This is a guest post by the team at View Magazine.
The View Magazine is a campaigning platform and social enterprise, which is by and for women in the criminal justice system. We give a voice to women who may be silenced by imprisonment and the ensuing social death. We publish paid content from incarcerated women and those on license in the community, with particular emphasis on those from minority ethnic backgrounds and women who have experienced domestic or sexual abuse. We are raising public awareness of the challenges these women face in the criminal justice system and how being a victim of abuse can exacerbate these challenges.
Our most recent report, We are Invisible, highlights the high proportion of women from Black and minority ethnic backgrounds who have experienced domestic abuse in the criminal justice system and been unfairly ignored. We are examining that place where women who have survived abuse and trauma are being let down by the very services meant to protect them, and how they end up criminalised.
We are currently raising funds to explore the issues raised in this report further. The results of our findings will be used to inform better practice amongst courts, the police, caseworkers and legal practitioners and add to the growing body of evidence that prison is rarely the answer for women. There are better community-based solutions, that need to be properly funded. We are influencing the future for women in prison by advocating for rehabilitation and reintegration to end the cycle of offence and incarceration.
Our summer issue includes guest writers such as Zoe Buckman, Ruby Tandoh and Bee Wilson. Zoe Buckman is a former model who is now an artist and activist who explores themes of feminism, mortality and equality when talking about domestic violence through the concept of ‘ride or die’.
Content by and for women prisoners is uncensored, shining a light on the conditions in women’s prisons and the daily injustices that they face. All content submitted by prisoners is paid for and is available for the prisoner to spend upon release for resettlement purposes. Any women in prison in England can also get a copy of the magazine, and at no charge. The magazine is available at 93 outlets in England and by subscription from the link on this page.
Please support the vital work that we are doing by donating and sharing this blog amongst your networks.
