Fighting for her Future: Reflections on Human Rights 1 and Women's Prisons in the Netherlands

Part of a larger study of race and gender politics in women's prisons within a transnational, comparative context, this paper is based on a series of interviews conducted with imprisoned women in the Netherlands. We argue that in relation to the US system, the relatively progressive character of the Dutch prison system emanates from its consistent deployment of human rights principles in structuring conditions of custody. We further suggest that such a human rights perspective, combined with strategies of prison reduction and eventual abolition can help to radicalise prison activism in the US.