Gendered justice in the American West : women prisoners in men's penitentiaries

Book

Gendered justice in the American West : women prisoners in men's penitentiaries / Anne M. Butler.

Butler, Anne M., 1938- (Author).

Summary:

In this study of women prisoners in men's penitentiaries from 1865 to 1915, Anne M. Butler shows that the women, already faced with distinct gender disadvantages within western society, were subjected to intense physical and mental violence while in prison. For women of color or of lower social class, she argues, the violence was even greater and more frequent. Butler's poignant cross-cultural account draws on prison records and the words of the women themselves. She explores how nineteenth-century criminologists constructed the "criminal woman"; the elements of age, race, class, and gender in women's court proceedings; the kinds of violence encountered by women inmates; their diet, illnesses, experiences with pregnancy and child-bearing; prison work systems for women; and women's own strategies for response.

Record details

ISBN: 0252022815
ISBN: 9780252022814
Physical Description: xvii, 262 pages : illustrations, portraits ; 24 cm
Publisher: Urbana : University of Illinois Press, ©1997.

Content descriptions

Bibliography, etc. Note:: Includes bibliographical references (pages 235-248) and index.
Formatted Contents Note:: The woman prisoner -- The male prison world -- Women of the prison world -- Women's worlds of violence -- Women's health inside the walls -- Women and prison work -- Women prisoners respond.