dedicated to creating a w orld w ith o u t prisons. I w ould like to th a n k everyone at C ritical Resistance, the P rison Activist R esource C enter, the A rizona P rison M o ra to riu m C oalition, Incite! W om en o f C o lo r A gainst V iolence, a n d Social Justice jo u rn a l for th e ir insights an d c o m m itm e n t to struggle. I th a n k Faith N olan for th e lau g h ter a n d m usic a n d for sharing h er u n c o m p ro m isin g c o m m itm e n t to w om en inside. M argo O kazaw a-R ey’s frien d sh ip an d su p p o rt have been invaluable d u rin g th e b irth in g o f the book. I am grateful to th e M ills College D e p a rtm e n t o f E thnic Studies a n d th e Mills c o m m u n ity for pro v id in g a h o m e a n d financial su p p o rt for the project. I am grateful for assistance p ro v id ed by th e In stitu te for W om en’s S tudies an d G e n d er Studies a n d Faculty o f Social W ork at th e U niversity o f T oronto; the Sex, Race a n d G lobalization Project at the U niversity o f A rizona; a n d th e A ssociation o f A m erican U niversity W om en. I appreciate D ereka R ush b ro o k ’s invaluable a d m in istrativ e a n d tran sla tio n w ork. Finally, I w ould like to h o n o r all o f m y friends a n d fam ily m em bers, from W inchester, L ondon, Longbeach, F.nugu, a n d elsew here. T h eir guidance a n d u n c o n d itio n a l love sustain m e in staying the course.

Introduction Feminist Critiques, Transnational Landscapes, Abolitionist Visions

JULIA SUDBURY T his b o o k is the o u tco m e o f fem inist scholarly engagem ents w ith grassroots struggles for social a n d econom ic justice. It is a b o o k a b o u t th e crim in alizatio n a n d p u n ish m e n t o f w om en o f color a n d th ird -w o rld w om en, b u t it is also a b o u t c olonization, global capitalism , neoliberalism , a n d m ilitarism . T he c o n ­ trib u to rs to the b o o k are intellectuals, b o th organic an d academ ic, fo rm er p ris­ oners, political p riso n ers, activists, survivors, w om en in recovery, fo rm er sex w orkers, im m ig ran ts, a n d indig en o u s w om en. In these pages, they share a n ­ tiracist, an ticapitalist, anticolonial, a n d fem inist critiq u es th at have been shaped by in te rac tio n s over several decades w ith diverse co m m u n itie s o f re ­ sistance. T hus, the ideas gath ered here are p a rt o f a collective b o d y o f k n o w l­ edge ra th e r th a n th e in d iv id u al p ro p e rty o f the a u th o rs. In particular, these w ritings have been shaped by conversations w ith n u m e ro u s w om en w ho re ­ m ain b e h in d bars, som e o f w h o m ap p ea r in these chap ters u n d e r pseudonym s. W hile guaran teein g confidentiality, this practice also renders m an y o f the im ­ p riso n e d th in k ers w ho have c o n trib u te d to this v olum e anonym ously. D espite these lim itatio n s, th e ch ap ters represent m any h o u rs o f lab o r from dedicated individuals c o m m itte d to b rin g in g a radical analysis o f w o m en ’s im p riso n m e n t to a w ide audience. R ath er th a n a d e stin a tio n , I prefer to view th e c o m p letio n o f this volum e as on e step o n a scholarly a n d activist journey. 1 h o p e th a t the read er will em brace any gaps o r lim ita tio n s as an incentive to take fu rth e r steps in th a t journey.

xii • Julia S u d b u r y

Thinking Through Globalization and Imprisonment The title o f this book seeks to suggest a dialogue betw een two social m ovem ents that have to date rem ained separate. “Lockdow n” is a term com m only used by prison m ovem ent activists to refer to the repressive confinem ent o f h um an b e ­ ings as p u n ish m en t for deviating from norm ative behaviors.1A lthough prisons and jails are the m ost visible locations for lockdow n, the term encourages us to th in k about connections w ith other spaces o f confinem ent, such as im m igration detention centers, psychiatric hospitals, juvenile halls, refugee cam ps, o r Indian boarding schools. Lockdow n evokes activist slogans, d istanc­ ing the scholarship in this book from the discourse o f the state. A lthough offi­ cial language is often adopted by crim inologists, w ho use the term s “inm ates,” “offenders,” and “correctional in stitu tio n s” as if these were natu ral and u n c o n ­ tested, I prefer to deploy the insurgent discourse used by those com m itted to the abolition o f p riso n s/ By describing the lockdow n as “global,” I do n o t intend to suggest the exis­ tence o f a universal and undifferentiated global carceral regim e. Instead, I use the term to evoke the antiglobalization m ovem ent’s critique o f global capital and U.S. corporate d om inance.' Scholarship o n globalization has generated a new language to talk about the transform ations w rought by econom ic restruc­ turing, from global cities to the global village. Like Saskia Sassen’s global city, the global prison is a local m anifestation o f transnational flows o f people, products, capital, and ideas.1 The chapters in this volum e argue that b oth the fabric o f the prison and the people caged w ithin it are shaped by global factors, from free trade agreem ents and neoliberal re structuring to m ultinational cor­ porate expansion. The prison is thus sim ultaneously local and global, or, to use a neologism coined by Nawal El Saadawi, it is “glocal,” a p ro d u c t o f local, na­ tional, and global political, econom ic, and cultural phen o m en a.5 By fram ing the prison as intim ately connected to global capitalism , neo­ liberal politics, and U.S. econom ic and m ilitary dom inance, this book provides the intellectual rationale for a radical rethinking o f b o th prison and antiglob­ alization activism and research. It suggests th at antiglobalization activists and scholars should pay a ttention to the spaces o f confinem ent th at w arehouse those w ho are surplus or resistant to the new w orld order. T his focus w ould help to m ake the antiglobalization m ovem ent m ore reflective o f the im m ediate survival concerns o f com m unities o f color and indigenous people in the global N orth." This analysis also suggests that prison activists and researchers should refram e their w ork as part o f a w ider anti-im perialist, anticapitalist endeavor. In so doing, prison activists w'ould need to establish in ternational coalitions and prison scholars w ould need to develop research agendas that generate cross-border, transnational knowledge. In particular, prison activists and scholars in the U nited States w ould need to develop strategies to challenge the

I n t r o d u c t i o n • xiii

global spread o f the U.S. m odel o f mass incarceration and U.S. corporate penal expansion. It is no coincidence th at the w ork o f fem inists o f color leads to this call for the integration o f antiglobalization and antiprison praxis. Fem inists o f color have been at the forefront in developing transnational fem inist practices as a fram ew ork for u n derstanding the gendered im pacts o f global econom ic and political restructuring.7 T ransnational fem inist practices parallel antiracist fem inism in theorizing the intersections o f gender w ith race, class, and sexual­ ity. However, they differ from m any fem inism s o f color because o f a central concern w ith how these processes articulate w ith the cross-border flows o f goods, people, capital, and cultures associated w ith globalization. Unlike global fem inism , transnational fem inist practices do n o t depict “w om en’s oppression” as u nitary and universal. N or do they subscribe to the vision o f w om en’s expe­ rience as a fragm ented m osaic o f cultural and national difference. Rather, this approach focuses on the linkages th at em erge ou t o f tran sn atio n al netw orks o f econom ic and social relations. The operations o f m ultinational corporations, International M onetary Fund (IM F )-led stru ctu ral adjustm ent policies, free trade agreem ents, export processing zones, and outsourcing practices are therefore redefined as “w om en’s issues,” dram atically expanding the scope o f fem inist concerns. A ttention is also paid to the rise o f fundam entalist, n a tio n ­ alist, and com m unalist scripts w ritten on w om en’s bodies in response to the econom ic insecurity and loss o f political and cultural sovereignty generated by the global m arketplace. T ransnational fem inist practices assist us in unpacking the global prison by draw ing o u r a ttention to the ways in which pun ish m en t regim es are shaped by global capitalism , d o m in a n t and subordinate p a tri­ archies, and neocolonial racialized ideologies. In so doing, they place the expe­ riences o f w om en o f color and third-w orld w om en at the center o f o u r analysis o f prisons and the global econom y. W om en’s testim onies o f survival u n d er n e ­ oliberal cutbacks, bo rd er crossing, exploitation in the sex and drug industries, and life u n d er occupation and colonial regim es provide a m ap o f the local and global factors that generate p rison as a solution to the conflicts and social p ro b ­ lems generated by the new w orld order. This in tro d u c tio n provides a brief overview o f w om en’s im p riso n m en t at the beginning o f the tw enty-first cen­ tury. I then offer a new theoretical fram ew ork and m ethodology for social re­ search on w om en’s im prisonm ent. I end by m apping the concerns and con trib u tio n s o f this volum e.

The Explosion in Women’s Imprisonment In 1999, the N igerian federal governm ent released alm ost one fifth o f the prison population, including hun d red s o f w om en, as an em ergency m easure to tackle the problem o f ra m p a n t overcrowding.* The follow ing year, President

xiv • Julia S u d b u r y

C lin to n g ra n te d clem ency to K em ba S m ith a n d D o ro th y G ains, African A m erican w om en w ho w ere serving term s o f over tw en ty years u n d e r harsh m a n d a to ry m in im u m d ru g laws. Just over a year later, the Russian D u m a re­ leased all w om en w ho w ere p re g n an t, disabled, over fifty, o r single m o th ers from a b lo ated p riso n system h o ld in g a p proxim ately on e m illion p riso n ers.’ T hese m o m e n ts offer a sn a p sh o t o f th e global crisis in w o m en ’s im p riso n m e n t. Spiraling in carceratio n rates, ra m p a n t overcrow ding, a n d system ic h u m a n rights vio latio n s are c o m m o n features o f w o m en ’s p riso n s from Lagos to Los Angeles. B eginning in 1973, an explosion in th e n u m b e r o f w om en in prisons and jails in th e U nited States has c o n trib u te d to on e o f th e largest p riso n b u ild ­ ing b o o m s in w'orld history. W hereas in 1970 th ere were 5,600 incarcerated w om en, by June 2001, 161,200 w om en were held in U S . p riso n s an d jails, re p ­ resenting a staggering 2,800 percent increase.10T he w o m en ’s p riso n p o p u la tio n is n o t alone in w itnessing p h e n o m e n al grow th. M en ’s im p riso n m e n t in the U nited States has also grow n exponentially, and as we e n te red the new m illen ­ n iu m , th e to tal p o p u la tio n o f p riso n s and jails surpassed tw o m illion. But al­ th o u g h w om en m ake u p only 9 p ercen t o f those incarcerated nationally, the rate o f p o p u la tio n g row th for incarcerated w om en o u tstrip s th a t o f m en. A lth o u g h the U nited States is th e w o rld ’s m ost avid incarcerator, this p a t­ tern o f g row th is m irro re d in m o st n a tio n s o f th e global N o rth . In B ritain, in the decade to 2002, the an n u al average n u m b e r o f w om en in priso n increased by 173 percen t, leading to p eriodic calls to tackle th e crisis in w o m e n ’s p riso n s." D espite such calls, the p o p u la tio n c o n tin u e d to grow to an all-tim e high o f 4,299 in 2002.u In A ustralia, w here th e total n u m b e r o f p riso n ers d o u b led b e ­ tw een 1982 a n d 1998,” activists have decried the explosion in th e w o m e n ’s priso n p o p u latio n a n d called for investigations into the deaths o f w om en in c ustody associated w ith the increase.14 P rison g row th in th e global S o u th has been less visible b u t n o less d ram atic. From M exico to South A frica, exploding priso n p o p u latio n s have resulted in the c o n stru ctio n o f private, U.S.-style m egaprisons. Statistics th a t look at gender b u t n o t race a n d class u n d e rre p re ­ sent the im p a c t o f th e p riso n explosion o n w om en o f color a n d indig en o u s w om en. In all the c o u n tries ju st m en tio n e d , oppressed racialized gro u p s are d isp ro p o rtio n a tely targeted by the c rim in al justice system . T he crisis o f w o m en ’s p riso n s can therefore be read as a crisis for w orking class w om en o f c olor an d in d ig en o u s w om en w orldw ide. W h at has caused this u n p re ce d en te d explosion in w o m en ’s p riso n p o p u la ­ tio n s w orldw ide? T h ere are tw o challenges facing researchers w ho seek to ask this q u estio n . First, we need to unravel th e intersectio n s o f race, class, gender, a n d n a tio n th a t stru c tu re w o m en ’s experiences o f the c rim in al justice system .

