ABSTRACT
For over a decade, women prisoners, former prisoners, and their allies in Queensland, Australia, have been organizing to challenge the brutal treatment of women inside and to advocate the abolition of women’s prisons. Formed in 1992, Sisters Inside is unique in involving the leadership of women prisoners who make decisions about service delivery and help to determine our political agenda for change. Unlike many prison reform organizations that speak on behalf of prisoners, Sisters Inside provides a platform for women inside to speak for themselves. This chapter first explores prison culture in Australian women’s prisons. It is important to understand women’s prison culture in order to appreciate why it is essential that women prisoners should have the opportunity to speak for themselves. Second, the chapter discusses the many aspects of coercive control, discipline, and abuse that women experience during their incarceration. Finally, the chapter describes the structure and goals of Sisters Inside, as a model for organizing alliances between women inside and outside the prison walls.
