Amplifying the Violence of Incarceration: Victoria Law on Prisons During Pandemic

Today I am honored to speak with veteran journalist Victoria Law.  She is the author of such books as Resistance Behind Bars: The Struggles of Incarcerated Women, Prison By Any Other Name: The Harmful Consequences of Popular Reforms (co-authored with Maya Schenwar), and “Prisons Make Us Safer” and 20 Other Myths about Mass Incarceration. Today we talk about her new book, Corridors of Contagion: How the Pandemic Exposed the Cruelties of Incarceration.

In this devastating study, Law shows how instead of focusing on care during the outbreak of COVID, prisons took the pandemic as an opportunity to amplify their inhumanity: we learn how things like solitary confinement and strip searches only intensified their worse aspects, and how extractive communications systems preyed on those hungry for news from loved ones. Law also tells of the personal stories she was able to track that give a human dimension to the statistics of the pandemic, and also remarkable stories of self-sacrifice and solidarity, as prisoners gave each other the care and support so badly needed. We end by learning about organizations that are at the forefront of fighting for decarceration and restructuring of parole boards, and other actions to fight against the inhumane and cruel practices of the prison industrial complex.

 Victoria Law is a freelance journalist and author who has written about incarceration, particularly women's incarceration, for nearly two decades. Her books include Resistance Behind Bars: The Struggles of Incarcerated Women, Prison By Any Other Name: The Harmful Consequences of Popular Reforms (co-authored with Maya Schenwar), and “Prisons Make Us Safer” and 20 Other Myths about Mass Incarceration. Her latest book, Corridors of Contagion: How the Pandemic Exposed the Cruelties of Incarceration, is sadly still relevant. You can find her work at victorialaw.net

Organizations mentioned in our conversation:

Release Aging People in Prison: https://rappcampaign.com/

California Coalition for Women Prisoners: https://womenprisoners.org/

Californians United for a Responsible Budget:

https://curbprisonspending.org/

Participatory Defense: 

https://www.participatorydefense.org/hubs

Article on Participatory Defense NOLA:

https://progressive.org/magazine/whose-justice-system-is-it-anyway-law/

Survived & Punished, a national network which works with criminalized abuse survivors:

https://survivedandpunished.org/