SWOP Behind Bars

SWOP Behind Bars provides services and support for the criminalized and stigmatized sex worker community. We are a lifeline for Sex Workers in distress or looking to assistance connecting to other members of our community. SBB supports the full decriminalization of adult consensual sex work and we are close allies to those fighting for the end of cash bail.

In the early days of sex worker activism, sex-positive feminist Margo St James sued the state of California and loudly insisted on improving programs and services for prostitutes in prison. 20 years later, we still loudly protest the criminalization of sex work and try to minimize the harms done under this system.

There are so many sex workers in prisons and jails across the US, and they need to know we are here for them. Many do not identify as sex workers, and yet it only takes a cursory search of the Department of Corrections websites to recognize that there is a large incidence of prostitution convictions.

Incarcerated sex workers, whether they self-identify or not, do not know about the vibrant sex worker community that is rising up in the US, and we think they should. Even if they choose never to self-identify, we want to give those who have been incarcerated on prostitution convictions human rights information based on the advances of the sex worker rights movement.

We want this population to understand certain facts, such as that in August of 2015, Amnesty International voted to recommend full decriminalization for consensual sex work