Name of Host Organization: Florida Institutional Legal Services, Inc.

City, State: Gainesville, FL

Issue area: Prisoners' Rights, Women's Rights

Sponsor: The Florida Bar Foundation

Virginia is conducting an outreach, education and advocacy project to address the needs of women incarcerated throughout Florida with host organization Florida Institutional Legal Services (FILS). Through direct contact with women prisoners, Virginia is: documenting the effects that the security, mental health, medical and education systems designed around the needs of men are having on incarcerated women; creating materials to empower them to become advocates for their rights and make their voices heard; and exploring trends that may lead to systemic challenges of prison policies. FILS, a statewide legal services program providing holistic advocacy to institutionalized persons with compelling civil rights claims, advocates for broad improvements in prison conditions. Virginia's project will highlight the gender-specific issues of women prisoners, ensuring that the effects of prison policies on women are not overshadowed merely because they represent a small percentage of the overall prison population. For two years, Virginia volunteered as an intern and summer fellow with FILS, assisting with research, discovery and prisoner outreach in pending cases involving inhumane conditions and practices in Florida's prisons, as well as conducting outreach to women prisoners. After focusing on feminist theory while completing her undergraduate degree at Georgetown University, Virginia pursued a law degree and a master's of arts in women's studies at the University of Florida. Her master's thesis, "A Feminist Re-Vision: A Case for a New Perspective on the Law from the Narratives of Incarcerated Women," was inspired by her experiences visiting prisoners while working with FILS.