Radical Care: Stories of Women Leaders in Corrections

With the “Hear, Here” series, we aim to facilitate conversations around new research in the humanities. Faculty fellows at the Institute for the Humanities will discuss a part of their current project in a short talk followed by a Q & A session.

About this talk:
Women’s ascension into corrections leadership parallels the unprecedented expansion of the U.S. prison-industrial complex. Yet, as women’s labor contributes to the growth of carceral systems, leaders strive to be changemakers, spearheading reforms and humanizing geographies. Weaving together composite narratives drawn from in-depth interviews, this talk situates the work of women leaders as a practice of radical care, exploring the potential and challenge of making meaningful change within harsh and unyielding institutions and systems.

Francine Banner is a 2025-26 Norman Freehling Visiting Fellow at the Institute for the Humanities and Professor of Behavioral Sciences, U-M Dearborn.