I n t r o d u c t i o n • xv

R ather th a n view ing w o m e n ’s bodies solely as gendered, we need to recognize th a t gen d er is always racialized an d classed. We c a n n o t therefore seek to p ro ­ vide answ ers to the explosion in w o m en ’s incarceration th ro u g h the lens o f gender a n d p atriarch y alone. Instead we m u st investigate the im p act o f the re­ s tru c tu rin g o f capital and class relations herald ed by th e em erging globaliza­ tio n o f capital, as well as the challenges to racial h egem ony th at have taken place in W estern in d u strialized n a tio n s in th e past th ree decades. We are as­ sisted in this endeavor by the w ork u n d e rta k e n by fem inists o f color an d by a n ­ tiracist fem inists. T hese texts locate w om en p riso n ers o f c olor in the context o f specific historical an d c o n te m p o ra ry p a tte rn s o f racialized p u n ish m e n t and begin to m ap o u t an intersectio n al analysis o f c rim in alizatio n and p u n ish m e n t. A second challenge is to seek answ ers th a t are not p red eterm in ed by the com m o n -sen se belief th at there is causal relationship betw een the n u m b ers o f w om en offenders and w om en in prison. If m ore (o r fewer) w om en are being a r­ rested, prosecuted, an d punished, it is often assum ed th a t m ore (o r fewer) w om en are c o m m ittin g serious crim es. But, despite m edia-inflated panics a b o u t rising crim e, the thirty-year p riso n b o o m has n o t b een m atched by an e x p o n en ­ tial increase in crim e rates. In fact, d u rin g th e 1990s w hen rep o rted crim e rates in the U nited States u n d e rw en t a sustained d o w n tu rn , the priso n pop u latio n doubled. A nd while the m ass m edia have flirted periodically w ith the idea th at the West is beset by a violent crim e wave o f liberated w om en— a n o tio n only stren g th en ed by a rash o f journalistic books on “w om en w ho kill”— w om en con tin u e to be incarcerated in the large p a rt for n onviolent survival crim es. Even w here these survival strategies— w hether sex w ork, d ru g couriering, o r welfare frau d — are recognized, they are stigm atized a n d hom ogenized by the label “of­ fending behavior.” W om en’s p ersonal h istories are th en m in ed as rich sources for u n d e rstan d in g this a b erra n t behavior, a n d childhood abuse, dom estic violence, o r familial disfunction presented as the ro o t cause. P resenting w om en’s experi­ ences o f abuse as the cause o f incarceration individualizes and personalizes their trea tm e n t at the h an d s o f the crim inal justice system . It obscures the b ro a d er so ­ cial d isorder signified by m ass incarceration, an d it sidesteps the q uestion o f why the state responds to abused w om en w ith p u n ish m en t. U nderlying b o th o f these a pproaches is th e a ssu m p tio n th a t im p riso n m e n t is a logical, just, an d tim eless response to w om en in conflict w ith the law. But, as the c o n trib u to rs to this volum e d e m o n stra te, crim in al justice system s are far from static an d seldom dispense real justice. In the past tw o decades, crim in al justice system s th ro u g h o u t th e w orld have expan d ed to include m o re activities in th e ir net, to p u n ish previously crim inalized activities m o re harshly, a n d to trea t w o m en w ho have already served th e ir tim e m o re punitively. Such data

xvi • Julia S u d b u r y

suggest th a t th e quest to u n d e rsta n d c o n te m p o ra ry p a tte rn s o f w o m en ’s in ca r­ ceration is d o o m e d to failure if it looks to w o m e n ’s b eh av io r to provide th e so ­ lutions. Clearly a new ap p ro ac h is needed.

Shifting the Discourse on Women’s Imprisonment T his b o o k aim s to shift the c u rre n t discourse o n w o m e n s im p riso n m e n t in fo u r significant ways. First, we resist the ten d en cy in som e crim inological texts and the p o p u la r m edia to depict w om en in conflict w ith th e law in psycholog­ ical a n d in d ividualized te rm s.15 Ironically, fem inist preferences for qualitative a n d h a n d s-o n research m eth o d s a n d interests in th e perso n al a n d psychologi­ cal realm s te n d to c o n trib u te tow ard this pro b lem . Interview s w ith in ca rce r­ ated w om en ru n the risk o f sim ply replicating the discourse o f individual responsibility a n d th e language o f c o rre c tio n th a t p riso n e rs learn (an d so m e ­ tim es internalize) as they are processed by th e system . Unless researchers step back from th e ideas th a t circulate w ith in the d o m ain o f d o m in a n t p riso n d is­ course, we will becom e d istracted by d iscussions o f fam ilial d isfu n c tio n , c h ild ­ h o o d abuse, d ru g a d d ic tio n , a n d alcoholism . W hile the sp o tlig h t is tu rn e d on the personal failings o f p o o r w om en a n d w om en o f color, the political a n d eco­ no m ic interests th a t drive priso n expansion rem ain in the shadow s. T he a u ­ th o rs in this b o o k do n o t aim to rem ove individual w om en p riso n e rs from the field o f analysis eith er as th eo rists o r as resp o n d en ts. O n the contrary, m any o f the c o n trib u to rs use interview d a ta w ith form erly an d c u rre n tly incarcerated w om en. How ever, w'e do aim to connect the individual an d personal w ith m acro eco n o m ic an d geopolitical analyses. In o rd e r to m ove beyond m icrolevel analyses o f w o m en ’s im p riso n m e n t, we n eed to engage w ith the lite ratu re on the political e conom y o f prisons. In re ­ cent years, scholars an d activists have d o c u m e n ted the em ergence o f a range o f players in b o th the public and private sectors w ho p a rticip a te in and benefit from the shift to a “to u g h -o n -c rim e ” culture. A lth o u g h they differ in the e m ­ phasis given to political o r econom ic forces, these researchers have a c o m m o n c o m m itm e n t to revealing th e diverse interests involved in p ro m o tin g the “new' penology,” a shift from rehab ilitatio n an d reform to in ca p ac ita tio n a n d m ass w arehousing o f su rp lu s p o p u latio n s."- E xam in atio n s o f politicians eager to presen t th e ir o p p o n e n ts as “soft o n crim e,” m edia ou tlets seeking headlinegrab b in g stories in th e w’ar o f th e ratings, an d private c o rp o ra tio n s th a t build a n d o p erate p riso n s a n d d e te n tio n centers for p ro fit have show n th a t the global p riso n b o o m is the o u tco m e o f public policy a n d private g re ed .17A n im p o rta n t in te rv en tio n in this regard w as m ade by on e o f the c o n trib u to rs to this volum e, Linda Evans, w hile serving a federal sentence. N o tin g th a t priso n s have been to u te d as a “re ce ssio n -p ro o f” econom ic base, Evans a n d G oldberg argued th a t p riso n s serve a dual fu n c tio n o f w arehousing th o se su rp lu s to th e global e co n ­

I n t r o d u c t i o n • xvii

om y a n d creating p rofits for private p riso n o p e rato rs a n d com panies servicing prisons. T his interw eaving o f state a n d c o rp o ra te interests, the a u th o rs argued, has led to the em ergence o f a p riso n -in d u stria l com plex. Fear o f c o m m u n ism justified huge m ilitary e x p en d itu res d u rin g the C old W ar, g enerating w hat D w ight E isenhow er labeled a “m ilita ry -in d u stria l com plex,” a n d this w as re­ placed after the d isin te g ra tio n o f the Soviet bloc by a m ed ia -in sp ire d fear o f crim e. T h e priso n b o o m therefore b ecam e a leading econom ic m o to r d u rin g the dow nsizing, layoffs, an d c o rp o ra te relocations o f th e 1980s an d 1990s.'8 Scholarship o n th e political econom y o f p riso n s has been critically im p o rta n t in revealing th e role o f the state in labeling, policing, an d p u n ish in g p o o r and racialized co m m u n ities. How ever, this w ork has all too often p u rsu e d a genderblind approach. T his volum e seeks to establish a new body o f research that com bines insights in to the political e conom y o f p riso n s w ith a rig o ro u s fem i­ nist analysis o f gender, race, class, an d n atio n . O u r second aim is to lay to rest u n id im e n sio n al analyses th at provide either a race-based or a gendered or a class-based analysis. In so doing, we are greatly influenced by fem inists o f color w ho have argued th a t th e locations o f w om en o f color at the intersection o f overlapping a n d m u tu ally c onstitutive system s o f oppression provide a u n iq u e a n d im p o rta n t v iew p o in t.1'' If the quintessential p riso n e r is a m an o f color,20 w hat h a p p en s to o u r co m m o n -se n se n o tio n s o f crim e a n d p u n ish m e n t w hen we shift the center to focus on a g ro u p th a t has been m ore readily u n d e rsto o d as victim s o f crim e? O u r p osition does n o t rely on essentialist n o tio n s o f gender an d race. T he term “w om en o f c o lo (u )r” refers to p a rticu la r projects o f bu ild in g political subjectivity th ro u g h n am in g .21 As such, it is a strategic invention, used to p o in t to co m m o n alities th a t m ig h t be used as a basis for shared political agendas. T he essays gathered in this b o o k do n o t posit the existence o f a u n ita ry an d global w om an prisoner. Instead, they seek to provide localized a n d specific instances o f crim in alizatio n , p u n ish m en t, an d resistance, centered o n the experiences o f w om en o f color an d third -w o rld w om en. T hese localized descrip tio n s do not p ro d u c e a fragm ented m osaic o f u n co n n ected stories, n o r do they p roduce a m aster narrative o f global w om en’s o ppression; ra th e r they are deeply an d intricately connected th ro u g h th e glo b ­ alizing ideologies an d stru c tu re s that this b o o k seeks to unravel. A lth o u g h this v olum e b uilds o n recent th eo rizin g a b o u t the political and econom ic causes an d consequences o f the p riso n b o o m , we seek to tran scen d the tendency in such literatu re to rem ain b o u n d e d by the b orders o f the natio n -state. Such w ork fails to explore the tra n sn a tio n a l in te rco n n e c tio n s be­ tw een different c o u n tries and overlooks the u n iq u e practices o f repression and o p p o sitio n em erging from th e b o rd e rla n d s betw een na tio n -sta te s. It also tends to ignore the im p a c t o f n eoliberal globalization as a driv in g force beh in d d om estic econom ic policies th a t have c o n trib u te d tow ard the im p o v e rish m en t

