Records
A Jail is a Jail
Typed flyer on a sheet of blue paper, double-sided. Opens with a discussion of the June 1971 transfer of inmates from NYC's infamous Women's House of Detention to the newly constructed New York City Correctional Facility for Women, which was done suddenly to try to avoid protests. The new facility at Rikers Island is described as an "isolated penal colony" w...
Abolish Rockefeller's Prison Committee: Immediate Implementation of the Prisoner's Demands
This flyer calls for Rockefeller's Prison Committee to be abolished, providing context for some of the crimes related to Attica which took place under Rockefeller, and for the immediate implementation of prisoner's demands.
Alderson Attica Demands
This pamphlet includes a list of twenty-eight demands issued by prisoners at Attica State Prison in New York in May, 1971, and 42 demands issued by women prisoners at Alderson Federal Prison, which were presented during a four day sit-in in solidarity with Attica prisoners during the week of September 14, 1971. Many of these demands refer to basic rights suc...
Alternative Legal Systems -- China
This article provides analysis of how the prison system, judicial system, and law enforcement operate in socialist China, in order to better understand potential alternatives to the current criminal justice system in the US.
Angela is free! Now we must free Ruchell and all political prisoners!
Flyer with handwritten title announcing Angela Davis' release from prison while demanding the same for Ruchell Magee. Three typed paragraphs about Ruchell, Angela's codefendent, whose trial for murder-kidnap-consipiracy is to begin on August 1. Magee was the only person to survive the attempt to escape from the Marin County Courthouse in 1970, which was led...
Capitalism Plus Dope Equals Genocide
This pamphlet, written by Michael "Cetewayo" Tabor, a political prisoner part of the Panther 21, deals with heroin and the issue of drug addiction, specifically its effects on the Black community of Harlem. This particular copy was reprinted by the Women's Bail Fund.
December 20 -- Our Theory Will Unite With Our Practice... Afeni Shakur
This statement emphasizes how economic hardship and the lack of basic necessities such as food and adequate shelter drive women to commit small crimes which lead to their imprisonment. It explores the inhumane treatment of women throughout legal proceedings and jail time when being charged for crimes, and provides information about efforts among an emerging...
Demands of the Sisters Inside
A list of grievances and demands addressed to the concerned people of New York relating to medical care, prison food, pests and vermin, physical abuse, and more. It includes a poem by a Vietnamese woman prisoner and a quote by Ho Chi Minh.
Diary of a Bail-Out
A timestampped account of the step-by-step process of bailing out prisoners at Rikers Island, which processes prisoners from three different jails.
Free All Prostitutes, Free All Prisoners
This statement provides a list of demands by the Women's Bail Fund, such as an end to arrests for all "crimes" of survival, including prostitution, pre-trial detention, and more.
Free Our Sisters In Jail
This flyer includes information about the prison conditions impacting women held at Rikers Island, both without trial and serving sentences. It also describes the work of the Women's Bail Fund and calls for support through various ways of contributing.
Free Our Sisters in the Rikers Concentration Camp
This flyer includes a statement in solidarity with the prison rebellion at Attica and the sympathy demonstration by women at Alderson prison. It lists the human rights abuses that take place at Rikers Island and charges Rockefeller for crimes committed against Black and brown populations, as well as the poor.
Midnight Special: Prisoner News [WBF Articles]
Midnight Special is published by a coalition of Prisoner Rights groups in New York City with the aim of disseminating legal information to aid prisoner's rights. This issue includes an article about prison conditions at Rikers Island, an article on a rebellion at Alderson which involved a strike and demands for better pay, better medical care, and more. The...
Pamphlet on The Women's Bail Fund
Folded pamphlet with a folder of a brick wall on the cover. Inside there's a quote from Eugene V. Debs on the lower class and prison. Contains informational content about The Women's Bail Fund and what it does. Headlines read: ""Sisters in the House of D Write to the Bail Fund," "Where Do We Get Our Funds?" "Women's Bail Fund," "who Do We Bail Out?" "The Wom...
Press Release: Women's Bail Fund
A press release issued by the Women's Bail Fund in response to hearings related to prisoner suicides in New York City jails. The press release refers to these deaths as murders and the prison system a murderer.
Revolution is the Only Solution
This article comes from a series that was published in the Liberated Guardian. It includes the author's personal account of her brother, Johnny, a white working class person who struggled with drug addiction and sold drugs. Johnny was eventually convicted and paroled to Daytop Village, a drug treatment facility, as an alternative to a six-year jail sentence.
THE PLAGUE: Capitalism + Dope = GENOCIDE [Article]
This essay provides an iteration of a pamphlet with the same title, written by Michael Cetewayo Tabor while in prison. Michael was a political prisoner part of the NY Panther 21 case. The essay includes an introduction with some background information on the author. It was included as part of a packet of materials distributed by the Women's Bail Fund.
This Has Been Sitting at the Back of My Brain...
This statement is by an unknown author who raises the importance of their time inside to their political development and reflects on their work with the Women's Bail Fund--challenges, successes, and lessons. Some of the topics discussed include selecting readings for political education, the approach to criticism self-criticism to address internal contradict...
Women Prisoners [Flyer]
This flyer includes information drawn from an issue of Ramparts about the various facilities housing women prisoners, conditions inside women's prisons and jails, and a few statistics related to women's imprisonment.
Women's Bail Fund Letter
This letter requests support for the Women's Bail Fund and women detained at the Women's House of Detention. It indicates a new location of the Women's House of Detention at Riker's Island and describes conditions of isolation and forced labor at Riker's. It also provides some examples of prisoner's organizing and building power inside.
Women's Bail Fund: Platform and Program
Two typed pages on yellow paper describing the mission and purpose of the Women's Bail Fund. It lists and elaborates on 7 key tenants of the organization, which are as follows: "1. We want power to determine our destinies as women. 2. We demand an immediate release of all prisoners held in federal, state, county and city prisons and jails. 3. We demand an en...