The Story Within Us: Women Prisoners Reflect on Reading

Appendix: Study-Related Materials

appendix Study-Related Materials Racial Pseudonym Self-Identification Age Education Level Mildred African American 42 12th grade, some college Sissy African American 46 12th grade Olivia Caucasian 27 11th grade Denise black 46 12th grade Bobbie black 42 12th grade, medical   assistants’ school Melissa American Indian 27 10th grade Valhalla Caucasian 29 12th grade Jacqueline black 41 12th grade Audrey black 43 junior high school Deven white 36 12th grade Solo African American 56 associate’s degree Research Settings The North Carolina Correctional Institution for Women (NCCIW) is located in a rural setting in Raleigh, North Carolina. The facility houses women prisoners of all custody levels and control statuses, from minimum security to death row. When I was conducting my research, NCCIW housed approximately 1,200 women, and as of 2007, it housed 1,300 women. The Northeast Pre-Release Center (NEPRC) is a minimum- to mediumsecurity prison located in an urban setting in Cleveland, Ohio. The facility houses women who have been refused parole but have fewer than five years left to serve. The majority of women have been convicted of crimes such as drug selling, drug use, and theft, and 85 percent are from Cleveland. As of January 2008, NEPRC housed 579 women, of whom roughly one-half are white and one-half are black. The prison is consistently filled beyond capacity , reflecting the fact that Ohio has one of the fastest growing incarceration rates in the United States (Sabol, Couture, and Harrison 14). Study Advertisement Doing Time, Reading Crime Cultures of Reading in Women’s Prisons • Do you like to read? • Would you like to be part of a book discussion group? • Would you like to talk about women, crime, punishment, or healing? If you answered “yes” to any of these questions, you may want to participate in this study. I’m a professor at the University of Michigan, and I’m conducting research about: • books that are popular in prison • the role that reading plays in women prisoners’ lives • prisoners’ ideas about crime, punishment, and healing Volunteering for this study will involve: • participating in three tape-recorded, individual interviews • one interview will focus on your life experiences • two interviews will focus on your reading practices • reading between four and six books that we’ll select for the group discussions • participating in four to six group discussions about those books • discussing issues relating to women, crime, punishment, and healing If you choose to participate in this study, your privacy will be protected. To hear more, please attend the meeting on: Day, Date Time Location 242 Appendix Guiding Questions for Individual Interview #1 (Life History/Narrative) 1. Could you please tell me your age? Race? Marital status? Education level? 2. Can you tell me a little bit about where you were born and the people who raised you? 3. What was family life like for you? 4. What was school like for you? 5. What are some of the joys that you’ve had in your life? 6. What relationships have been important in your life? 7. Have you helped to raise any children and/or had children of your own? 8. Has violence been a part of your life in any way? 9. Have drugs or alcohol been a part of your life? 10. What was happening in your life around the time that you came to prison? 11. What has it been like for you to be in prison? 12. From your experiences, why do you think that women end up in prison? 13. Do you have any ideas about what society should do to keep more women from coming to prison? 14. What’s next for you? 15. Are there other parts of your life story that you would like to share? Guiding Questions for Individual Interview #2 (General Reading Practices) 1. How would you describe yourself as a reader? 2. What sorts of books do you like to read? 3. How do you decide which books to read? 4. Where do you get the books that you read? 5. How often, and when, do you read? 6. What is your favorite setting for reading? 7. What role, if any, did reading play in your life before you came to prison? 8. What role does reading play in your life now that you’re in prison? 9. What role, if any, does the prison library play in your life? Appendix 243 10. Why...