Recovering Carceral Feminist-Ask Me How!

@kwanetaharris.bsky.social

16 Nov 2024

The criminal legal system is the primary response to gender-based violence in the US, but victims of violence who don’t conform to stereotypes about “perfect” victims are punished harshly by that system every day-come for the anger-inducing stories, stay for the abolition feminism.

David M. Perry@lollardfish.bsky.social

Welcome to Bluesky. If you're a writer, don't forget to TELL US ALL ABOUT YOUR BOOK!

Recovering Carceral Feminist-Ask Me How! reposted

Kwaneta Harris

22 Sept

This month, Kwaneta recommends Imperfect Victims by @leighgoodmark.bsky.social and Corridors of Contagion by @victorialaw.bsky.social. Both of these are must-reads for anyone interested in abolition.

15 Sept

People with big platforms who profess to care about marginalized people should never, ever punch down. And when they do, we should notice and assess what they’ve produced accordingly.

1 Sept

access.heinonline.comSecure Request and Redirect

1 Sept

www.themarshallproject.org/2026/08/27/w...

1 Sept

themarshallproject.orgWomen Learned Their Jail Strip Searches Were Recorded. Their Outrage Changed the Law.Women who organized to push for a new Colorado law hope it will become a model for other states.

washingtonpost.comHow rogue officers turned a nationwide camera network into a tool for stalkingFlock’s array of license-plate cameras was built to fight crime. But at least 50 law enforcement officers were charged with or accused of misusing it and other systems.

4 Aug

Since it's been a while--tell me again how police keep us safer? www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2...

metrotimes.comWoman imprisoned in abusive ex’s killing is third to die at Michigan prison in a month - Detroit Metro TimesCourt records describe years of abuse by Ashley Hoath's ex-boyfriend, Jeremy Barron, who she said repeatedly abused her physically and sexually.

8 June

Prison is sexual abuse. Prison is torture. Prison is death. Free them all.

Detroit Metro Times@metrotimes.com

Ashley Hoath's life was tragic. She was sentenced to Michigan's only women's prison for the death of her physically & sexually abusive ex-boyfriend. Last week, she became the third woman to die at Huron Valley Correctional Facility. www.metrotimes.com/news/woman-i...

8 June

Thanks to @clapifyoulikeme.favrd.social for sharing with me.

inquest.orgBare It All - Amber Martens - InquestThis isn’t my first strip search during my incarceration. This, however, is the first time it’s being filmed.

31 Mar

Incarceration is a form of sexual violence. inquest.org/bare-it-all/

Recovering Carceral Feminist-Ask Me How! reposted

Mrs. Detective PikaBOO, Esq.

@clapifyoulikeme.favrd.social

18 Mar

Every single thing named after Cesar Chavez should be renamed for Dolores Huerta

Mrs. Detective PikaBOO, Esq.@clapifyoulikeme.favrd.social

God the Cesar Chavez stuff is just…men really should start out six feet under and work their way up.

theconversation.com40% of teenage boys believe women lie about domestic and sexual violence: new researchAn Australian study of anti-feminist attitudes shows up to 30% of boys surveyed expressed agreement with various forms of violent extremism.

11 Mar

Well, this was a cheery way to start the day.

9 Mar

truthout.orgFlorida Has Deemed All Existing Intro to Sociology Textbooks Illegal and Produced Its OwnThe Board of Governors overseeing the new curricula includes roofing contractors, insurance execs, and no professors.

7 Mar

As a native Floridian, let me say, again: if the whole state crumbled into the ocean, we would all be better off. truthout.org/articles/flo...

Recovering Carceral Feminist-Ask Me How! reposted

Social Research: An International Quarterly

@socres.org

6 Mar

If the anti–domestic violence movement wants to embrace abolition feminism, why is it clinging to the use of carceral system to punish perpetrators? @leighgoodmark.bsky.social's “Intimate Partner Firearm Violence and Abolition Feminism” explores the tension between its rhetoric & practice. 1/2

theculturewedeserve.substack.comThe True Harms of True Crime: Snappedby Leigh Goodmark, Kim Hricko, and Kwaneta Harris

26 Feb

As part of our continuing series of articles on how true crime harms criminalized survivors, Kim Hricko, @kwanetaharris.bsky.social and I published this piece on Snapped on The Culture We Deserve: theculturewedeserve.substack.com/p/the-true-h...

truthout.orgIncarcerated Women Featured in True Crime Media Face Flood of Sexual HarassmentIncarcerated women are being made involuntary performers in a spectacle that attracts men who dehumanize them.

