"This book is a groundbreaking addition to the fields of criminology, women's studies, and Latina/o studies, as well as to the broader disciplines of qualitative sociology and cultural anthropology. In this project the author allows the testimonials to speak for themselves, providing a chilling composite of the typical pinta, with emphasis on the patterns of abuse and exploitation that presaged their crimes and punishments. The author also marks patterns of individual and systemic abuse alongside information that illuminates the pintas' agency. Significantly this book goes against the grain of work on prisoners because it is easy to read and free of jargon."

—Ben V. Olguín, Associate Professor of Cultural Studies and Comparative American Literatures, University of Texas at San Antonio

This first comprehensive study of Chicanas encountering the U.S. criminal justice system is set within the context of the international war on drugs as witnessed at street level in Chicana/o barrios. Chicana Lives and Criminal Justice uses oral history to chronicle the lives of twenty-four Chicana pintas (prisoners/former prisoners) repeatedly arrested and incarcerated for non-violent, low-level economic and drug-related crimes. It also provides the first documentation of the thirty-four-year history of Sybil Brand Institute, Los Angeles' former women's jail.

In a time and place where drug war policies target people of color and their communities, drug-addicted Chicanas are caught up in an endless cycle of police abuse, arrest, and incarceration. They feel the impact of mandatory sentencing laws, failing social services and endemic poverty, violence, racism, and gender discrimination. The women in this book frankly discuss not only their jail experiences, but also their family histories, involvement with gangs, addiction to drugs, encounters with the juvenile and adult criminal justice systems, and their successful and unsuccessful attempts to recover from addiction and reconstitute fractured families. The Chicanas' stories underscore the amazing resilience and determination that have allowed many of the women to break the cycle of abuse. Díaz-Cotto also makes policy recommendations for those who come in contact with Chicanas/Latinas caught in the criminal justice system.