On Saturday, September 26, the Zanan Group of Northern California organized a panel discussion of former women prisoners from the US and Iran. Below are the video link and bios of the speakers. The Prison journal, Captured Words, Free Thoughts has also published a report about this panel. The link to that is also below.
Report published in Captured Words, Free Thoughts:
https://www.academia.edu/44683404/Captured_Words_Free_Thoughts_Volume_17_Winter_2021.
Video link:
Please use this passcode after you click on the link below: U4V*bI36
Speakers:
Romarilyn Ralston: Program Director of Project Rebound at California State University, Fullerton, a program that supports the higher education and successful reintegration of the formerly incarcerated. She served 23 years at the California Institution for Women (CIW) and is a long-time member and organizer with the California Coalition for Women Prisoners (CCWP). Incarcerated at 24 and released at 47, Romarilyn has seen and survived the effects of extreme sentencing and medical neglect in prison. Since her release, Romarilyn was a Women’s Policy Institute Fellow, a volunteer with the Ferguson Commission, and an organizer with the Formerly Incarcerated, Convicted People & Families Movement (FICPFM) voting rights campaign in Florida. Romarilyn is a prison abolitionist tirelessly advocating for the women she left behind in prison in California, many serving life without the possibility of parole.
Fatemeh Masjedi: an Iranian academic historian and activist based in Berlin. Member of the Alliance of Middle Eastern and North African Socialists. She was a political prisoner in Iran because of her women’s rights activities in one million signatures campaign.
Shahla Talebi is a social cultural anthropologist, currently an associate professor of Religious