Lexington Control Unit for Women
The Lexington Control Unit was an experimental government prison built to house five women political prisoners. This collection contains materials related to the campaign to shut it down, its conditions and the women forced to live there.
Documents
Lexington Prison Interviews (1987)
Date: 5/1/1987Call Number: PM 184AFormat: Cass AProducers: Judy GerberCollection: Lexington Control Unit for Women
Political prisoners Alejandrina Torres, Silvia Baraldini, and Susan Rosenberg describe their living conditions at the control unit of the federal women’s prison in Lexington which opened in 1986: radical isolation, constant surveillance, sensory deprivation, no personal property, limited visits, etc.
Defined by the government as the most dangerous women in prison for their political activities in various anti-war and liberation movements, Torres, Baraldini, and Rosenberg have been subjected to a sophisticated kind of psychological torture. According to them they have been used as examples of the consequences to be expected if one challenges the hegemony of US power.
The interviews stress the importance of public pressure to have the unit closed.
Lexington Prison Interviews (1987)
Date: 5/1/1987Call Number: PM 185AFormat: Cass AProducers: Judy GerberCollection: Lexington Control Unit for Women
Same as PM 184
Political prisoners Alejandrina Torres, Silvia Baraldini, and Susan Rosenberg describe their living conditions at the control unit of the federal women’s prison in Lexington which opened in 1986: radical isolation, constant surveillance, sensory deprivation, no personal property, limited visits, etc.
Defined by the government as the most dangerous women in prison for their political activities in various anti-war and liberation movements, Torres, Baraldini, and Rosenberg have been subjected to a sophisticated kind of psychological torture. According to them they have been used as examples of the consequences to be expected if one challenges the hegemony of US power.
The interviews stress the importance of public pressure to have the unit closed.
Photograph of Susan Rosenberg, Silvia Baraldini and Alejandrina Torres
Photo taken at Lexington Penitentiary.
Buried Alive in the Lexington Women's Control Unit
Publisher: National Campaign to Abolish the Lexington Women's Control UnitFormat: PamphletCollection: Lexington Control Unit for Women
Shut down all Control Units! Conditions in the High Security Unit and what you can do.
Move Alejandrina, Susan, and Silvia to General Population
Publisher: Campaign for Amnesty and Human Rights for Political Prisoners in the USFormat: FlyerCollection: Lexington Control Unit for Women
Reproduction
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
Women Political Prisoners in the US Ad
Pages 5-6 of 6/26/1988 issue; Page 6 scanned. Full page ad prepared by Out of Control
Brainwashing in America?: The Women of Lexington Prison
Publisher: The NationDate: 6/27/1988Volume Number: 27-JunFormat: ArticleCollection: Lexington Control Unit for Women
Reproduction of article
Special Incapacitation: The Emergence of a New Correctional Facility for Women Political Prisoners
Publisher: Social JusticeYear: 1988Volume Number: Vol. 15-1Format: ArticleCollection: Lexington Control Unit for Women
Excerpt from Social Justice Vol. 15(1)
Silvia Baraldini, et al. v. Richard L. Thornburgh, Attorney General, et. al.
Publisher: United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia CircuitYear: 1989Format: Legal DocumentsCollection: Lexington Control Unit for Women
Court opinion.