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Portland Police Chief Penny Harrington, center, in 1986 with her husband, Officer Bruce Gary Harrington, and her sister, police Capt. Roberta Webber.

Women

Michael Lloyd/The Oregonian
News Inside
Her Story
Issue 16 highlights women’s experiences in the U.S. criminal justice system.
A magazine called News Inside set against a grainy tan backdrop. Light refracted through prison bars shines onto the magazine.
Life Inside May 6, 2021
Cadets Violently Strip Searched Us As Part of Their Training. For My Pain, I Got $325.
Willette Benford was one of several incarcerated women who sued the Illinois corrections department for using mass strip searches to train cadets. A small settlement check took her back to the shame and trauma of those incidents.
By Willette Benford
The Language Project April 12, 2021
Good Intentions Don’t Blunt the Impact of Dehumanizing Words
Of course not everyone means harm when they use prison labels. But that doesn’t make the language any less damaging.
By Lisette Bamenga
Lt. Russell Hanes, left, and counselor Colleen McClay, in bright red at center, chat with women who are incarcerated at York Correctional Institution in Niantic, Conn., in August.
News October 9, 2018
More Women Are Behind Bars Now. One Prison Wants to Change That.
Connecticut’s WORTH program uses therapy, classes and mentoring to try to keep women from coming back.
By
Major Gina Clark at State Correctional Institution Phoenix in Collegeville, Penn., in October.
Life Inside October 4, 2018
Shattering the Maximum Security Ceiling
“I want to do the work that the guys do.”
by Gina Clark as told to
Portland Police Chief Penny Harrington, center, in 1986 with her husband, Officer Bruce Gary Harrington, and her sister, police Capt. Roberta Webber.
Looking Back September 5, 2018
A Police Pioneer on Her Unfinished Business
Portland’s first female chief, Penny Harrington, recalls the steep climb to the top.
By
Commentary January 24, 2018
How Post-Prison Reentry Programs Fail Queer Women
Having a man counts as a plan in some reentry programs.
Erin Kerrison
News November 9, 2017
The Unique Sexual Harassment Problem Female Prison Workers Face
When women report abuse from the men in their custody.
By
Vanessa Thompson, an inmate at Indiana Women’s Prison, proposed allowing incarcerated women to earn sweat equity to gain ownership of a home when released.
Feature November 1, 2017
Building Toward a Future
The unique prison re-entry plan conceived by — and for — women.
By
News February 25, 2016
Listen to Our First Collaboration with “This American Life”
“An Anatomy of Doubt,” a young woman’s story of rape and redemption, debuts Friday.
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