xviii • Julia S u d b u r y

o f com m unities o f color and w orking class com m unities. W hereas scholars w ithin the U nited States tend tow ard a narrow U .S.-centrism , those outside the U nited States have been m ore interested in in ternational com parisons and have edited im p o rta n t volum es on w om en’s im p riso n m en t in diverse national loca­ tions.” This w ork has draw n parallels betw een the trends tow ard a “law -ando rd e r” agenda in Britain, Australia, New Zealand, the U nited States, and C anada, b u t it has fallen short o f theorizing a bout the ways in which such syn­ ergies occur. International com parisons o f this type tend to reify rath er than problem atize rigid b oundaries betw een nation-states. How'ever, such b o u n d ­ aries are sim ultaneously solid and porous, allowing the free flow o f goods, cap ­ ital, and culture while crim inalizing h u m an traffic. T he study o f im prisonm ent in an era o f globalization m ust therefore pay atten tio n to the political and cul­ tural synergies and econom ic shifts that occur at a su pranational level. Angela Y. Davis’s w ork is o f critical im portance in this regard because o f her insistence on tracing the com plicated relationship betw'een the expansion o f gendered and racialized p u n ish m en t and the transform ations signaled by the globaliza­ tion o f capital.*' Expanding beyond the U.S. focus o f Davis’s w ork, o u r th ird aim is to infuse the study o f w om en in prison w ith the theoretical insights o f transnational fem inist scholarship on the gendered im pacts o f globalization.24 Neoliberal globalization has been a m ajor driving force in instigating the mass m igration o f p oor w om en and m en from the global South. As the N orth Am erican Free Trade Agreem ent (NAFTA) and the European Union elim inated tariffs for im portation o f foreign products, dom estic m arkets in the global South collapsed, throw ing workers into destitution and desperation. For exam ple, in Mexico, agricultural produce is now' im ported from U.S. farm ers, leading to mass unem ploym ent and m igration from agricultural areas such as C hiapas and Oaxaca.25 As m igrants pursue ever m ore dangerous routes to enter the United Kingdom , C anada, the U nited States, or Australia, they are m et w ith anti-im m igrant sentim ent and racial profiling leading to arrest and incarceration pending deportation. The crim inalization o f im m igrants is therefore an im portant factor in both filling jails and prisons and generating new prison construction.26 However, scholars have yet to locate the intersection o f race, citizenship, and n a ­ tional status at the center o f theorizing about the incarceration boom . Studies o f im m igration and studies o f im prisonm ent have thus been artificially kept in separate spheres. And im m igrant rights and prison activists seldom share the sam e platform . O u r fourth aim is therefore to center border crossing and the crim inalization o f m igration in o u r analysis o f w om en’s prisons.

Contents of This Volume Readers involved in the academ ic study o f w om en in prison m ay be surprised to find that this volum e is n o t a collection o f w ritings by the usual suspects.

I n t r o d u c t i o n • xix

Instead, this v o lu m e seeks to liberate w om en p riso n e rs from the crim inologists an d learn w h at o th e r academ ic disciplines as well as activists a n d fo rm er p ris­ o n ers have to tell us a b o u t th e priso n b o o m a n d its im p act on w om en o f color. W h at w ould p riso n studies look like if they were c o n d u cted by a philosopher, a sociologist, an a n th ro p o lo g ist, a political scientist, o r a geographer? T he es­ says gathered here create a m u ltid iscip lin ary dialogue th at generates new in ­ sights in to w o m en ’s im p riso n m e n t. M y w ork w ith in th e a n tip riso n m ovem ent has tau g h t m e th a t p riso n ers an d fo rm er p riso n e rs w ho have had firsthand ex­ perience o f the penal system often have u n iq u e insights in to its w orkings. In p articular, political p riso n e rs have been at th e forefront in b o th pro v id in g the intellectual fuel for p riso n activism o n the outside an d pro v id in g political e d ­ u catio n o n the inside. R ather th an p o sitio n in g w om en p riso n e rs as the objects o f investigation, this volum e in co rp o ra te s the insights o f p riso n intellectuals an d activists, inclu d in g Lisa Neve, R obbie Kina, D ebbie Kilroy, K em ba Sm ith, Storm y O gden, a n d Linda Evans. T his b o o k is organized in th ree sections. A lth o u g h readers m ay pick and choose to read chapters th a t appeal m ost, reading th e sections in the o rd e r in w hich they ap p ea r will p ro v id e a coh eren t exposition o f th e c oncerns, m e th o d ­ ologies, a n d findings o f th e new field o f tra n sn a tio n a l fem inist p riso n studies.

G lobalization a n d C rim in a liza tio n T he first section explores th e ways in w hich th e survival strategies ad o p te d by w om en o f c olor u n d e r th e co n strain ts o f c olonization, gendered racism , and n eoliberal g lobalization have been crim inalized an d policed, th u s p ro d u c in g the “crim in als” necessary to fuel the tra n sn a tio n a l p riso n -in d u stria l com plex. T he tra n sfo rm a tio n s w ro u g h t by n eoliberalism have specific effects in p a rtic u ­ lar locations. In the global S outh, colonial legacies a n d a heavy d eb t b u rd e n have o p e n ed th e d o o rs to th e econom ic “so lu tio n s” offered by the IM F and W orld Bank. In A frica, w om en have faced d ra m a tic challenges related to the in ­ tro d u c tio n o f free trad e a n d stru c tu ra l a d ju stm e n t pro g ram s. W om en respond to the w orsening o f co n d itio n s at h o m e by engaging in a range o f survival strategies. For those w ho are able to do so, traveling to E urope for w o rk is view ed as a m eans n o t on ly for personal survival b u t also to gain access to food a n d basic necessities for an ex tended family. How ever, on arrival, they m u st co n te n d w ith racialized a n d xeno p h o b ic p o p u la r a n d official discourses th a t equate im m ig ra n t status w ith crim inality. Asale A ngel-A jani’s essay explores the c o n stru ctio n o f a m oral panic over im m ig ra n t crim in ality in Italy a n d d e m o n stra tes th a t it is intricately in te rtw in ed w ith ideas a b o u t gender, sexual­ ity, a n d n atio n . A lthough m ore E astern E uropeans are involved in the sex in ­ d u stry th an A frican w o m en , the latter have b een deployed by the rig h t to sym bolize Italy’s m o ral decline in to lawlessness. A ngel-A jani argues th a t a

xx • Julia S u d b u r y

c o m b in a tio n

of

econom ic

re stru ctu rin g ,

racial ization,

gendered

d isc rim in atio n , a n d h eig h ten ed policing o f im m ig ran ts is fueling a g row th in prison p o p u latio n s th a t parallels the econom ic g row th enjoyed by elites in the global econom y. In the global N o rth , the ascendance o f n eoliberal politics has led to cuts in welfare, health p rovision, a n d social services a n d econom ic in secu rity a n d v u l­ nerability for c o m m u n itie s o f color. As the essay by Kim Pate a n d Lisa Neve d em o n stra tes, eco n o m ic re stru c tu rin g in C anada articulates w ith lo n g -stan d ing colonial an d p a triarc h a l regim es to generate th e context for th e c rim in a l­ ization o f A boriginal w om en an d girls. T he p o sitio n o f w om en w ith m ental disabilities has been particu larly affected by a c o m b in a tio n o f d e in stitu tio n a l­ ization an d cutbacks, leading, Pate an d Neve argue, to hom elessness, substance abuse, violence, an d ultim ately re in stitu tio n a liza tio n in the penal system . A lth o u g h th e crim in al justice system is b o th ineffective and expensive, it has becom e the state’s p rim a ry response to racialized an d p o o r w om en w ith d is­ abilities. T he sto ry o f how Lisa cam e to be labeled a “dan g ero u s o ffen d e r” and given an indefinite sentence is a c au tio n ary tale a b o u t the globalized d e stru c ­ tio n o f social safety n ets a n d the c rim in alizatio n o f w o m en ’s a n d girls’ a tte m p ts to survive m u ltig en e ratio n al im p acts o f c olonization, poverty, abuse, neglect, and disability. G lobalization a n d free trad e have generated b o rd e rs th a t are (selectively) porous. In this context, anxieties a b o u t n o n sa n c tio n ed b o rd e r crossings have led w ealthy n a tio n s to ex p an d the reach o f th eir policing a n d surveillance o p e r­ ations. As K am ala K em padoo’s c h ap ter on th e new crusade against trafficking in w om en d em o n strates, it has also led to the heig h ten ed policing a n d c ontrol o f the m obility, bodies, a n d sexuality o f m ig ra n t w om en. K em padoo pushes us to question h egem onic dep ictio n s o f m ig ra n t w om en w orkers. W hereas c o n ­ te m p o ra ry antitrafficking discourses p a in t the im age o f a heroic U nited States leading in te rn atio n al efforts to save victim ized w om en from exploitative and abusive nonw estern m en, K em padoo argues th at an titrafficking m easures are b e tte r u n d e rsto o d as p a rt o f a b ro a d e r set o f go v ern m en t practices th at govern and co n tro l tran sn atio n al flows o f labor. A lth o u g h legislation is ostensibly cre­ ated to protect vulnerable w om en, it in fact results in crim inalizing w om en in the global sex trad e an d ad d in g to existing im m ig ratio n controls. T he next fo u r chapters in this section draw o u r a tte n tio n to the ways in w hich gendered in te rp erso n al and state violence, racism , c olonization, an d econom ic ineq u ality intersect in the lives o f w om en o f color an d th ird -w o rld w om en. T hese interlocking system s o f o ppression, the c o n trib u to rs d e m o n ­ strate, create situ atio n s th a t th rea te n w o m e n ’s safety an d econom ic security. At the sam e tim e, w o m en ’s survival strategies lead th em in to conflict w ith the law. Storm y O gden received a five-year sentence for welfare frau d at a tim e w hen

I n t r o d u c t i o n • xxi

she w as suicidal, addicted, a n d severely abused. O g d en ’s w ritin g em b o d ies her desire to create m ean in g o f her ow n experiences th ro u g h th e process o f d o c u ­ m en ta tio n an d reflection. Poverty, ch ild h o o d abuse, do m estic violence, alco­ holism , rape, an d suicide are central to those experiences. But as she show s us, this suffering c a n n o t be u n d e rsto o d o u tsid e the p a rticu la r histories o f the Yokuts a n d P om o nations. It is this intersectio n o f sexual a n d colonial violence, O gden suggests, that b o th generates a n d naturalizes the c rim in alizatio n o f Native w om en. D espite the d ra m a tic o v errep resen tatio n o f in d ig en o u s w om en and m en in p riso n s an d jails in th e U nited States, relatively little a tte n tio n has been paid to this g roup. O g d en ’s c h ap ter seeks to rem edy this invisibility. W h en faced w ith life-th reaten in g violence, R obbie Kina, an A boriginal w om an from A ustralia, “chose” to take h e r abusive p a r tn e r’s life. W ith b ru tal sim plicity, Kina gives an account o f h e r life as a sex w orker and victim o f d o ­ m estic rap e a n d assault and h e r su b seq u en t tria l an d conviction. D eterm in e d n o t to becom e “ju st a n o th e r black d e ath in custody,” Kina successfully fought her conviction o n th e basis o f the m any years o f extrem e violence th a t she had been subjected to. T he colonial legacy o f state an d in te rp erso n al violence against w om en in in d ig en o u s c o m m u n itie s is the b ack d ro p to this story.27 A boriginal w om en in A ustralia m ake up 2 p ercen t o f th e general p o p u la tio n b u t 30 p ercen t o f the w o m e n ’s p riso n p o p u latio n . In th e past decade, th is p o p ­ u latio n has skyrocketed as a result o f to u g h -o n -c rim e policies and th e w ar on drugs. At the sam e tim e, neoliberal policies have im poverished A boriginal c o m m u n itie s, driv in g w om en like Kina in to th e streets to seek a living in the v i­ olen t crim inalized econom ies o f the sex a n d d ru g trades. Beth Richie adds an im p o rta n t c o u n te rp o in t to th e narrative o f w om en in ­ carcerated as an o u tco m e o f oppressive heterosexual relationships. In o rd e r to m ake visible the w orkings o f gender an d sexuality in processes o f c rim in aliza­ tion, we need to “q u e er” o u r analysis. Richie explores the e n tra p m e n t o f young black lesbians by a convergence o f h arsh penal policy, aggressive law e n fo rce­ m en t, gendered violence, a n d h e te ro n o rm a tiv e im peratives. H er c h ap ter breaks new g ro u n d by placing qu estio n s o f pow er, deviance, a n d n o n n o rm a tiv e sexu­ ality at the c enter o f analyses o f m ass in carceratio n . T he final c h ap ter in this section also reflects o n the reg u latio n o f w om en’s sexuality an d gen d er roles. S hahnaz K han interview ed w om en incarcerated in P akistan u n d e r the Z ina O rd in an ce. E stablished by G eneral Z ia’s m ilitary regim e as p a rt o f the Islam ist H a d o o d O rd in an ces, the Z ina O rd in a n ce outlaw s illicit sex as a m ean s for p ro ­ m o tio n o f a new m o ral order. How ever, as K han d o c u m e n ts, its ap p licatio n is restricted to p o o r w om en, w ho are m o st often charged by th e ir fam ilies o r h u s­ b a n d for going against th e ir fam ilies’ w ishes. R ather th a n view ing Z ina as an ex­ pression o f tra d itio n , K han argues th a t stru c tu ra l an d historical factors are at the ro o t o f th e rise o f the religious right in Pakistan. She draw s o u r a tte n tio n to

