Women Prisoners

http://amzn.to/1kDIjNW Graphic by DigitalProduct-Mock book cover

Last year, I read “The Sandoval Sisters,” an award winning historical fiction book by Sandra Ramos O’Briant and enjoyed it so much that I began to follow her blog, www.bloodmother.com. I was pleasantly surprised when she asked me to be part of a blog adventure initiated on Twitter #weneeddiversebooks and #diverselit, in which we answer four questions about our writing life.

In my third year of college, I took Criminal Justice classes and visited prisons and juvenile halls. I met many people who had backgrounds similar to my own: poverty, single parent homes, and abuse. Some of my friends achieved college degrees and became leaders, while others became gang members or drug addicts. This made me wonder what differentiated non-offenders from criminal offenders.

After college, I began my 28 year career in the California Youth Authority, now part of the California Department of Corrections, as a Youth Counselor. Later, as a Manager, I wrote gender responsive treatment programs for young women and established an area for them to meet, discuss, and learn about themselves in a supportive environment. Their experiences and my own made their way into my stories.

1-What are you working on?

My Young Adult novel, Strong Women Grow Here, is a quarterfinalist in the Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award contest. After 10,000 entries, Amazon whittled the group to 2,000 entries and then to 500 entries. The next stage, on June 23, 2014, is the selection of the top five novels in five categories.

The story is about 17 year old immigrant, Juana Maria Ivanov, who is torn from her baby after she flees from her husband. He was alive when she ran from his beating but when the police arrive, they find him dead and she is sentenced to prison. When evidence surfaces that her husband died from injuries inconsistent with his fall, her hope helps her navigate not just the unspoken rules of incarceration, but the drugs, violence, racial tensions, and the maze of love triangles where she finds herself entangled. The answer to who is responsible for her husband’s death may be what frees Juana from prison and reunites her with her daughter.

To download a free 17 page excerpt click here.

I am searching for an agent to represent a second YA novel, working title “The Ding List,” about 15 year old, Jacqui Browne, whose pending expulsion from St. Bernadette High, for late tuition, will impact her chance at a Stanford scholarship. Her dad is in prison and her mother tries to support five kids. In desperation, Jacqui lies about her age to find a job and is unknowingly manipulated into trafficking drugs. She has to find a way out of this mess without putting her family in danger.

Currently, I’m revising an Adult Contemporary book, working title “A Winter Without Flowers,” about a woman in mid-life who is arrested for drunk driving. This sets off a series of crises with her kids, her best friend, and her ex-husband who is a police captain.

2-How does your work differ from others in your genre?

The YA novels that I’ve written are realistic, urban, and feature very young women, who are mothers, in prison or involved in drug trafficking. Although my protagonists and most of the secondary characters are from different ethnicities, cultures, and lifestyles, they suffer similar teenage angst, feelings of isolation, and confusion. Themes in these novels are similar to others in the genre. They include coming of age, self-awareness, love, loneliness, hope and friendship.

3-Why do you write what you do?

I feel compelled to write about young women whose voices aren’t heard, who were abandoned and abused and made wrong decisions. How they pick themselves back up (or grab onto a helping hand) and do better are stories worth telling. I’ve seen the worst in people and also the best. Some of my writing comes from my own challenges and choices.

4-How does your writing process work?

“Pantser,” best describes my writing process. I type by the seat of my pajamas, early in the morning, with plenty of coffee. When I begin a story I don’t know where it’s going. I know the beginning but not the middle or end. I follow the voice of the main character and keep typing until I’m finished with a rough draft. This takes about two months. I write five to six times a week for two to three hours. Reading two to three novels a month also helps my writing process. I’m a late comer to writing and reading poetry, but I’ve found this to be incredibly helpful when writing fiction.

I belong to a fantastic writing group, “WOmen Who Write,” (WoWW) where seven of us critique pages twice a month. I’ve been with them since I began writing in 2008. Working with a supportive group of writers is essential when it comes to meeting deadlines, inspiring creative thinking and for revisions.

