Caught Up in the System How Women Who Have Been Incarcerated Negotiate Power

This article discusses the results of a qualitative study of nine women who had been incarcerated and how they negotiated power structures in both the prison system and the educational systems of public schools prior to incarceration and adult education classrooms both during and after incarceration. Findings focus on how the women defined the system and how they responded to the power issues inherent within the penal system, how the women brokered power in their education experiences, and how the women negotiated the resource management of powerful others.