xxii • Julia S u d b u r y

a n o th e r im pact o f globalization, th e bolsterin g o f fu n d a m e n ta lism s th a t use and police w o m e n ’s bodies a n d sexuality as sym bols o f p u rity an d trad itio n .

W om en Inside the G lobal Prison T he second section o f this b o o k m aps th e im pact o n w om en o f c olor a n d th ird w orld w om en o f the u n p re ce d en te d law -an d -o rd e r b u ild u p o f the past three decades a n d d o c u m e n ts th e tra n sfo rm a tio n s in carceral regim es th a t have o c ­ c u rre d as a result. In the first essay, Kem ba S m ith, w ritin g from h e r p riso n cell, provides a personal account o f the consequences o f the U.S. ex p erim e n t w ith m ass incarceration. H er tre n c h a n t a n d deeply p ersonal critiq u e o f priso n ex­ p an sio n p osits an econom ic m otive b e h in d h e r ow n in carceratio n an d resists in dividualizing discourses o f w o m en ’s crim inality. T he “w ar o n d ru g s” has b e ­ com e th e p rim a ry social c o n tro l m ech an ism legitim ating th e surveillance and p u n ish m e n t o f A frican A m erican co m m u n ities. S m ith received a 23.5-year sentence for conspiracy because o f h e r involvem ent w ith an abusive p a rtn e r w ho was involved in the d ru g industry. Since receiving clem ency, S m ith has es­ tablished a fo u n d a tio n d edicated to e n d in g the w ar on drugs. In th e second chapter, Rebecca B o h rm an a n d N aom i M urakaw a pro v id e a b ro a d er context for Kem ba S m ith ’s sto ry by analyzing th e shifting role o f the state in an era o f n eo liberal globalization. Political scientists, p o in tin g to the tra n sfo rm a tio n s w ro u g h t by free trad e, op en m arkets, an d priv atizatio n , fre­ qu en tly em brace fo rm er p resid en t C lin to n ’s fo rm u la tio n th a t th e era o f big g o v ern m en t is dead. B o h rm an a n d M urakaw 'a reject this fo rm u la tio n , arguing instead th a t th e shift is n o t from big to sm all g o v e rn m e n t b u t ra th e r from a goal o f social provision to social con tro l. D etailing th is shift in th e U nited States, they d e m o n stra te th a t it has had p a rticu la rly dam ag in g effects o n w om en o f color, w ho have been affected b o th by th e w eakening o f th e welfare net a n d by the grow'th o f th e carceral state. T he next fo u r c hapters explore th e tra n sfo rm a tio n o f penal regim es th a t has taken place as a result o f the globalization o f th e w ar on dru g s a n d exam ine the intersectio n s o f gender, class, race, an d n a tio n in these processes. T he w ar on d rugs has been m obilized by the U nited States as the basis for a globalized b u ild u p o f surveillance, policing, an d b o rd e r c o n tro l m echanism s. As the U nited States’s so u th e rn n e ig h b o r a n d a p rim a ry ro u te for deliveries to the w o rld ’s leading d ru g -u sin g n a tio n , M exico has been u n d e r p a rticu la r pressure to ad o p t p unitive d ru g laws. C ristina Jose K am pfner in tro d u c es us to the “m an o d u ra ” (h ard h a n d ) o f M exican d ru g policy, w hich has led to th e ta rg e t­ ing o f p o o r w om en “b u rro s” and addicts and has c o n trib u te d to a d o u b lin g o f the w o m en ’s p riso n p o p u latio n . K am pfner finds th at p riso n s “p roduce,

I n t r o d u c t i o n • xxiii

deepen, and concentrate” unequal gender roles and oth er social inequalities, exacerbating rath er than resolving the causes o f M exican w om en’s involvem ent in crim inalized activities. In Mexico, Bolivia, and C olom bia, as Juanita DiazC otto dem onstrates, U.S. m ilitary assistance to drug enforcem ent agencies has led to a w eakening o f civil society and an increase in h um an rights violations as well as an alarm ing increase in prison populations. As D iaz-C otto shows, w om en participate in the lower levels o f the drug trade as a result o f econom ic insecurity or addiction. T heir labor in this crim inalized arena is subjected to harsh penalties, b oth in the U nited States and Europe, where w om en im p o rt­ ing drugs from Latin A m erica face long m an d ato ry m inim um s, and in their hom e countries, where they bear the b ru n t o f governm ental crackdow ns on the drug trade. D iaz-C otto refram es L atina/o im p riso n m en t in the U nited States, by locating it w ithin a transnational fram ew ork. In so doing, she provides im ­ p o rta n t insights as well as providing a new m ethodology for prison research in the Americas. D ecentering the Am ericas in the study o f the w'ar on drugs, M anuela da C unha takes us to Portugal, w hich for m uch o f the past decade was the E uropean U n io n ’s n u m b er one incarcerator. Da C unha argues that the w ar on drugs has led to a reorganization o f the Portuguese prison population. Increasingly, clusters o f kin, friends, and neighbors are im prisoned together as a result o f the massive repressive targeting by police o f p o o r u rb an neighbor­ hoods populated w ith p o o r w hites and lusophone African im m igrants. As a re­ sult, the prison has becom e an everyday and norm alized p art o f daily life for the residents o f these neighborhoods, suggesting that, like the U nited States, Portugal is becom ing a carceral state. The new divide, da C unha suggests, is not betw een the im prisoned and the free b u t betw een those whose lives include prison in the horizon and those whose lives do not. In the final chapter in this cluster, I explore the creation o f a m oral panic su rro u n d in g an influx of Jam aican w om en carrying crim inalized drugs into Britain and explore the New Labour governm ent’s response. The crackdow n on Jam aican “m ules” has gen­ erated a rise in cross-border im prisonm ent and fueled the grow th o f a sym bi­ otic relationship betw een the state and m ultin atio n al prison corporations. In failing to address the stru ctu ral causes o f w om en’s participation in the drug in ­ dustry, I argue, the governm ent provides a steady flow' o f im prisonable bodies as fuel for the transnational priso n -in d u strial complex. T he next two chapters focus on the intersections o f colonization and im ­ prisonm ent. In the N igerian context, argues Biko Agozino, the birth o f the prison can be traced to the African slave holocaust and colonial repression. Policy proposals such as the New' Econom ic Plan for African D evelopm ent, Agozino argues, are likely to exacerbate N igerian w om en’s dependence and

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poverty, th u s deep en in g th eir v u ln erab ility to v ictim izatio n by the crim inal justice system . N igerian w om en are therefore “hostages” o f neocolonialism , m anifested b o th in the overcrow ded penal system (itself a re m n a n t o f B ritish rule) and in socioeconom ic policies em b raced by the state. B oth arenas are m an ifestatio n s o f the u n eq u al relation b etw een global South a n d N o rth . Elham B ayour’s c h ap ter tu rn s to im p riso n e d w om en in a n o th e r region m ark ed by a h isto ry o f co lo n izatio n an d resistance. T h e em ergence o f Palestinian w om en “suicide b o m b e rs” in response to h eightened repression in the wake o f S eptem ber 11,2001 has generated m u ch debate a b o u t the role o f w om en in the A rab-Israeli conflict. Viewed as little m o re th a n passive vessels o f a m ale d is­ p u te by som e w estern fem inists,-8 Palestinian w om en have seldom been called o n to discuss th eir ow n m o tiv atio n s for political involvem ent. E lham Bayour seeks to challenge th e stereotyped and hom o g en ized im age o f the silent veiled A rab w o m an by d o c u m e n tin g the experiences o f fo rm er political prisoners. H er interview s w ith w om en form erly incarcerated in Israeli priso n s w ere c a r­ ried o u t in th ree Palestinian refugee cam ps. T he sexual abuse o f w om en p o lit­ ical p riso n ers, as sym bolic m arkers o f Palestinian n a tio n a l an d cu ltu ral identity, Bayour argues, d e m o n stra tes th e com plex relatio n sh ip betw een colo­ nization, m ilitarism , a n d patriarchy. T he atrocities c arried o u t by U.S. m ilitary police at A bu G h raib p riso n in Iraq d e m o n stra te th a t B ayour’s observ atio n s on gender, d e te n tio n , a n d to rtu re are in no way u n iq u e to this location b u t, in ­ stead, are on e m an ifestatio n o f racialized a n d m ilitarized state p u n ish m en t. A re cu rre n t th em e in th e c hapters by D iaz-C otto, A gozino, a n d Bayour is the link betw een p riso n s a n d m ilitarism . In th e final c h ap ter in this section, Linda Evans develops a fram ew ork for th in k in g th ro u g h the c o n n ec tio n s betw een d o ­ m estic and external w ars. She exam ines the ways in w hich increased surveil­ lance, p olicing, a n d m ass in carceratio n are m ilitarizin g U.S. society w hile at the sam e tim e U.S. m ilitary in te rv en tio n s w orldw ide are used as a form o f global social control. U sing her experience as a federal p riso n e r in the U nited States as a sta rtin g p o in t, Evans argues th a t penal in stitu tio n s are the e m b o d im e n t o f a m ilitarized society. Evans closes her c h ap ter w ith a call for a n tiracist fem inists and p riso n activists to base o u r activism o n an u n d e rsta n d in g o f the com plex in te rn a tio n a l c o n n ec tio n s betw een econom ic globalization an d d om estic and external w ars against terro rism . In response to this call, th e next section tu rn s to w o m en ’s resistance to crim in alizatio n an d im p riso n m e n t.

