Anisah Sabur-Mumin interview, part 1, 2022-07-12

This is an oral history interview with Anisah Sabur, a long-time Coalition for Women Prisoners member-leader. It was conducted on July 12th, 2022 by Obden Mondésir and Eve Glazier and covers the years 1959-2002. Firstly, Anisah tells about her experiences and family life as up as a Black child growing up in Harlem, the Bronx and Queens in the 1960s and 1970s. The second part of the interview focuses on events and conditions surrounding her first drug-related incarceration in 1979 and her second arrest in 2000. Afterwards, Anisah explains the difficulties she faced returning home from incarceration and attempting to secure stable housing and access to services. She tells of her third arrest in 2008 and her process of contesting the false robbery accusation she faced. She discusses how she cultivated advocacy skills and relationships through her involvement with ReConnect and the CWP and how she used this knowledge and connection to advocate for better conditions during her 2008 incarceration. The third part of the interview focuses on Anisah's activism as a member of the CWP. She speaks about the relationships she formed with other CWP members and about the the advocacy campaigns she worked on: Hep C and HIV care advocacy, the Adoption and Safe Families Act amendment, an anti-shackling bill to ban shackling of incarcerated pregnant people, the H.A.L.T Solitary Confinement bill, and the Domestic Violence Survivors Justice Act. This interview is split over two files.