For Dear Life

For Dear Life chronicles feminist and artist Carol Jacobsen's deep commitment to the causes of justice and human rights, and focuses a critical lens on an American criminal-legal regime that imparts racist, gendered, and classist modes of punishment to women lawbreakers. Jacobsen's tireless work with and for women prisoners is charted in this rich assemblage of images and texts that reveal the collective strategies she and the prisoners have employed to receive justice. The book gives evidence that women's lawbreaking is often an effort to survive gender-based violence. The faces, letters, and testimonies of dozens of incarcerated women with whom Jacobsen has worked present a visceral yet politicized chorus of voices against the criminal-legal systems that fail us all. Their voices are joined by those of leading feminist scholars in essays that illuminate the arduous methods of dissent that Jacobsen and the others have employed to win freedom for more than a dozen women sentenced to life imprisonment, and to free many more from torturous prison conditions. The book is a document to Jacobsen's love and lifelong commitment to creating feminist justice and freedom, and to the efficacy of her artistic, legal, and extralegal political actions on behalf of women.

For Dear Life relateaza angajamentul profund al feministului si artistului Carol Jacobsen fata de cauzele justitiei si drepturilor omului si pune accentul pe o lentila critica asupra unui regim penal-legal american care confera moduri de pedeapsa rasiste, de gen si clasiste femeilor care incalca legea. Munca neobosita a lui Jacobsen cu si pentru femeile detinute este prezentata in acest bogat ansamblu de imagini si texte care dezvaluie strategiile colective pe care ea si prizonierii le-au folosit pentru a primi dreptate.