With unflinching clarity, Hidden Healers cuts through the myths about incarcerated women to expose the all-too-real brutalities they face within a criminal legal system never designed for them. Backed by three decades' experience providing therapeutic programs inside prisons across the United States, trauma specialist Dr. Stephanie Covington has used her unique access to amplify the voices of the women themselves. Their stories illuminate realities most never see: that most women who get caught up in the criminal justice system have themselves been victims of harm, that the degradations of today's prisons and jails only magnify their trauma- and that incarcerated women regularly risk punishment to tend to one another's well-being in unexpected acts of kindness. Grounded in research and rich with personal narrative, Hidden Healers is a poignant and riveting look inside women's prisons and jails- and what we can do to help.
Table of Contents
Acknowledgments xxi
A Note From a Hidden Healer: It’s Time for Change xxiii
Introduction 1
Just the Facts 11
Part One: Entering the System 23
Introduction to the Criminal Legal System for Women in the United States 25
Pathways to Prison: Understanding Trauma and Addiction 43
First Days 51
Part Two: Living Inside 61
Culture and Environment 63
Working Inside the Culture of Corrections 81
Finding Your Program 83
Food 97
Mothering from Inside 107
Grief and Loss 123
Developing Relationships 129
Medical and Mental Health Care 141
Aging in Custody 153
Celebrating Special Days 159
Remembering Those Who Don’t Survive 168
Part Three: The Journey Home 171
Gate Fever 173
The Work of Reentry 179
Healing after Incarceration 187
Part Four: What We Can Do 193
Envisioning Alternatives 195
Do One Small Thing 207
Further Learning 213
Organizations to Support 219
Sources 227
Author Biography 235
Book Group Discussion Questions 237
Also by the Author 239
