Columbia Center for Oral History Portal > Oral history interview with Iris Donita Bowen, 2018Biographical NoteIris Donita Bowen was born in Brooklyn, New York and was raised in East New York. She was arrested for transporting drugs and spent 16 years in Bedford Hills Correctional Facility, Albion Correctional Facility, and Bayview Correctional Facility, all located in New York State. After her release, she earned her bachelor's and master's degrees and is now a licensed social worker. She uses her experience in prison and afterward to help formerly incarcerated people find employment, housing and education
Scope and ContentsIris Donita Bowen discusses her childhood experiences growing up in East New York and the conditions and relationships leading up to her involvement with drugs and incarceration. She talks about being in an abusive relationship and the effects of domestic violence on her life. Bowen discusses differences between various facilities she was in, including access to education and therapy services at Bedford Hills Correctional Facility, and violence and punishment at Albion. She discusses corrections officers impregnating inmates and feeling double-victimized by the system. She also talks about rebuilding relationships with family after her release, and the effects of incarceration on children, including her thoughts on mass incarceration and the larger criminal justice system as an attack on the Black family. She discusses time outside prison working with formerly incarcerated people attempting to rebuild their lives despite systemic obstacles, including finding work, housing, and banking. Bowen also discusses the cycles of violence she has seen and how childhood experiences with sexual abuse can lead people to violence as an adult
SubjectsAccess ConditionsCopyright by Iris Donita Bowen. The Trustees of Columbia University in the City of New York hold a non-exclusive license to enable library activities
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