From C rim in a liza tio n to Resistance H ow can w orking-class w om en o f c olor shift th e ir d esignation as raw m a te ri­ als for the p riso n industry, o r objects o f scholarly stu d y and state rehab ilitatio n , and instead engage in acts o f resistance? If, as G ilm ore argues in this volum e,

I n t r o d u c t i o n • xxv

the state individualizes social d iso rd er th ro u g h the process o f arrest, the first step is to challenge “the ‘n a tu ra ln e ss’ o f crim e, o f p overty, o f the pow er o f the state.” In h e r analysis o f M others Reclaim ing O u r C h ild ren (M o th ers RO C), G ilm ore d e m o n stra tes how this m ultiracial g ro u p o f w om en in Los Angeles b u ild o n historical a n d in te rn atio n al m odels o f self-help to resist the frag m e n ­ tatio n b ro u g h t a b o u t by th e arrest a n d incarceration o f th eir loved ones. T he A frican A m erican w o m e n ’s club m o v em en t provides a m o d el o f “social m o th ­ e rin g ” th at enables the diverse g ro u p o f w om en to create a c o m m u n ity o f re ­ sistance th at em braces b o th reform ist and radical ends. T he p riso n explosion in C alifornia, G ilm ore d em o n stra tes, is a result o f m ac ro eco n o m ic stru c tu ra l a d ju stm e n ts. How ever, th ro u g h th e ir activism , the M others R O C resist the in ­ e vitability an d h egem onic pow er o f such global stru c tu re s. Indeed, the in ti­ m ate relatio n sh ip betw een th e w o m en ’s fam ily lives a n d th e ir political activism p o in ts to th e role o f the p riso n as a key site o f organic local o p p o sitio n to th e global econom y. M any o f th e c hapters in this boo k have p o in te d to the re victim ization by the state o f w o m en w ho are survivors o f d om estic violence a n d sexual assault. T he m ajo rity o f w om en in p riso n have been the v ictim s o f m ale violence, a n d as Lisa V etten a n d Kailash B hana argue in this section, th e a u th o rita ria n , c o n tro l­ ling p riso n e n v iro n m en t has m u ch in c o m m o n w ith the stru c tu re o f abusive relationships. Vetten an d B hana describe th e ir involvem ent in a m ultiracial S outh A frican c am paign th a t challenges th e p u n ish m e n t o f w om en w ho have survived violence at th e h a n d s o f an in tim ate p artn er. T h e Justice for W om en C am paign seeks to reform sentencing practices a n d w in early release in cases in w hich w om en kill th eir abusive p a rtn e rs. U sing a c o m b in a tio n o f tactics, from d e m o n stra tio n s a n d m edia coverage to research a n d lobbying, activists have been successful in changing p o p u lar o p in io n s a b o u t w om en w ho kill a n d g a in ­ ing the p ro m ise o f p a rd o n s for som e o f the w om en. A lthough several o f the a u th o rs in this volum e have argued for tra n s n a ­ tional activist netw orks against w o m en ’s im p riso n m e n t, th ere are few m odels o f successful cro ss-b o rd er organizing. T he c h ap ter by M elissa U preti describes a successful tra n sn a tio n a l c o llab o ratio n betw een th e N ew Y ork-based C enter for R eproductive Rights and the F o ru m for W om en, Law an d D evelopm ent in N epal. T h e cam paign was inspired by th e crim in aliz a tio n a n d in carceratio n o f young, p re d o m in a n tly p o o r ru ral N epali w om en for having ab o rtio n s. T he c am paign o v e rtu rn e d the a b o rtio n ban; how ever, som e o f the w om en rem ain b e h in d bars, charged w ith infanticide. A lth o u g h p o p u la r rep resen tatio n s o f th ird -w o rld m en as h y p e rp atria rc h al m ig h t en courage th e reader to view the N epali a b o rtio n b a n as evidence o f a retrogressive p a triarc h a l tra d itio n , th e a u ­ th o rs d e m o n stra te th a t it exists o n a sp e c tru m o f h u m a n rig h ts abuses against w om en seeking to practice rep ro d u ctiv e freedom . Indeed, th e crim in alizatio n

xxvi • Julia S u d b u r y

o f w om en for allegedly “a b u sin g ” th e ir fetuses is an increasingly c o m m o n p ra c ­ tice in the U nited States.29 N epali w o m e n ’s access to a b o rtio n is restricted n o t only by th e N epali state b u t also by the U nited States, w hich polices w o m en ’s clinics in th e global S outh th ro u g h the global gag rule.*0 If the p riso n cem en ts its pow er an d u n d e rm in e s resistance by “d isa p p ea r­ ing” p o ten tial social actors, on e pow erful m ech an ism for disabling the potency o f the p riso n is to m ake p riso n e r activism visible to the “free w orld.” For the m em b ers o f Sisters Inside in Q u een slan d , th e involvem ent o f w om en p riso n ers in developing an agenda for social change is the key to successful p riso n ac­ tivism . A m em b e r o f th e g ro u p an d fo rm er prisoner, D ebbie Kilroy describes the o rg anizing p rinciples and practices o f this u n iq u e m ultiracial organ izatio n , w hich is m anaged jo in tly by w om en in p riso n a n d w om en o n the outside. By speaking o u t a b o u t state sexual abuse a n d d e m a n d in g th e ir h u m a n rights, w om en p riso n e rs use th e ir experiences as th e basis for a radical agenda for change. R ather th a n calling for th e release o f specific g ro u p s o f w om en w ho “do n o t belong in p rison,” Sisters Inside view im p riso n m e n t as a fo rm o f state te r ­ ro r a n d advocate the a b o litio n o f prisons. T his a b o litio n ist vision does n o t re ­ ject legal refo rm an d service delivery b u t ra th e r view s th e m as step p in g stones o n th e p a th to a b roader, m o re radical vision o f social change. Inevitably, in any edited collection th ere are gaps. T his volum e is only a b e ­ ginning. 1 h o p e th a t m any o th e r articles an d books using a tran sn atio n al fem i­ nist app ro ach to exam ine the global priso n will be fo rth co m in g in th e com ing years, p roviding fuel for a tran sn atio n al m ovem ent to abolish th e p riso n -in d u s­ trial com plex. Even as this boo k proposes tran sn atio n al fem inist priso n studies as a critically im p o rta n t new field o f scholarship, we sh o u ld pause to consider the dangers o f institu tio n alizatio n an d coop tatio n . Just as priso n abolitionists refuse to engage in any activity th a t m ig h t extend the life o r reach o f the priso n in d u strial com plex, scholars engaging in priso n studies need to be careful n o t to create stru ctu res that reify a n d rep ro d u ce carceral regim es. T his b o o k is th e re ­ fore n ot a call for the establishm ent o f tran sn atio n al fem inist priso n studies p ro ­ gram s at universities o r colleges. Instead, the a u th o rs in this volum e recognize the co n tin g en t an d tem p o rary n a tu re o f the w ork we are u n dertaking. U ltim ately, I h o p e for this w ork to becom e obsolete as the priso n walls crum ble and we are called o n to play o u r role in b uilding a w orld w ith o u t prisons.

References 1. I refer here to the p riso n m o v e m en t in N o rth A m erica, a diverse m o v e m en t th a t e n c o m ­ passes the follow ing activities: (i) cam paigns for political prisoners; (ii) religious freedom and rights o f in d ig en o u s p risoners; (iii) h u m a n rights abuses in w o m en ’s p riso n s an d child custody cases; (iv) reform o f th e w ar o n dru g s a n d to u g h -o n -c rim e sen tencing; (v) o p p o si­ tio n to p riso n priv atizatio n an d financing; (vi) resistance to d eten tio n s an d d e p o rta tio n s as a result o f th e w ar on te rro r; and (vii) a m o ra to riu m on p riso n c o n stru c tio n an d ultim ate ab o litio n o f prisons.

I n t r o d u c t i o n • xxvii

2. For a cogent argum ent for penal abolition see Angela Y. Davis, Are Prisons Obsolete? (New York: Seven Stories Press, 2003). For a discussion o f abolitionist strategies see Julia Sudbury, “W om en o f Color, Globalization and the Politics of Incarceration,” in The Criminal Justice System and Women, ed. B. R. Price and N. Sokoloff (New York: M cGraw Ilill, 2003). 3. I am referring here to the broad-based social m ovem ent against global capitalism, neoliber­ alism, and free trade exemplified by the dem onstrations against the World Bank and World Trade O rganization in Seattle, G enoa, Prague, and C ancun. The massive attendance at the W orld Social Forum , a popular alternative to the World Econom ic Forum that has taken place in Porto Alegre, Brazil, and M um bai, India since 2001, dem onstrates that diverse antiglobalization forces have cohered as a m ovem ent. See also Naom i Klein, Fences and Windows: Dispatches from the Front Lines o f the Globalization Debate (New York: Picador USA, 2002). 4. Saskia Sassen, The Global City: New York, London, Tokyo (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1991). 5. Nawal El Saadawi, speech given at the World Social Forum , M um bai, India, January 2004. 6. Elizabeth “Betita” M artinez, “W here Was the Color in Seattle?: Looking for Reasons W hy the Great Battle Was So W hite,” Colorlines 3, No. 1 (2000). 7. C handra Talpade Mohanty, Feminism without Borders: Decolonizing Theory, Practicing Solidarity (D urham : Duke University Press, 2003). Jacqui Alexander and C handra Talpade M ohanty, Feminist Genealogies, Colonial Legacies, Democratic Futures (New York: Routledge, 1997). Inderpal Grewal and Caren Kaplan, Scattered Hegemonies, Postmodernity and Transnational Feminist Practices (M inneapolis: University o f M innesota Press, 1994). 8. Saib Feyisetan, “Obasanjo Approves Taskforce’s R ecom m endation—Released 1043 Prisoners,” PRAWA News (Lagos: Penal Reform and Welfare Association, 1999). 9. Reuters, “All Jailed M others to Be Pardoned,” February 25,2002, Moscow: Reuters. 10. U.S. D epartm ent o f Justice Bureau o f Statistics, “Federal Prison Population Increases a Record A m ount, State and Local Inm ate G row th M oderates” (2001). http://www.ojp.usdoj .gov/bjs/pub/press/pjim 01pr.htm (accessed O ctober 28,2002). 11. H om e Office, Statistics on Women and the Criminal Justice System (London: The H om e Office, 2003:41) 12. Ibid, 41. 13. Carlos Carcach and Anna G rant, Imprisonment in Australia: Trends in Prison Populations and Imprisonment Rates (The Australian Institute o f Criminology, 1999). 14. Sisters Inside, “Substance Abuse in Australian C om m unities,” subm ission to the House of Representatives Parliam entary Standing C om m ittee on Family and C om m unity Affairs, Q ueensland (Queensland: Sisters Inside, 2001). 15. For a critique o f this trend see Shoshana Pollock, “Moving Inside: The Role o f Lawbreaking in Black W om en’s Attem pt to Gain Economic Independence,” paper presented at American Society of Criminology, N ovem ber 1999. 16. Malcolm Feeley and Jonathon Sim on, “The New Penology: Notes on the Emerging Strategy of Corrections and Its Implications,” Criminology 30, No. 4. (1992). 17. Joel Dyer, The Perpetual Prisoner Machine: How America Profits from Crim e (Boulder: Westview Press, 2000), Elliott Currie, Crim e and P unishm ent in America (New York: H enry Holt and Co., 1998), Katherine Beckett, M aking Crim e Pay: Law and O rder in C ontem po­ rary Am erican Politics (New York: Oxford University Press, 1997), Christie 1993. 18. Eve Goldberg and Linda Evans, The Prison Industrial Complex and the Global Economy (Berkeley, CA: Agit Press, 1998). The term “prison-industrial complex” was coined by Mike Davis with reference to the prison building boom in California. See Mike Davis, “Hell Factories in the Field: A Prison Industrial Complex,” The Nation 260,7 (February 20,1995). See also Critical Resistance Publications Collective, “Critical Resistance to the PrisonIndustrial Complex,” Special Edition, Social Justice 27, 3 (2000), Angela Y. Davis, “Masked Racism: Reflections on the Prison Industrial Complex,” Colorlines 1, 2 (Fall 1998): 12-17. The renewed m ilitary buildup after Septem ber 11, 2001, has dem onstrated that the postCold War slowdown was a tem porary lull rather than a perm anent redirection o f resources. Post-Septem ber 11 synergies between the m ilitary- and prison-industrial complexes are dis­ cussed by Evans in this volume.

