The Women's Resource Center (WRC) helped sponsor a three-part series of lectures and screenings about incarcerated women this week, in effort to bring attention to the often-overloaded issue.
Director of the WRC Melissa Quinby said, "The series was offered because a small group of dedicated women students wanted to bring attention to the important—and often overlooked—issue of women and incarceration."
On Tuesday, Erica King, policy associate at the University of Southern Maine's Muskie School of Public Service, gave a lecture titled "Gender Responsive Corrections."
In her lecture, King discussed women's imprisonment nationally and in Maine, and discussed new research and developments in policy and programming.
King was recommended to the WRC by Dean of First Year Students Janet Lohmann, who served on King's master's degree committee. King currently directs the Women Offender Case Management Model in Maine and has written several articles about women and prison.
On Wednesday evening, V-Day screened "What I Want my Words to Say to You," a film by Eve Ensler about female inmates.
The series concluded yesterday evening with an opening reception for an exhibition of poetry and portraits called "More than a Rap Sheet," compiled by Family Crisis Services and photographed by Christine Heinz.