New Report: Maximizing Time, Maximizing Punishment
The Lived Experience of Long-Term Sentences in California Women’s Prisons
LOS ANGELES, CA – The University of California Sentencing Project (UCSP), in collaboration with the California Coalition for Women Prisoners (CCWP) and the UCLA Center for the Study of Women|Streisand Center, is proud to announce the release of its groundbreaking report: “Maximizing Time, Maximizing Punishment: The Lived Experience of Long-Term Sentences in California Women’s Prisons.”
The UCSP, founded in 2019 as a research collaboration between CCWP and the University of California, aims to shed light on extreme prison sentencing through participatory research approaches that center the experiences of individuals directly impacted by incarceration. This inaugural report, “Maximizing Time, Maximizing Punishment,” represents a significant step toward understanding the profound consequences of long-term sentences in California’s women’s prisons.
The report emerges from the invaluable insights of twenty-two collaborators, all of whom have either served or faced long-term sentences in California’s women’s prisons. Through in-depth interviews and focus groups, the study highlights five critical themes:
- Unrecognized as a Victim or Survivor: The report exposes the criminal legal system’s systematic failure to acknowledge that many individuals’ criminalization is a result of their survival instincts and traumatic experiences. This lack of recognition fuels the imposition of extreme sentences.
- Traumatized by Criminal Legal Procedure: The study reveals that the criminal legal process, characterized by racialized, gendered, and sexualized violence, generates and intensifies trauma for incarcerated individuals. This trauma hinders their ability to effectively participate in their own defense, perpetuating the cycle of injustice.
- Hanging in the Balance of Racist, Sexist Law and Order Politics: The report delves into the hidden complexities of sentencing, exposing how it is not merely a judicial event but rather entwined with the broader web of political actors and structural forces that perpetuate racial and gender biases in sentencing outcomes.
- Sentenced by Prison and Parole Authorities: Prison authorities, prison guards, and Board of Parole Hearings (BPH) commissioners play significant roles in extending the duration and punitive effects of sentencing.
- Sentenced to a Lifetime: The harmful impacts of long-term prison sentences are embodied; relational; life-long; and multigenerational.
“Maximizing Time, Maximizing Punishment” is an urgent call to action for reform in California’s criminal justice system. It urges policymakers, advocates, and the public to recognize the human toll of long-term sentences and the urgent need for change.
Jane Dorotik, a CCWP member who served twenty years of a twenty-five-to-life sentence before her conviction was overturned, initiated the UCSP. Her personal experience and dedication to justice have driven the project’s mission to give voice to the silenced.
“The UC Sentencing Project is the cornerstone of CSW|Streisand Center’s Anti-Carceral Feminism research stream,” says Grace Hong, Director of the CSW|Streisand Center. “Based on long-term, reciprocal organizing relationships between incarcerated and formerly incarcerated people and university researchers—some of whom are themselves system-impacted—UCSP epitomizes the kind of community-led research that CSW|Streisand Center endeavors to advance.”
This report marks the beginning of an essential conversation on the need for compassionate, equitable, and evidence-based policies that prioritize rehabilitation and reintegration rather than punitive sentences.
The complete report is available for download on the CSW|Streisand Center website (https://csw.ucla.edu/research/feminist-anti-carceral-studies/uc-sentencing-project/) UCSP website (www.ucsentencingproject.org) and the CCWP website (www.womenprisoners.org).
About UCSP:
The University of California Sentencing Project (UCSP) is a research collaboration between the California Coalition for Women Prisoners (CCWP) and an interdisciplinary group of faculty, researchers, and graduate and undergraduate students affiliated with the University of California. UCSP conducts research on extreme prison sentencing in collaboration with directly impacted individuals.
About CCWP:
The California Coalition for Women Prisoners (CCWP) is a grassroots organization that advocates for the rights and wellbeing of women and transgender prisoners in California. CCWP is dedicated to challenging and ending the institutional violence imposed on imprisoned people.
About UCLA Center for the Study of Women|Streisand Center:
The UCLA Center for the Study of Women|Streisand Center advances research on gender, sexuality, and women’s issues, promoting interdisciplinary collaborations and community engagement to address pressing social challenges.