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19. Patricia Hill Collins, Black Feminist Thought: Knowledge, Consciousness and the Politics o f Empowerment (Boston: Unwin H ym an, 1990), C handra Talpade Mohanty, Ann Russo, and Lourdes Torres, Third World Women and the Politics o f Feminism (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1991), Enakshi Dua and Angela Robertson, Scratching the Surface: Canadian Anti-Racist Feminist Thought (Toronto: W om en’s Press, 1999), Heidi Mirza, Black British Feminism: A Reader (London: Routledge, 1997), Julia Sudbury, Other Kinds o f Dreams: Black W omens Organisations and the Politics o f Transformation (London: Routledge, 1998). 20. For im portant contributions to the study o f race and punishm ent in the United States that render black w om en’s im prisonm ent invisible, see Michael Tonry, Malign Neglect: Race, Crime and Punishment in America (New York: O xford University Press, 1995) and Jerome Miller, Search and Destroy: African-American Males in the Criminal Justice System (Cambridge: Cam bridge University Press, 1996). 21. Angela Y. Davis, “Reflections on Race, Class, and G ender in the USA,” in The Angela Y. Davis Reader, ed. J. James (Malden: Blackwell Publishers, 1998). 22. Sandy Cooke and Susanne Davies, Harsh Punishment: International Experiences o f Women's Imprisonment (Boston: N ortheastern University Press, 1999), Nicole Rafter and Frances H eidensohn ed., International Feminist Perspectives in Criminology (Buckingham: Open University Press, 1995). 23. Angela Y. Davis, “Race and Crim inalization: Black Am ericans and the Punishm ent Industry” in The Angela Y. Davis Reader, ed. J. James (Malden: Blackwell Publishers, 1998), Angela Y. Davis and Cassandra Shaylor, “Race, Gender and the Prison Industrial Complex: California and Beyond,” Meridians 2,1 (2001): 1-25. 24. Kamala Kem padoo ed., Sun, Sex and Gold: Tourism and Sex Work in the Caribbean (Lanham: Rowman and Littlefield, 1999), M iriam C hing Yoon Louie, Sweatshop Warriors: Immigrant Women Workers Take on the Global Economy (Cambridge: South End Press, 2001). 25. Diego Cevallos, “NAFTA Equals Death, Say Peasant Farmers,” Inter Press Service, http://w w w .com m ondream s.org (accessed Decem ber 3,2002). 26. Michael Welch, “The Role o f the Im m igration and N aturalization Service in the PrisonIndustrial Complex,” Social Justice 27, No. 3 (2000). 27. Because of the complex interactions o f socioeconomic m arginalization, loss o f land rights, and the ongoing legacy of genocidal assimilation policies including the removal o f children from their families, Aboriginal wom en are twenty-eight times m ore likely to be adm itted to hospital for assault injuries than other Australian wom en. N eena Bhandari, “Aboriginal Violence Against W omen,” Contemporary Review 283, No. 1655 (2003): 353-6. 28. Andrea Dw orkin, “The W omen Suicide Bombers,” Feminista 5, No. 1 (2002). http://w w w .fem inista.com /v5nl/dw orkin.htm l (accessed March 17,2004). 29. D orothy Roberts, Killing the Black Body: Race, Reproduction, and the Meaning o f Liberty (New York: Pantheon Books, 1997), 150-201. 30. U nder the Mexico City Policy, com m only know n as the “global gag rule,” reinstituted by President George W. Bush in January 2001, non-U.S. nongovernm ental organizations that receive U.S. family planning funds are restricted from using their own funds to provide legal abortion services, lobby their governm ents for abortion law reform , or provide referrals and counseling regarding abortion. See Center for Reproductive Rights, Breaking the Silence: The Global Gag Rule's Impact on Unsafe Abortions (New York: Center for Reproductive Rights), http://w w w .reproductiverights.org (accessed April 2, 2004).

Part I Criminalizing Survival

CHAPTER

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Domestic Enemies and Carceral Circles African Women and Criminalization in Italy

ASALE ANGEL-AJANI The story o f her d e p artu re —a story I repeat over and over—is som ething o f a m ystery to m e. I do n o t know how she arrived in Italy or the circum stances o f her life. She had been an inm ate at Rebibbia Fem m inile in Rome for three years, this m uch I know'. I also know th at she had requested to be deported back to Nigeria at the end o f her sentence and that she was very ill du rin g her last year in prison. O n the day she was to leave Italy she was confined to a wheelchair, in which she could only sit slum ped over, too weak to hold her head up and too weak to u tter a sound. D uring her exit m edical exam ination the prison physi­ cians d eterm ined th at she h ad AIDS. The physicians w rote a letter to the prison officials disclosing th eir findings and m aking recom m endations, saying they were uncertain w hether she w'ould survive her long jo u rn ey hom e. R ather than deliver this letter them selves, however, the doctors placed the letter in the w om an’s lap and called a guard to take her back to the prison wrard. It is possible that the physicians’ letter w ent unnoticed, or perhaps the prison officials felt no responsibility for this w om an w ho was going to be de­ ported. Even as they struggled to fit her and her w heelchair into the taxi that was called to take her to the airp o rt, n o t a single ad m in istrato r m entioned her condition o r verbally expressed any concern about her health. They tucked her d o c u m e n ts—plane ticket, passport, and letters confirm ing her release—into her breast pocket and paid the taxi driver enough to drop her off at the a irp o rt’s 3

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fro n t entrance. A w itness said th a t she co u ld n o t even lift h e r h ead w hen the priso n a d m in istra to rs an d a few in m ates w aved th eir good-byes. W h en she arrived at the a irp o rt, unescorted, m aybe she was unable to speak, o r p e rh ap s the ticket agent refused to listen to h e r as she trie d to explain the c o m p u te r error. But the result w as still the sam e: once the ticket agent typed in the w o m an ’s nam e a n d saw th at she was w anted for a crim e th at she had c o m ­ m itted th ree years ago, the sam e c rim e for w hich she had b een serving tim e, the ticket agent called the C arab in ieri to com e an d arrest her. T he C arab in ieri d id ­ n ’t th in k it u n reaso n ab le th a t a visibly ill w o m an in a w heelchair w ould be m a k ­ ing a dash for the fro n tie r to escape th e law. In fact, they w ere so convinced th at she was a fugitive th at even after they fo u n d h er letters fro m the c o u rts an d the p riso n a d m in istra tio n , they held h e r in custody at the police statio n for m ore th an five h o u rs, th en placed h e r in th e back o f th e ir car an d drove h er back to Rebibbia Fem m inile, R om e’s only penal in stitu tio n for w om en. W h en she a r­ rived at th e p riso n , it was late evening an d m o st o f th e officials were gone for the day. T he head o f th e p riso n police and an educatora (social w orker) refused to accept th e w o m an , telling the C a rab in ieri w ho b ro u g h t h e r th a t because she had been released, she c o u ld n ’t stay at the p riso n because she could claim th a t the in stitu tio n was h o ld in g h e r hostage. T he w o m an seem ed n o t to have friends o r fam ily m em b ers in Rom e. She was in critical need o f m edical a tte n tio n , b u t she was now technically an “u n ­ d o c u m e n te d im m ig ra n t” in Italy a n d at th a t tim e it was illegal for h e r to seek m edical care at a hospital. As C arab in ieri, p riso n police, the social w orker, and a p riso n clergym an sto o d over th e w o m an , arg u in g a b o u t w h at to do w ith her, a n u n , on e o f the first w om en to tell m e th is story, asked if she co u ld take the w o m an back to h e r convent, w here the sick w o m an could receive som e food and basic care. T he arg u in g officials th o u g h t it was a bad idea because this w o m an was, after all, a convicted crim inal. In the end, they allow ed the sister to take the w o m an to the convent, w here she stayed for a w eek before she booked a n o th e r flight from R om e to N igeria. A lthough she safely b o a rd ed the plane, no one is certain if she survived the trip. T his essay is in p a rt a q u e stio n in g o f this m ysterious a lth o u g h tru e tale o f a w om an w ho c an n o t leave a c o u n try because o f h e r assum ed status as a c rim i­ nal and dan g ero u s individual. H er story n o t only signals a crisis, b u t also for the grow ing n u m b e r o f A frican w om en traveling th ro u g h o r m ig ra tin g to Italy, it highlights an often silent reality in c o n te m p o ra ry lite ratu re o n globalization and tran sn atio n alism . We d o n o t live in a w orld o f u n b o u n d e d borders. For m any o f us w ith suspicious a n d fo reig n -so u n d in g nam es, d a rk skin, a n d lives th a t are led in o th e r languages, we live w ith policed b o rd e rs an d dem arcated territo ries. I explore th e discourse o f crim in ality th a t su rro u n d s th e lives o f d o c u m e n te d a n d u n d o c u m e n te d im m ig ran ts in Italy. A cadem ics, a n d so cio lo ­ gists a n d c rim inologists in p articular, have long deb ated th e pro b lem o f

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“im m igrant crim inality.” As I d em onstrate in this chapter, there is an increasing culture o f suspicion, hostility, and crim inalization o f im m igrants, and p a rticu ­ larly African w om en, in Italy. Over the past several years, E urope has m oved tow ard m ore repressive im ­ m igration laws and strict enforcem ent m easures. The intensifying policing of national borders has created state-sanctioned practices o f targeting particular im m igrant groups, especially w om en from South A m erica, sub-S aharan African countries, and n o n im m ig ran t groups such as the Rom a (gypsies), as potential “crim inals.” In addition, in Italy and the rest o f E urope (m uch like the U nited States), discourses on im m igration arc joined together w ith the rh e to ­ ric o f crim e and prevention in such a w'ay that m igrant populations are p o p u ­ larly viewed as being clandestine o r “illegal” and therefore m ore p ro n e to crim inal behavior. N ot surprisingly, then, discourses on crim e and on w ho com m its it are satu ­ rated w ith the language o f national citizenship, social class, gender, and race. Issues o f im m igration, like those o f crim e and crim inals, are viewed as public policy dilem m as in which them es o f im m igrant crim inality are so prevalent that, as Michael Keith notes, “T he broad contours o f the historical processes o f crim inalization o f m igrant m inorities are now relatively uncontroversial.”1Like­ wise, Biko Agozino argues that the societal im agination already regards im m i­ grants as crim inals because “spatial m obility is expected to im ply anom ie.”-’ The clim ate o f an ti-im m igrant rhetoric relies on the dual discourses o f crim inaliza­ tion and cultural difference. In Italy, im m igrants o f color are very visible and their num bers are few (roughly 2.2 percent o f the population), thus m aking them easy targets o f the practical realities o f crim inalization. Furtherm ore, n o ­ tions o f racial and cultural difference can negatively affect public knowledge about im m igrants and policing practices additionally fuel the public’s im agina­ tion and m isperceptions.

