Inside Out from Women’s Prisons: Resisting Punitive Drug Policies

This series of short videos about the lived experiences of women in prison for drug-related charges from the U.S., Mexico, and Indonesia highlights how punitive drug policies continue to have a disproportionate impact on women and their communities.

Below, Phyllis ‘Grandam’ Hardy, Kenya Cuevas and Grace Natalia share their lived experiences of incarceration for drug-related matters, and the work they do now to address the consequences of the carceral system in their respective countries to improve the situations of vulnerability for incarcerated and formerly incarcerated women.

These short films were produced by WOLA, the International Drug Policy Consortium, and the Women and Harm Reduction International Network.

Meet ‘Grandma’ Hardy, the “matriarch” and founding member of the U.S.-based National Council for Incarcerated and Formerly Incarcerated Women and Girls. She served 23 years and 5 months in prison for drug-related offenses, and works to end the incarceration of women and girls.

Meet Kenya Cuevas, the founder and director of Casa de las Muñecas Tiresias A. C. and Casa Hogar Paula Buenrostro, the first shelter for trans women in Latin America.

Meet Grace Natalia, member of the Women and Harm Reduction International Network and Womxn’s Voice: a feminist collective for women who use drugs.

You can also watch this longer video from the AWID Feminist Reality Festival event:

Voices from the Frontlines: Bolstering Collective Power to End the Incarceration of Women Worldwide