22 Feb

Kim Hricko, @kwanetaharris.bsky.social, and I recently published an article on how true crime media harms criminalized survivors. Here's another facet of that harm: true crime exposes incarcerated women to men seeking to sexually exploit them. @truthout.org truthout.org/articles/inc...

theflytrapmedia.comAin't We Women, Too?For many incarcerated women, the state is their abuser, but the gender-based violence we experience behind bars goes ignored.

4 Feb

"The violence we experience inside is not a different or separate kind of violence. It is gender-based violence, and it's enabled by your silence. So let me ask again: Ain't I a woman? And if I am, then where are you?" My brilliant friend, @kwanetaharris.bsky.social:

29 Jan

I love these emails. Which character in Decriminalizing Domestic Violence do you think suggested real screen potential?

26 Jan

When I was asked to sign an amicus brief in U.S. v. Rahimi, I reflexively said yes--no one who uses violence should have a gun. Then I remembered that the criminal legal system would enforce the prohibition. #Abolitionfeminism means saying no to the criminal system. My latest @socres.org:

26 Jan

To be very, very clear: Zackey Rahimi should not have a gun. Ever.

@mollyjongfast.bsky.social

28 Jan

Also, thanks to @christopher-lau.bsky.social, @ggkrishnamoomoo.bsky.social, Daniel Harawa and Jacob Charles for their work related to and/or thoughts about this article.

Recovering Carceral Feminist-Ask Me How! reposted

Molly Jong-Fast

27 Jan

This five year old is still in jail

MaddowBlog@maddowblog.bsky.social

"Let us go." Immigration attorney Eric Lee shares a drawing by his five-year-old client, stuck in an immigration prison.

21 Jan

Client's application for a pardon of her federal conviction was denied (the judge felt so strongly that the client deserved mercy that he advocated against her deportation after her conviction). Apparently we didn't submit the one thing that the Administration requires before considering a pardon.

inquest.orgCPS Stole My Children - Toia Potts - InquestWhen I was falsely accused of abuse, North Carolina took away my sons. I was exonerated but I still may never see them again.

17 Jan

There are no words. #AbolishFamilyPolicing

12 Jan

One of the highlights of being associate dean for research at Maryland Carey Law is welcoming scholars from across the country (including @ahoagfordjour.bsky.social, @profshirleylin.bsky.social, and @susanmcmahon.bsky.social). Looking forward to this semester's Legal Theory Workshops!

wjlgs.law.wisc.eduVolume XL, No. 1 – Spring 2025Articles “The True Harms of True Crime” by Leigh Goodmark, Kim Hricko, and Kwaneta Harris “Undocumented Eldercare, LLC” by Kit Johnson “Creatively Concealed but Still Persistently Pervasive: Racial St...

9 Jan

Kim Hricko, @kwanetaharris.bsky.social, and I discuss the impact of true crime on criminalized survivors (spoiler: it's devastating) in "The True Harms of True Crime." Find it here: wjlgs.law.wisc.edu/2026/volume-.... Special thanks to @rlopez.bsky.social, who is the godmother of this piece.

today.uconn.eduFederal EITC Has Unexpected Result, Researchers Say – It Decreases Domestic Violence - UConn Today'Even if you don’t care about the human value of reducing this, there are efficiency gains in handling it more effectively - and I think most of us do ...

23 Dec 2025

I mean, I expected this result. Economic security decreases intimate partner violence. Give money to the people that need it-not to police and prisons. #AbolitionFeminismNow

19 Dec 2025

This doesn’t bode well.

Alan Sepinwall@sepinwall.bsky.social

The #1 movie when you were 10 years old is how your 2026 is going to go. (I would not object to such an outcome.)

