Hope, Love and Prison - Paperback

by Denise Braxtonbrown-Hollingsworth (Author), Denise Michelle Smith (Foreword by)

Love is the last thing anyone thinks of when imagining prison, but in this true life account, Dr. D. Braxtonbrown-Hollingsworth relates how she unexpectedly discovered real love and self-respect in a place better known for degrading one's humanity, hardening the heart and killing one's joy.

Snatched away from her family to serve a six-year term in the federal prison at Alderson, West Virginia, Braxtonbrown-Hollingsworth had to make a conscious decision; like thousands of women behind bars, the options of lesbianism and sex with male officers were on the table. Yet the choice she made not only strengthened her marriage, it also helped others realize their own strength. Based on her prison experiences and interviews with her fellow inmates, this is an honest and thoughtful testimony of the ways women survive isolation while trying to hold onto what it means to be a woman.