Sisters Outside: Radical Activists Working for Women Prisoners

The rest of the book is taken up with three dilemmas that NP activists face in their work: 1. how the overwhelmingly white, middle-class, educated activists reconcile their racial and class privilege with their incarcerated beneficiaries who are overwhelmingly poor women of color; 2. how the activists bridge the gap between themselves and the prisoners, and 3. how activists reconcile a radical agenda (prison abolition) with the need to educate and secure funding from a more conservative mainstream audience. (115) With regard to the incarcerated women themselves - who Lawston states "are the most important audience for NP"(23) - activists focus on "being a voice" and securing what the prisoners need, e.g., reading glasses, phone calls, letters of support, information on how the system works.