Chicago Books to Women in Prison

The Illinois Criminal Justice System: What Are We Doing Wrong, and How Do We Stop?

Join us for a dialogue with Patricia Van Pelt Watkins about the Illinois Criminal Justice System.

• Sunday, December 4th, 1:30-3:00
• Chicago Books to Women in Prison
• 4001 N Ravenswood Ave #204b

Those of us who insist on a rational and compassionate approach to policing, criminal justice and incarceration will discuss practical solutions with community leader and Fifth District Senate candidate Patricia Van Pelt Watkins.

Members of community organizations will ask her tough questions and we expect to get some tough answers!

Watkins is one of the few candidates who is willing to foreground issues of violence reduction and criminal justice in Chicago. Come with questions about her work with Safe City initiative, CeaseFire, prisoner reentry, sentencing policy, restorative justice, and anything else!

Dr. Patricia Van Pelt Watkins is:
▪ Founding Director of Target Area Development Corporation, which developed a model that improves public safety in communities through programs that reduce recidivism and change conditions that can lead to violence and crime.
▪ Founder of the Developing Justice Coalition, which spearheaded passage of legislation that improved fairness in the criminal justice system and removed barriers to employment.
▪ Founder of the United Congress of Community and Religious Organizations, which created a report card that evaluated the voting records of state legislators on issues of human rights and racial equity.

Co-sponsored by:
Chicago Books to Women in Prison
Chicago Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression
Transformative Justice Law Project
Tamms Year Ten
Bill Ryan
Ted Pearson

ABC Chicago:

Books are a hot commodity for incarcerated women, so a group of volunteers is doing its part to make sure they have something to read.

Watch: ABC Video about Chicago Books to Women in Prison

or Read the Story

The future is NOW!  Join Beyondmedia Education and Chicago Books to Women in Prison for a futuristic fundraiser at Las Manos Gallery on April 15, from 7:00 to 11:00 pm.  Enjoy the future with karaoke and dancing to tunes selected by The People’s DJ.  Taste the future with food and drinks. Predict the future with fortune-tellers and horoscopes.  Influence the future by supporting media activism and outreach to incarcerated women. 

Beyondmedia’s mission is to collaborate with under-served and under-represented women, youth and communities to tell their stories, connect their stories to the world around us, and organize for social justice through the creation and distribution of media arts.

Chicago Books to Women in Prison is an all-volunteer collective that mails paperback books to people who are incarcerated in women’s prisons in Arizona, California, Connecticut, Florida, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Ohio, and Missouri. 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.   

Las Manos Gallery represents emerging and established fine artists. The current exhibit, ‘Variations: A Photography Exhibition’, features the work of Sarah Midkiff.

• When: April 15th, 7:00 – 11:00pm
• Where: Las Manos Gallery – 5220 N. Clark Street.  Take the Red Line to Berwyn, or take the 92, 22, or 36 buses.
• Contact: Katie Wadell / octobear (at) yahoo.com

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/