The Criminalization o f Immigrants There are 1.5 m illion d ocum ented im m igrants and an estim ated 20 percent undo cu m en ted im m igrants in Italy.' W ith its population o f 57.8 m illion, it is surprising that Italy has am ong the highest rates o f im m igrant im p riso n m en t in southern E urope, follow ing Greece and S p a in / Emilio Reyneri suggests that b oth the hypervisibility o f im m igrants and the inexperience o f the courts m ay lead to discrim inatory arrests and im p riso n m en t.5 In any case, as Alessandro dal Lago writes, “we know' that often the over-representation o f m igrants in ju ­ dicial statistics and crim e rates is the p ro d u c t o f their social weakness and, m oreover, o f the process o f labeling.”'’ It is w'ithin this context that the courts and the public broadly define w'hat is “deviant behavior” w hen perform ed by an im m igrant or o th er disagreeable character, such as Rom a, and disregard the

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sam e b eh av io r as an eccentricity w hen p e rfo rm e d by a “citizen.”7 For exam ple, w hile c o n d u ctin g fieldw ork in Rebibbia M aschile N uovo C om plesso, I in te r­ view ed a Senegalese m an w ho was serving a tw o -m o n th sentence for driving w ith o u t an Italian license (he w as d riv in g w ith a license from Senegal). Even the d irec to r o f the E ducatori, w ho was presen t d u rin g the interview , was a sto n ­ ished by b o th his arrest a n d the sentence and insisted to the Senegalese m an th at he was d eta in ed for a n o th e r reason. As the d irec to r said, “It is im possible, you c an n o t be serving tw o m o n th s for this! You m u st have c o m m itte d a crim e.” Indeed, as p riso n m a tric u la tio n d o c u m e n ts a n d c o u rt tran scrip ts co n firm ed , the Senegalese m a n was arrested for driv in g w ith o u t an Italian license. Labeling im m ig ran ts as c rim in al is prevalent in Italy, as Salvatore Palidda d e m o n stra tes in his research on th e social c o n stru c tio n o f deviance an d im m i­ g ra n t crim inality.8 Palidda exam ines the arrest rates o f N igerians, Senegalese, M oroccans, A lgerians, T unisians, A lbanians, Poles, an d m ig ra n ts from th e fo r­ m e r Yugoslavia in co m p a riso n w ith d o c u m e n ted co m p lain ts b ro u g h t against th em by p eople in the c o m m u n ity (presu m ab ly Italian citizens). O n the w hole, Palidda show s th a t alth o u g h im m ig ran ts rep resen ted 23 percent o f the to tal a r­ rest p o p u la tio n they represented 57 percent o f the total p o p u la tio n w ho had co m p lain ts b ro u g h t against th e m .’ M oroccans, w ho are generally view ed as being th e m o st crim inally inclined im m ig ra n t g roup, had a p proxim ately 6,000 arrests for 1994 a n d slightly over 13,000 c o m p lain ts b ro u g h t against th em . T he Senegalese h a d 463 arrests in 1994 a n d over 4,126 c o m p lain ts b ro u g h t against th em , w hereas A lgerians h a d 2,580 arrests a n d 2,757 c o m p la in ts.1" Palidda’s re­ search w ould seem to su p p o rt evidence th a t indicates an increasing “c u ltu re o f p anic an d em ergency” w ith regard to im m ig ratio n th a t has created social panic a m o n g the public, fed by th e m ass m edia an d driven by a n ti-im m ig ra n t p o li­ cies. In sh o rt, the n o n -E u ro p e a n U n io n (EU) im m ig ra n t in Italy is “a c u ltu ral type bu ilt th ro u g h in teractio n s o ccu rrin g no [t] only b etw een social actors b u t also betw een cu ltu ral representations.”11 Im m ig ra n ts in A frica, particu larly those from L atin A m erica, a n d E astern E urope, a n d n o n im m ig ra n ts in c o m m u n itie s such as th e R om a, m u st grapple w ith p ublic percep tio n s o f th e ir co m m u n itie s as crim inal. It has b een rep o rted th at 24 percent o f the p riso n p o p u la tio n is fo reig n .12 It sh o u ld be p o in te d o u t th a t this percentage reflects all foreigners detain ed in Italian p riso n s, including citizens from the U nited States, C anada, and the U nited K ingdom , an d o th er foreigners (n o t necessarily im m ig ran ts) w ho pass th ro u g h Italy en ro u te to o th e r d estin atio n s. In 1998 alm ost 50 percent o f those a d m itte d to p riso n were foreigners an d 90 p ercen t were u n d o c u m e n te d .13 T he discourse o f im m ig ra n t crim in ality an d the o v errep resen tatio n o f fo r­ eigners in pen al in stitu tio n s have led to th e estab lish m en t o f citizen c o m m it­ tees in several large cities, p a rticu la rly in th e N o rth . T hese com m ittees, a m o n g o th e r things, m obilize against street crim e a n d have targeted m ig ra n ts from

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M orocco a n d street venders from Senegal.14 In c o n ju n c tio n w ith increasingly high arre st rates, R om a, E astern E uropeans, a n d im m ig ran ts o f color in Italy struggle w ith a coalition o f left a n d right w ing activists fo rm in g citizen c o m ­ m ittees. In cities th a t have experienced econom ic re stru c tu rin g (such as u rb an renew al projects), citizen co m m ittees have o rganized against street crim e an d in som e cases the very presence o f im m ig ra n ts.15 As sociologist D ario M elossi in fo rm s us, T he a tte n tio n o f these “c o m m u n ita ria n g ro u p s” focuses in p a rticu la r on crim e a n d deviance am o n g st recent im m ig ra n t gro u p s a n d th eir visibil­ ity in the everyday life o f th eir n e ig h b o rh o o d . At th e core o f th e p ro b lem th ere n o lo n g er seem s to be sim ply a th reat to o n e ’s p ro p e rty o r personal safety, b u t ra th e r a generalized risk for the w hole society, for an idea o f o rd e r— o f d e m o cratic o rd e r To be sure, it is n o t only the rig h t w ing factions w'ho are involved in c o m ­ m u n ity initiatives th a t target im m ig ran ts. A re p o rt in the Italian n ew spaper Corriere della sera c ap tu res the se n tim e n t o f a PDS (D em o cratic P arty o f the Left— form erly th e C o m m u n ist Party) leader in T urin an d adds th e new spa­ p e r’s ow n so m ew h at sard o n ic co m m en tary , “ I believe that citizens are right w'hen they p ro test against th e ir letter box being filled w ith used co n d o m s, o r if they are su rro u n d e d by p u sh ers w hen they are c om ing back ho m e, o r if they are forced to w'atch people having sex w ith w hores, o r because the m o u n ta in bikes o f th e ir sons are stolen a n d th e ir wives are afraid to w alk alone in the streets.” T hese are th e w ords by Sergio C h iam p a rin o , 46 years old, leader o f th e T urin PDS, fath er o f a 16-year-old boy (now fearing for his new m o u n ta in bike), liv­ ing in the w ell-know n a n d d an g ero u s M urazzi area, close to the c enter o f th e city. Som e days ago Italian people living in th e M urazzi [area] p rotested against Senegalese a n d M oroccan im m ig ra n ts.17 As w ith m an y societies, Italian discourses a b o u t d a n g ero u s zones usually represent th e m as the areas w here the highest n u m b e r o f d isenfranchised p e o ­ ple reside (in clu d in g im m ig ran ts a n d th e p o o r). T he m o st “d an g ero u s zones” in R om e a n d o th e r Italian cities are usually the tra in statio n s a n d the area s u r­ ro u n d in g th em a n d the o u tsk irts o f the city w here im m ig ra n t a n d R om a c o m ­ m u n ities are often forced to live in m akeshift dwellings.

Women, Nationality, and Criminal Representations In Italy, the discourse o n im m ig ra n t crim in ality resides m ainly in the areas o f d rugs a n d p ro s titu tio n .1* T oday these “d eviant b eh av io rs” are characterized as

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being alm ost “un-Italian” in nature. Especially am ong the police, b u t also in the general public, it is n o t u n com m on that Tunisian and M oroccan m en and C olom bian and Nigerian w om en are considered drug traffickers o r dealers, and w om en from West African nations, including, especially, Nigeria, and Eastern E uropean w om en are seen as being solely responsible for prostitution. A lthough p rostitution is n o t illegal in Italy, its practice crim inalizes the p racti­ tioner in people’s m inds. T his perceived link betw een crim inal behaviors and nationalities is so w idespread that it has becom e a part o f po p u lar discourse. For exam ple, it is not u n co m m o n to hear “N igerian” substitute for “prostitute,” and po p u lar representations o f pro stitu tio n are exhibited th rough (black) African female bodies.1’ Sadly, this inclination to nam e all African sex w orkers “N igerians” and all African w om en N igerian and therefore sex workers grows o u t o f the fact that the sm all n u m b er o f sub-S aharan African w om en w'ho traffic in pro stitu tio n tend to be largely N igerian o r at least African w om en entering Italy w ith N igerian passports. As Agence France-Presse reporter L jbom ir M ilasin d o c u ­ m ented w ith reference to street pro stitu tio n on July 28, 2000: Earlier this m o nth, Italy deported nearly 100 Nigerian im m igrants, all believed to be prostitutes . . . . A m ong the im m igrants, Nigerians m ake up the bulk b u t m any also com e from Albania, M oldova, Russia and Ukraine. All im m igrant w om en are subjected to negative representations, b u t it is striking to note that in m ost representations, the sex w orker is depicted as specifically N igerian or at least African in the m edia and in p opular discourse. Yet, in sheer num bers p rostitution by Eastern E uropean w om en is m ore co m ­ m o n .20 It is estim ated th at two thirds o f the nearly tw'enty thousand d o c u ­ m ented A lbanian w om en w ork in the sex industry. A lbanian, ex-Yugoslavian, and Polish w om en have the highest official rates o f p rostitu tio n , either on the streets, which is m ore com m on am ong A lbanian sex workers, o r in m assage or tan n in g parlors.’1 Eighty percent o f foreign pro stitu tio n occurs on the street and is dom inated by N igerian and A lbanian w om en, 75 percent o f w hom are forcibly trafficked into the trade.-- It would seem that N igerian sex w orkers are, at least in the m ost obvious ways, m ore “noticeable” than A lbanian o r other Eastern E uropean w om en. The m edia reinforce the apparent difference and otherness o f African w om en w hen they publish pictures o f scantily clad African w om en in the streets. In part, these images play into long-standing de­ bates about the hypersexuality o f black A fricans.23As D onald C arter notes, the existing “Italian gender asym m etry w ould relegate African w om en . . . to the lowest possible rankings, and so the image o f the black w om an is show n as

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body, prim arily as an object o f erotic an d u ncontained potentialities, one that could never be em pow ered: an image th at stands so far outside the w orld o f Italian pow er that w ithin it, it w ould have to receive an ‘exotic status’.”24 There is a link that has thus been forged between sexuality and nation (Nigeria) as opposed to sexuality and region o f the w orld (Eastern Europe). This connection should not be overlooked as it has great significance for the lives of African w om en. For instance, w hat m ight this specificity m ean for w om en car­ rying Nigerian passports o r w ho determ ines who looks Nigerian? These repre­ sentations are far reaching and affect African w om en greatly (though, to be sure, these negative representations affect Eastern European w om en and Latin A m erican w om en as well). For example, African w om en have suffered vicious at­ tacks by both the police and Italian m en on the street. These attacks, which go unreported, caused several African w om en to protest representations o f them as prostitutes in Naples and other cities in 1994.25A lthough few authors have w rit­ ten about the representation o f African and other foreign w om en as sexual o b ­ jects in Italy, Vanessa M aher reports that a study in Turin found that approxim ately a thousand Nigerian and Eastern European prostitutes w ork under threatening and brutal conditions. She suggests that Italians believe “that Africans are childlike and unthreatening because [they are] subordinate, and that African w om en, unlike southern Italian, M oroccan, or Rom a w om en, are sexually available.26The traffic in Nigerian prostitution confirm s this prejudice.”27 The estim ated figure for foreign w om en w ho engage in street p rostitution in all o f Italy is betw een nineteen th o u san d and twenty-five th o u san d and it is estim ated th at one in every ten w om en w ho are involved in the trade are vic­ tim s o f forced trafficking.2' A study o f foreign p rostitution in Italy found that African w om en were by and large b ro u g h t into p rostitution through organized trafficking rings.2’ These operations are sim ilar to those o f o th er crim inal o r­ ganizations that traffic in m igrants. As reported by Celestine Bohlen for the New York Times on July 9,1997, “O ne o f the ten N igerians interview ed . . . de­ scribed her ordeal as beginning at a disco in Lagos w here som eone suggested she could go to E urope to w ork and study. ‘I paid a lot o f m oney to an agency, which organizes trips to Italy .. . . The m oney was n o t enough, and so I signed a contract where I prom ised to w ork as a m aid for a family in Naples and I soon understood that m y job was a n o th e r one. I was threatened, and they said that I had to pay, otherw ise m y family w ould have been threatened to o ’.”*’ A lthough trafficking in w om en for the sex trade is, unfortunately, a com m on practice th ro u g h o u t the w orld, the policing o f w om en w orking in this sector as the p e r­ p etrators o f a crim e (although, as I have already indicated, street p rostitution is n o t illegal), rath er th an subjects and victim s o f a larger crim inal circuit, has garnered m ore su p p o rt from the general public th an policing the people behind the trade. This is partially related to the discursive ways im m igration

