Rattling the Cages: Revolutionary Women Behind Bars

In this Rattling the Cages panel talk, Eric King speaks with former political prisoners Linda Evans, Laura Whitehorn, and Nicole Kissane. With nearly 200,000 women currently in jails and prisons, women make up 10% of those incarcerated in the US. As we saw with the recent closing of FCI Dublin, abuse and repression are rampant in women's carceral facilities. Learn more about the repression, the resistance, and the resilience of women fighting back in US prisons.

Published by AK Press, is a project of abolitionists Josh Davidson and Eric King. The book is filled with the experience and wisdom of over thirty current and former North American political prisoners. It provides first-hand details of Pr*son life and the political commitments that continue to lead prisoners into direct confrontation with state authorities and institutions.

If you missed the previous panel discussions you can watch the recordings here.

Linda Evans was an anti-imperialist political prisoner for 16 years, and before her imprisonment she was involved in many organizations, including Students for a Democratic Society, the Weather Underground, and the May 19th Communist Organization. She was captured in 1985 and convicted for her part in the Brinks expropriation and also in the Resistance Conspiracy Case. Her sentence was commuted by outgoing president Bill Clinton in 2001. Linda was imprisoned at various jails, including the DC J*il and FCI Dublin. Since her release, she has co-founded All of Us or None, a grassroots civil rights organization of formerly incarcerated people and their families, and she works tirelessly with California Coalition for Women Prisoners, the Drop LWOP Coalition, the Immigrant Defense Taskforce of North Bay Organizing Project in Santa Rosa, and the successful campaign to free Dr. Mutulu Shakur. Along with her partner Eve Goldberg, Linda wrote (PM Press, 2009).

Laura Whitehorn served almost 15 years in high security federal prisons for her involvement in the anti-imperialist armed actions that culminated in the Resistance Conspiracy Case of the mid-1980s. She served time at the Baltimore City J*il, the DC J*il, the high security unit at FCI Lexington, FCI Alderson, FCI Dublin (then called Pleasanton), and the high security unit in Marianna, Florida. Laura was involved in Students for a Democratic Society (SDS), the Weather Underground Organization (WUO), the May 19th Communist Organization, Prairie Fire Organizing Committee (PFOC), and many gay rights and AIDS support groups. Since her release at the turn of the century, she has been involved in a number of causes and is a cofounder of and organizer with Release Aging People in Pr*son (RAPP). Laura edited and wrote the introduction for (Feminist Press, 2010).

Nicole Kissane is a dedicated animal rights activist who was sentenced to 21 months at FCI Dublin for Animal Enterprise Terrorism. Since the mid-2000s, she has passionately advocated for animal rights. After a brief hiatus following her release, Nicole has expanded her focus, working with local groups on Pr*son abolition and immigrant rights. Alongside her activism, she has also returned to school to further her knowledge and impact.

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