: To start, I would love to talk to you about what first brought your attention to the issue of forced sterilization in jails, prisons and detention centers?I first came across this through meeting Cynthia Chandler. In 2010, a mutual friend introduced us and I was really inspired by her compassionate release work.
As a Jewish woman who grew up in Salt Lake City, the phrase “never again” was always profoundly in the back of my mind. When I learned about this different kind of genocide that was happening through imprisonment, through forced sterilizations behind bars, I knew that I wanted to get involved. That changed when I met Kelli. I had heard about her incredible activism and had actually edited some videos of her talking about what had happened for Justice Now. When I met her, she was working in Los Angeles as a community interventionists doing domestic violence prevention and gang intervention work.
And yes, absolutely. I think that when we talk about imprisonment, we need to talk about imprisonment as how it destroys the basic human right to family. One of those ways is through intentional sterilization, but also sterilization as a form of, when we lock people up, they’re therefore unable to have children. And I think it was the Kenosha sheriff this fall who talked about imprisonment as a form of sterilization, as a way to keep men from having children..