Welcome to Breaking Down Patriarchy. I'm Amy McPhee All the Best. Today I'd like to begin by sharing a quote from American feminist, political activist, philosopher, academic, and author Angela Davis. She said, quote, prisons do not disappear social problems. They disappear human beings. Homelessness, unemployment, drug addiction,

mental illness, and illiteracy are only a few of the problems that disappear from public view

when the human beings contending with them are relegated to cages." I have been wanting to learn

more about the prison system for years.

The punitive system of locking people up when they make mistakes seems very connected to patriarchy to me.

And I'm specifically interested in women's prisons and how incarceration affects women's lives.

So you can imagine, I was thrilled to meet a classmate in my PhD program who has

expertise in this very area, and she agreed to join me today. Her name's Emily Warnocky,

and I'm so excited to have you here, Emily. Emily Warnocky is a third-year PhD student in

educational leadership and policy at the University of Utah, where her research centers on

access and equity in post-secondary education in prison. She intends to explore the experiences of

formerly incarcerated mothers who pursued higher education while incarcerated, and how this

experience informs the ways that they navigate motherhood and education post-release for her

dissertation. Emily currently works as a graduate research assistant with the research collaborative

on higher education in prison. She's currently involved in developing a student center inside a

women's designated prison that is led by currently incarcerated students through the Utah

Prison Education Project.

Drawing from feminist and intersectional frameworks, her work seeks to challenge dominant narratives

about incarceration, motherhood, and educational justice. I also want to say that Emily and I had

planned to record in person today, but due to a child care shuffle,

Emily has her adorable toddler, Ivy, with her today. So if you hear cute noises, just know that

that's Ivy. And we decided to include her as a feminist choice to normalize the balance of

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