March 3, 2011 - 4:44pm
SafeHouse candlelight vigil aims to illuminate issues of domestic abuse
BY KATE HUMMER
A close-knit crowd gathered for a candle light vigil held by the SafeHouse Center in Washtenaw County last night to recognize and support women who have been victims of domestic abuse.
Carol Jacobsen, a professor of Art & Design and women’s studies at the University and director of the Michigan Women’s Justice and Clemency Project — an organization that works to free women in prison who were convicted of murder after acting in self-defense — shed light on the bleak outlook of women who have been victims of domestic abuse and have been forced to defend themselves from their partners.
According to Jacobsen, about 120 of 10,000 women in Michigan’s Huron Valley Correctional Facility are incarcerated because they have acted in self-defense after being abused.
At the vent Jacobsen spoke about how the community as well as the Michigan Women’s Justice and Clemency Project can take action to lower these statistics.
One way to advocate for change is to urge Democratic Gov. Jennifer Granholm to reduce the severity of the women’s sentences, Jacobsen said.
“We’re asking Governor Granholm to commute their sentences before she leaves office at the end of this year because they receive neither equal protection from law enforcement nor fair trials that present abuse in their defense,” she said.
Jacobsen went on to say discuss the flaws of Michigan’s law enforcement system by describing a scenario in which a previously battered woman stabbed her abuser who was choking her. After stabbing him, she attempted to administer CPR until the ambulance arrived, but her abuser died.
This woman, Jacobsen explained, was convicted of second-degree murder and sentenced to16 to 30 years in prison.
She added that this case, like many others, did not fall under the self-defense law because the law is defined “according to the male experience.”
The injustices also permeate the correctional facilities themselves. Jacobsen said young lesbians at the Huron Valley Correctional Facility who experienced domestic abuse in their past are being targeted by the facility’s guards who harass them and even hand them razor blades to suggest committing suicide.
Regardless of the efforts of the Michigan Women’s Justice and Clemency Project to help victimized women get out of prison, most of these women are actually granted parole because the state cannot afford to finance their imprisonment.
However, Jacobsen said their freedom does not remedy Michigan’s flawed prison system.
But these unfortunate circumstances have not diminished the heartfelt endeavors of activists and advocates in the movement against domestic and sexual violence, Jacobsen said.
Laurie Cloutier-Lee, a program manager at the SafeHouse Center, works with organizations devoted to aiding domestic and sexual violence victims.
During the vigil, Cloutier-Lee described a touching story about a woman who was pushed to commit criminal acts by the desire to support her children as a single mother and her desperation to escape multiple male abusers in her life.
“Nothing condones (criminal) activity,” Cloutier-Lee said. “But I want you to think beyond the boundary (of the law). Sometimes people don’t have a chance.”
Tears welled in the eyes of the old, young, male and female participants who huddled in a circle as Lee revealed the ending of the woman’s story.
“She is very strong, she’s very smart, she’s very loving, she’s very empathetic. She’s an activist, she’s a manager and she’s me. This is my life,” Cloutier-Lee said. “I can’t tell you what it means to me to finally be in a place in my life where I can help facilitate some change.”
After Cloutier-Lee’s testament, Gina Fedock, a social worker at Michigan State University, read a poem she wrote about battered women who have been incarcerated. As she read, the roughly 20 participants in the circle lit white candles.
Pastor Coqui Conkey of the Church of the Good Shepherd in Ann Arbor then gave a closing statement, during which the candles flickered and provided warmth despite the chilling wind and stories.