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and crim inality are viewed through the lens o f the cultural politics o f race and nation. So, for exam ple, Nigeria becom es the site o f the crim inal African su b ­ ject, and the national location provides the “p ro o f” o f cultural difference and crim inal behavior. At the heart o f the increased atten tio n to im m igrants and crim e in Italy is the n o tion that the law is a national institution that “sym bolizes the im agined com m unity o f the nation and expresses fundam ental unity and equality o f its citizens.” " Historically, law and order have often n o t been synonym ous in Italy, despite serious attem pts to m ake them so. D uring the last few years, and sta rt­ ing especially w ith the fall o f governm ent c o rru p tio n and the electoral victory o f the Olive Tree Alliance in 1996, the im portance o f law and legality has come to represent a new national solidarity and subsequently a stronger national identity. This co m m itm en t to law and order, especially w ith regard to im m ig ra­ tion, has captured the public im agination in such a way that the flow o f “ille­ gal” im m igrants is understo o d as a sign o f Italy’s national decline. Because Italy was viewed as having a lax border by Italian citizens an d o th er E uropeans, the EU insisted that Italy com ply w ith the im m igration, border, and policing sta n ­ dards form alized by the EU in 1993. Currently, the reelection o f Silvio Berlusconi, according to Jorge Pina, has u n d o cu m en ted im m igrants and their advocates w orried about waves o f mass deportations. Pina w rites th at “For this right-w ing alliance, an im m igrant is equivalent o f delinquent, w hich is w'hy the results o f the elections are so d ish e a rte n in g .. . . D uring the electoral cam paign, the N orthern League, one o f the parties in the Berlusconi bloc, launched an in ­ tense crusade in favor o f expelling foreigners.” Further, Pina quotes im m igrant rights activist M ario Sow on the subject o f deportation: “T hey say it is only m eant for those w ho are here illegally, b u t und ern eath it refers to everyone.”’2 In the face o f public concern about im m igration and law and order, discus­ sions o f im m igrant crim inality have becom e m ore prom inent. In 1999, the sta­ tistical data gathering institute DOXA reported that 54 percent o f Italians saw im m igration “in term s o f the risk o f an increase in b oth petty delinquency and organized crim e.” Further, DOXA found that replies to questions about im m i­ grants in general connected im m igrants w ith “non-specific references to d elin­ quency and crim e: a fu rth er 20 percent o f replies m ake specific m ention o f drug consum ption and sale, and 10 percent define im m igrants as ‘dishonest and ill-bred’.”33 In 2000, an o th er statistical rep o rtin g agency, CENIS, found that 75 percent o f Italians believed that im m igrants were responsible for the (p er­ ceived) increase in crim e.31 It is in this clim ate that the rate o f the expulsion o f foreigners increased from four th o u san d to five th o u san d in the 1970s and 1980s to fifty-four thousand in 1998 and sixty-five th o u san d in 1999.35 Race and n otions o f otherness do m atter in the fields o f policing practices and policy m aking. O f course, for A m erican audiences, this com es as no su r­

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prise given the ex traordinary am o u n t o f evidence o f police m isconduct based on race and nationality th at has long plagued the U nited States.36 But for Italy, this signifies a shifting perception o f crim e and crim inality and raises the specter o f racial targeting in policing tactics. C onsider the com m ents m ade to m e du rin g an interview with a C arabinieri officer: W ith the extracom unitari we m ust stop them . We m ust ask for their d o c­ um ents. We m ust see if they are irreg u lar.. . . Som e people understand why we stop them . But there are always som e people who pretend that they cannot speak Italian. They d o n ’t want to get into trouble, or they al­ ready are in trouble and want to avoid arrest. We stop the extracom unitari first to see their docum ents. But we are not stopping them only for that. We can’t because there is nothing we can do if people d o n ’t have doc­ um ents. For exam ple, I cannot detain any m an for n o t having his d ocu­ m ents. But I can detain him if I see that he has an order o f expulsion or that he is a suspect in a crim e. M any o f the extracom unitari are from Africa and m ost have been in prison here in Italy. They com e from Algeria, M orocco, and those places—also, m any girls from Nigeria and South America. Those girls have spent tim e in ou r prisons in Italy. M ost o f these people are bringing drugs into o u r country. The Africans sell drugs on the street, they steal and the girls are prostitutes. N ot all o f them , b u t listen, m ost o f the Africans that I stop, over 75 percent, I believe are guilty. I d o n ’t know why, b u t it just is. Look at their countries, they are al­ ways killing each other or starving and then they w ant to com e to Europe to escape their problem s and they bring the problem s with them . I see this every day in m y job, so I know this is the truth. A m nesty International docum ented that victim s o f police abuse have re­ portedly sustained kicks, slaps, punches, beatings with truncheons, racial slurs, sexual assault, and threats with guns.’7 M uch o f the alleged abuse by law e n ­ forcem ent has occurred while police stopped individuals on suspicion o f hav­ ing com m itted a crim inal offense or during identity checks. An overw helm ing m ajority o f the victim s o f police violence are im m igrants and Roma. As A m nesty International reports w ith alarm , “a high p o rtio n o f the allegations of ill-treatm ent by law enforcem ent officers concern im m igrants from outside W est-Europe (the m ajority o f them are from Africa) and an increasing n u m b er o f allegations concern Rom a (Gypsies).”’8 The b ru n t o f increased police vio­ lence has been b orne by im m igrants and Roma b u t especially by people w ho are detained in conjunction w ith drug-related offenses and those w ho intervene on behalf o f others being m istreated by the police, and particularly since 1994, p a r­ ticipants in street d em onstrations have also been victim s o f police violence."

12 • A sale A n g e l - A j a n i

In a stu d y c o n d u cted in E m ilia-R om agna, D ario M elossi fo u n d th a t on e in seven m ale im m ig ran ts on foot w ere stopped by police, c o m p a red w ith on e in nin ety Italian m en .40 A lthough n e ith e r study indicates a c o n n ec tio n betw een the h igh rate o f im m ig ran t foot stops a n d police abuse, a m ajo rity o f the abuses o ccu rred o n the street according to A m nesty In tern a tio n a l, “at the m o m e n t o f arrest a n d d u rin g the first 24 h o u rs in custody, before the detainee has seen a lawyer o r b een b ro u g h t before a ju dicial authority.”41

Incarcerating Immigrants At university law faculties th ro u g h o u t Italy, c rim in al law has b een tau g h t as the “M agna C arta o f the c rim in al” ra th e r th a n that o f th e “h o n est citizen.”4- T his perspective grow s o u t o f a general skepticism th a t m any Italians had a b o u t d is­ courses o n crim e. Italy has experienced a n u m b e r o f changes in its pen al sys­ tem , b u t p riso n reform in th e early 1970s significantly changed Italy’s practice o f im p riso n m e n t a n d its perspective o n crim inality. In th e 1970s th ere were several rebellions an d pro tests in p riso n s.1*T hese rebellions w ere largely c o n ­ nected to the b ro a d e r c o u n te rcu ltu ral m o v em en t o f th e late 1960s a n d 1970s. T he p riso n rebellions b ro u g h t a tte n tio n to the squalid living c o n d itio n s o f the inm ates a n d th e b ru ta lity th a t th ey e n d u red . T he p riso n legislation betw een 1971 a n d 1975 reflected th e e m b a ttled tim es o f the early 1970s. T h ere w'as co n tin u a l oscillation betw een innovative a n d c o n ­ servative proposals, w hich in th e e n d c o n tra d ic ted o n e an o th er. For exam ple, w hile th e Law on Prison 354 o f July 26, 1975 pro v id ed som e benefits to o f­ fenders, in cluding im proved priso n co n d itio n s a n d alternatives to incarcera­ tio n , it also enacted punitive m easures, length en in g p riso n sentences for those charged w ith crim es against the state and restricting inm ate access to the o u t­ side w orld. A lthough m any policy m akers characterized 354 as progressive p riso n reform , M assim o Pavarini argues th a t th e Italian crim inal justice system reflects the a u th o rita ria n legal system o f the thirties, w hich deployed a rb itra ry ju dicial a n d a d m in istrativ e strategies. M any scholars argued th a t the Law o n P rison 354 was only a p a rtial a d ju st­ m e n t to p riso n reform , particu larly because th e law em phasized d e te n tio n and exclusion an d did n o t regard th e in m a tes as an y th in g m o re th a n p riso n ers. T he law tran sfo rm e d th e p e rce p tio n o f the crim inal for the go v ern m en t. P rio r to 1973 m o st in m a te s— b o th m ale an d fem ale— w ere considered “ h ard en e d c rim ­ inals,” serving tim e in p riso n for m u rd e r o r repeated theft. M any o f these “h a rd en e d crim in als” w'ere o ld er an d from the w'orking classes.44 For nearly tw en ty years, Italy has had one o f th e low est p riso n p o p u latio n s in W estern E urope. How ever, d u rin g th e 1990s, th e p riso n p o p u la tio n d ra m a t­ ically increased, a n d w ith it em erged new a ttitu d e s a b o u t crim inality. From 1990 to 1993, the p riso n p o p u la tio n grew from th irty -fo u r th o u sa n d to over

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fifty th o u san d in just five years. Pavarini w arns, “if this tren d continues, with an increase o f roughly fifteen h u n d red prisoners a m o nth, Italy will reach the cu rre n t im p riso n m en t rates o f the U nited K ingdom in little over a year.”45 In a tw o-year period the prison p o pulation had increased by 50 percent.46 The prison population o f the 1990s, according to Stefano Anastasia, co n ­ sisted o f drug addicts, im m igrants, and unem ployed youth w ho com e from the m ost disenfranchised sectors o f Italian society.47 M assim o Pavarini suggests that the shift in inm ate dem ographics is a “result o f a new selection procedure in the im prisonm ent population.” He finds that “in two sh o rt years, the n u m ­ ber o f drug abusers rose from u n d er 20% to over 60% o f the entire prison p o p ­ ulation. In the sam e period the percentage o f prisoners originating from outside o f the E uropean Econom ic C o m m u n ity rose from 5% to over 20%. The repressive selectivity basically directed at these two ostracized groups h igh­ lights a significant change in w hat society takes to be a new danger.”48 A lthough it is uncertain exactly why there has been a sharp increase in the incarceration o f im m igrants and drug addicts, Pavarini argues th at the a n ti­ co rru p tio n o r “clean han d s” cam paign m ay provide an answer. He suggests that th rough the cam paign the state, prim arily the police, the judiciary, and the prisons, has achieved legitim acy th at is “unequaled in the history o f the Italian Republic ”4