Resources and Support for Women in Prison
Watch the documentary by Chicago-based filmmaker and musician Madsen Minax. “Chicago Books to Women in Prison: An Organization Video” shows how bibliophiles, more commonly known as “bookworms,” can combine their love of books with a radical opposition to prison system.
Who: Chicago Books to Women in Prison
What: Release part for a new documentary produced by award winning filmmaker Madsen Minax. Free. Refreshments provided.
When: October 8, 2010 6:30-9:30pm
Where: Mess Hall, an experimental cultural center in the heart of Rogers Park (6932 N Glenwood Avenue)
After nearly ten years in action, Chicago Books to Women in Prison (CBWP) is putting itself on film. Join CBWP for the release party of a new documentary by Chicago-based filmmaker and musician Madsen Minax. “Chicago Books to Women in Prison: An Organization Video” shows how bibliophiles, more commonly known as “bookworms,” can combine their love of books with a radical opposition to prison system.
Designed to inspire viewers to learn more about issues of prisons and literacy, “Chicago Books to Women in Prison: An Organization Video” documents the history and importance of the CBWP project, and offers personal stories about reading and learning in prison.
Madsen Minax is the award-winning director and producer of the rock documentary “Riot Acts: Flaunting Gender Deviance in Music Performance.” He has a BFA in film and sound from The School of the Art Institute of Chicago.
We want to thank the Chicago Foundation for Women’s Lesbian Leadership Council for recommending a $2,500 grant to Chicago Books to Women in Prison! We will receive the grant in June. Thank you so much! We are especially touched because this grant was unsolicited. Thank you Lesbian Leadership Council!
Welcome to a “Reading Karaoke”, a literary geek-out to celebrate the joys of reading, and to learn how people surviving prison terms deal with limited access to books. Volunteers from Chicago Books to Women in Prison will moderate a laid back evening of conversation at Mess Hall (6932 North Glenwood Avenue) on Saturday March 20, from 7:00 to 9:00 PM. After 9:00, the evening will continue to an after-party at the Red Line Tap (7006 N. Glenwood).
Apart from talking about favorite books, the activities will include a round-table discussion of why prisons (and the realities of prison funding) restrict inmate’s reading materials. Attendees may sign up to be matched with pen pals in prison, or may choose to solve the puzzle of finding books for CBWP’s most difficult orders.
The event also offers a chance to put the overflow from your book collection to good use, with a book drive to collect donations of paperback dictionaries, poetry, Spanish-language novels, blank journals, and other softcover books. Blank journals are especially in demand because they are so useful for class work, letters, drawings, and diaries.
Chicago Books to Women in Prison, an all-volunteer collective that mails paperback books to women in prisons in nine states. CBWP is dedicated to offering women behind bars the opportunity for self-empowerment, education, and entertainment that reading provides. Incarcerated women send their requests for books directly to CBWP, which then gathers on Sunday afternoons to fill the requests and package the books, which are largely donated by individuals around Chicago.
Mess Hall is an experimental cultural center that offers space for classes, exhibitions, meetings, dinners, lectures, readings, concerts, screenings and art happenings. A storefront space in the Roger’s Park neighborhood, Mess Hall offers city residents a dynamic gathering place where they can share resources and ideas.
CONTACT:
Mess Hall
6932 North Glenwood Avenue Chicago, IL 60626
info@messhall.org www.messhall.org
El: Red line to Morse
Chicago Books to Women in Prison
c/o Beyondmedia Education
4001 N. Ravenswood Ave #204B, Chicago, IL 60613
chicagobwp@hotmail.com
http://chicagobwp.org/
Come have fun with friends and help raise money for Chicago Books to Women in Prison!
Join us at T’s (http://www.yelp.com/biz/ts-bar-and-restaurant-chicago) on Thursday, June 18, at 7pm.
No Cover. Just come hang out (in the back room) and Chicago Books to Women in Prison will get 10% of whatever you spend on food and liquor. Or drink a ‘books to prisoners’ shot for $5, and all of the money will go to the books project!
There will be raffles, arm wrestling, and the always great food and drink of Ts.
Come have fun with friends and help raise money for
Chicago Books to Women in Prison!
Please join us at T’s on Thursday, June 18 at 7:00pm.
CBWP will get 10% of whatever you spend on food and liquor (and T’s food is delicious). Or drink a ‘books to prisoners’ shot for $5 and buy raffle tickets, and all of the money will go to the book project. No cover, just come eat, drink, win raffle prizes, and enjoy a Thursday night out for a great cause!
T’s
5025 N Clark St
Chicago, IL 60640
http://www.yelp. com/biz/ts- bar-and-restaura nt-chicago
Please pass this invitation along and invite all of your friends!
Can’t make it to T’s?
Learn more about Chicago Books to Women in Prison at http://chicagobwp. org/about- us/
and send donations to
ChicagoBooks to Women in Prison
c/o BeyondMedia Education4001 N Ravenswood Ave #204C
Chicago, IL 60613
This past Wednesday, a U.S. Circuit Judge in Colorado made a powerful statement against sexual abuse in detention. Judge David M. Ebel ruled in a civil case against a corrections officer for his sexual assault of an inmate in Denver Women’s Correctional Facility. The judge awarded the survivor $1.3 million, saying he hoped to send a message that sexual abuse in prison will not be tolerated.
Looking to donate? Here’s what we need!
PAPERBACK ONLY!
PAPERBACK ONLY!
Thanks for all of your help in stocking our library!
After remaining steady for almost 100 years, imprisonment rates increased from 111 in 1974 to nearly 500 by 2000; anti-prison activist refer to this surge as the ‘prison boom’. Currently, 1.5 million people are in prison and more than 7 million are under some form of correctional control. Not only this 4.5 million people have been to prison at some point in their lives and are now back in their communities suffering from a variety of legalized discrimination. And it’s not only the scale of imprisonment, but also the color. Blacks are six times more likely than whites to be imprisoned and Latinos are twice as likely as whites to be imprisoned. And while racial disparity in imprisonment has been a social reality since emancipation, the prison boom increases the impact of this disparity. In addition to all of this, between 1974 and 1996, women’s chances of going to prison at some point during their lives increased 6 times; men’s increased 3 times during the same period. As a result, while in 1980, only 4% of prisoners were women, by 2000, more than 7% Black women and white men have nearly the same chances of serving time: 3.6% and 4.4% respectively.
Chicago Books to Women in Prison presents a night of activity stations & great music at our home base, Beyondmedia Education. Let’s eat sweet and savory pies, rock to 2 bands, make out in the kissing booth, and pack books at the activity station of book requests from people in women’s prisons.
When: Saturday, August 23, 2008, 7:00pm – 10:00pm
Where: 4001 N Ravenswood #204c, Chicago
Cost: $5-$25 at the door, sliding scale, plus cash bar.
Free drink ticket with every paperback dictionary you bring.
If you’re on facebook, you can view this event here. No need to RSVP, just bring the party!
