The comic from I’M FREE puts the spotlight on women in the prison industrial complex. Prison is where a highly amount of desensitization occurs. In the general public view, there is a certain amount of respect and self-respect we have for one another. Once a woman has stepped through the doors of the prison industrial complex, they are immediately stripped of that respect and self-respect and become dehumanized. Personal belongings are taken away, clothing is removed while women are forced to stand naked in front of strangers. Also, a woman has to squat repeatedly to prove there is nothing hidden inside them. A woman is no longer a person, they are a number with a uniform. With a strict schedule on when to eat, sleep, work, there is no longer a choice but to obey because of being labeled criminal. It seems that in the beginning the trauma becomes normalized and prisoners settle into a routine of their new life. They become desensitized and disconnect from themselves. The comic points out the importance of the narrative to inmates.
When women are released and re-enter society not only are they labeled a criminal and a felon for the rest of their lives, they also have to deal with the trauma from the prison industrial system. The
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Women have to get arrested in order to get a chance healthcare, substance abuse treatment, trauma from being imprisoned.
After the presentation from I’M FREE, it took me a couple days to actually digest what had happened. The women who spoke I had only spent about an hour with them, but in that time I could tell by the way that they treated us as a group they cared about every single one of us. During the presentation when they were describing stories of neglect, abuse, lack of structure. It took a really long time for me to except that was my