Search Help

How does this work?
There are many ways to search the collections of the Freedom Archives. Below is a brief guide that will help you conduct effective searches. Note, anytime you search for anything in the Freedom Archives, the first results that appear will be our digitized items. Information for items that have yet to be scanned or yet to be digitized can still be viewed, but only by clicking on the show link that will display the hidden (non-digitized) items. If you are interested in accessing these non-digitized materials, please email info@freedomarchives.org.
Exploring the Collections without the Search Bar
Under the heading Browse By Collection, you’ll notice most of the Freedom Archives’ major collections. These collections have an image as well as a short description of what you’ll find in that collection. Click on that image to instantly explore that specific collection.
Basic Searching
You can always type what you’re looking for into the search bar. Certain searches may generate hundreds of results, so sometimes it will help to use quotation marks to help narrow down your results. For instance, searching for the phrase Black Liberation will generate all of our holdings that contain the words Black and Liberation, while searching for “Black Liberation” (in quotation marks) will only generate our records that have those two words next to each other.
Advanced Searching
The Freedom Archives search site also understands Boolean search logic. Click on this link for a brief tutorial on how to use Boolean search logic. Our search function also understands “fuzzy searches.” Fuzzy searches utilize the (*) and will find matches even when users misspell words or enter in only partial words for the search. For example, searching for liber* will produce results for liberation/liberate/liberates/etc.
Keyword Searches
You’ll notice that under the heading KEYWORDS, there are a number of words, phrases or names that describe content. Sometimes these are also called “tags.” Clicking on these words is essentially the same as conducting a basic search.

Search Results

Reflections on Five Years of the Lockdown Reflections on Five Years of the Lockdown
Publisher: Committee to End the Marion LockdownYear: 1988Format: MonographCollection: Committee to End the Marion Lockdown
Collection of short letters prisoners detailing their experiences at Marion.
Protestors Confront Head of Bureau of Prisons Protestors Confront Head of Bureau of Prisons
Author: Nancy KurshanPublisher: Committee to End the Marion LockdownYear: 1988Format: MonographCollection: Committee to End the Marion Lockdown
Personal account of the Quinlin protest at the 40th annual meeting of the American Society of Criminology.
The Marion Penitentiary: It Should by Opened Up, Not Locked Down The Marion Penitentiary: It Should by Opened Up, Not Locked Down
Author: Steve WhitmanPublisher: Southern IllinoisianYear: 1988Format: ArticleCollection: Committee to End the Marion Lockdown
Reproduction of 8/27/1988 opinion piece on the Bureau of Prison's denial of third party inspections inside USP Marion.
Why Not Glasnost? Why Not Glasnost?
Author: Tom WickerPublisher: New York TimesYear: 1988Format: ArticleCollection: Committee to End the Marion Lockdown
Reproduction of 6/21/1988 article on Deputy Secretary of State John C. Whitehead's denial of four Cuban penal experts visas to visit a number of prisons in the United States.
United States of America: The High Security Unit, Lexington Federal Prison, Kentucky United States of America: The High Security Unit, Lexington Federal Prison, Kentucky
Publisher: Amnesty InternationalDate: 8/1988Volume Number: AugustFormat: ExcerptCollection: Lexington Control Unit for Women
Reproduction of summary published August 1988
United States of America: The High Security Unit, Lexington Federal Prison, Kentucky United States of America: The High Security Unit, Lexington Federal Prison, Kentucky
Publisher: Amnesty InternationalDate: 8/1988Volume Number: AugustFormat: ReportCollection: Lexington Control Unit for Women
Reproduction of full summary and report.
A Living Tomb A Living Tomb
Publisher: National Campaign to Abolish the Lexington Women's Control UnitYear: 1988Format: FlyerCollection: Lexington Control Unit for Women
Originally published in The Nation 3/26/1988
National Campaign to Abolish the Lexington HSU National Campaign to Abolish the Lexington HSU
Publisher: National Campaign to Abolish the Lexington Women's Control UnitDate: 6/18/1988Volume Number: 18-JunFormat: Meeting Minutes and NotesCollection: Lexington Control Unit for Women
Updates as of 6/18/1988
Special Incapacitation: The Emergence of a New Correctional Facility for Women Political Prisoners Special Incapacitation: The Emergence of a New Correctional Facility for Women Political Prisoners
Author: Gilda ZwermanPublisher: Social JusticeYear: 1988Volume Number: Vol. 15-1Format: ArticleCollection: Lexington Control Unit for Women
Excerpt from Social Justice Vol. 15(1)
There Are Women Political Prisoners in the US There Are Women Political Prisoners in the US
Publisher: Out of Control: Committee to Shut Down Lexington Control UnitYear: 1988Format: FlyerCollection: Lexington Control Unit for Women
Information on Lexington Control Unit and the women imprisoned there.