My thanks again, to Sandra Ramos O’Briant, who invited me to participate in this series of posts about diverse literature.

On June 2, 2014, look for posts from Linda Rodriguez, author of the award winning Skeet Bannion police series. You can find her blog here.

photo from National Geographic

There has been an increase in T.V. female prisoner shows: Lockup, Cellblock 6 (TLC), Babies behind Bars (TLC), Beyond Scared Straight (A & E), and even Oprah’s OWN channel has Breaking Down Bars. Women are the fastest growing prison population in America and some of the toughest to handle.

The subject of women in prison is a new one for this blog. After a year of posting I think it’s time I wrote about my experiences working in the Criminal Justice system. I spent 28 years working inside of Youth Correctional facilities in California and two years working at work furlough and prison pre-release programs, with male and female inmates, young offenders and older inmates. This has been a huge part of my working life.

I can’t think of a ‘pretty picture’ to accompany this post so I chose the one that I feel is closest to the reality of life inside a prison. Granted, my life has been as a correctional worker, not as a prisoner. but I offer my perspective of women behind and in front of the cell bars.

My career has affected me in so many ways that all three of my works-in-progress (WIP’s) are about characters on both sides of the law. One of the three WIP’s is set inside of a women’s prison and much of the setting is real, for that particular facility.

For now I’ll begin with some background, not of my upbringing , but my career back story. In other words, how did I get from Catholic school to working inside of prison walls?

After changes to my major (Psychology, Teaching, English) I found my niche: Sociology and Criminal Justice. During my Junior year I took a field trip to Lompoc Federal Penitentiary. It wasn’t scary until they let a large group of male inmates into the 16×20 conference room with two Correctional Officers (CO’s) a Caseworker and two teachers.

It was like a show and tell about the programs inside. I was a shapely twenty year old with long hair to my waist. I felt naked as I sat on a folding chair and tried to make myself as small as possible. The teachers and Caseworker spoke and I heard the passion, and tiredness, in their voices. The passion was for the belief in rehabilitation and the tiredness was from the reality that everyone cannot or will not change. The ‘pitch’ was for student tutors, primarily for literacy tutors. I knew enough about the lives of drug dealers, con men and sweet talk that I was not going to volunteer for the program.

During my Senior year I had more loans than scholarships and grants. I applied for a paid internship and that is how I ended up working with a Psychologist and two Probation Officers (PO’s) at a 90 day Pre-Release program for Lompoc Fed inmates. The staff mentored me and had me assist in their paperwork, especially the P.O’s. I spent eight months sitting in small group counseling sessions with a different group of eight parolees three times a week, the Psych, and one PO. I experienced the ‘games,’ got tough quick, learned the prison jargon, the Psych’s language, and the PO’s workload.

My mentors recommended I go into Probation or work at the Juvenile Hall. I decided to apply at a Youth Correctional Facility in my county, graduated with my B.A.in June, and began working in July. I was twenty one years old, a new Youth Correctional Counselor, and my caseload of eight females ranged in age from eighteen to twenty-four. Most of them were older than me.

The Youth Correctional Facility is under the Division of Juvenile Justice which is under the California Department of Corrections. There have been several changes throughout the years and the facility has housed ages 12-24 year old females to 16-21 year old males. It has been solely for girls and women, and then co-ed, back to all females 12-21 and now it’s coed again. The population has been as high as 1100 to a low of 230. Gender changes and population fluctuates in response to sentencing laws, prison overcrowding, and deteriorating structures.

A prison is a world of its own. There are staff rules, inmate rules, gang rules, race rules and others that are best left for another time. Every Wednesday, my intention is to show readers this world, the girls and women inside (which I will refer to as female offenders), the sub-cultures, and the hopes and aspirations of young women doing time.

Category: Women Prisoners