Works of Justice 119 - Erika Cohn

PEN America

In this Works of Justice episode, we had the pleasure of speaking with Erika Cohn, Peabody and Emmy Award-winning director and producer. Her newest documentary, "Belly of the Beast," exposes modern-day eugenics and reproductive injustice in California women's prisons. This moving and informative interview followed a private screening of the film for our Prison Writing Mentor community. Erika and Mery Concepción, Prison and Justice Writing Volunteer Coordinator, spoke about the implications of forced sterilization behind bars, how incarceration is itself a tool for eugenics and population control, and the challenges of defining consent in a space characterized by its lack of autonomy. They also discussed what it means to produce a trauma-informed film, and how to navigate and think creatively about obstacles presented by censorship and lack of access to information. This podcast episode was written and hosted by Mery Concepción and produced by Frances Keohane, with help from Caits Meissner and Robert Pollock.