17 Dec 2025

If I were supreme ruler of all things lexical (a word I just looked up), I would outlaw the use of the word "unfortunately." I have spoken.

truthout.orgA New Domestic Violence Hotline Aims to Stop People From Doing Harm“Being able to talk someone off the ledge, I think it would prevent a lot of cases like mine,” one man said.

15 Dec 2025

Preventing harm before it happens, providing safe and non-judgmental spaces in which people who are considering harm can get help without requiring them to be criminalized--this is exactly the kind of thing we should be doing, and House of Ruth is doing it in Maryland.

14 Dec 2025

Today this is a baking account. Chunky Lola cookies (Flour Bakery recipe), chocolate peppermint brownie cookies, and eggnog snickerdoodles (@nytimes.com). Snow outside, cookies inside.

12 Dec 2025

I’ve been doing this for more than 30 years, and if I ever stop being nervous before I walk into court, I’ll know it’s time to stop.

prisonpolicy.orgStates of Women's Incarceration: The Global Context 2025Women's incarceration in every region of the United States is out of step with the rest of the world.

11 Dec 2025

Today's fun fact: if "blue" "progressive" Maryland was a country, we would incarcerate more women per capita than 153 countries, including Canada, China, Argentina, and Venezuela, and would be tied with the Russian Federation. #TheMoreYouKnow www.prisonpolicy.org/global/women...

truthout.orgNew Pennsylvania Law Seeks to Aid Abuse Survivors Who Resist — But Is It Enough?Laws to help “criminalized survivors” who fight back against their abusers often merely reduce their prison time.

5 Dec 2025

As a pragmatic abolitionist, I'll use any tool I can to get people out of prison. But laws decreasing sentences for/allowing for resentencing of criminalized survivors are not everything we need to prevent injustice. We need for survivors not to be prosecuted at all. Mine @truthout.org.

5 Dec 2025

Thanks to @scholars.org for assistance with editing and pitching!

6 Dec 2025

Making my point for me:

chuffed.orgSupporting Our Inside-Out Prison Writing CommunityWe are an inside-outside collective of writers, editors and journalists who support the writing of incarcerated people across the country.

2 Dec 2025

Supporting Our Inside-Out Prison Writing Community chuffed.org/project/1574...

truthout.orgThis Program Gives Direct Cash Support to Incarcerated WomenThe Community Love Fund is a guaranteed income program built and run by abolitionist women.

1 Dec 2025

Think about this program for Giving Tuesday.

27 Nov 2025

So far during the parade, my kids have booed the NYPD, asked why we continue to glorify the (whiteness of the) 50s, and talked about union busting during a Starbucks commercial. The kids are all right.

nypost.comZohran Mamdani now says NYPD should respond to domestic violence incidents, backtracking on past controversial statements“That has not been part of the proposal we have put forward over the course of the campaign,” said Mamdani on Wednesday when asked if his new Department of Community Safety (DCS) would …

20 Nov 2025

Not surprising, but disappointing. Mayor Mamdani, call me--let's talk! nypost.com/2025/11/19/u...

One of my clients died yesterday. She was an absolutely lovely woman, full of faith and joy and light. She cared deeply about the people around her. She was a source of encouragement and support to the women she was incarcerated with. She was 51 years old and had spent 28 years in prison.

View full thread

I know that LWOP means that people are supposed to die in prison. But society didn't need her to die there. She posed no threat to anyone. She would have been a valued and valuable member of the community.

We have utterly failed as a society when we cage people and are smugly certain that we never need to revisit those decisions. There are so many people dying in prisons who do not need to be there. Today, there is one less. Love and light to you. I'm sorry we failed you.

View full thread

She suffered a serious health setback eight years into her incarceration, at 32 years old. She had repeated surgeries and required much medication. Not only would she never have hurt anyone (prison staff noted her kindness and compassion), she could not have hurt anyone.

She leaves behind family--siblings, children, grandchildren--and friends who loved her dearly and never stopped hoping that she would return, despite her life without parole sentence. And she leaves behind a commutation request, filed over a year ago and never acknowledged.

Just to get it out of the way--yes, the crime was terrible. But like many women, her role in the crime was minimal and was a product of duress. My client was involved in something she couldn't find her way out of without seriously jeopardizing her life and the lives of her family. So she stayed.