A groundbreaking collective work of history by a group of incarcerated scholars that resurrects the lost truth about the first womens prisonA Ms. Magazine Most Anticipated BookWhat if prisoners were to write the history of their own prison What might that tell themand all of usamp8212about the roots of the system that incarcerates so many millions of Americansamp10In this groundbreaking and revelatory volume a group of incarcerated women at the Indiana Womenamp8217s Prison have assembled a chronicle of what was originally known as the Indiana Reformatory Institute for Women and Girls founded in 1873 as the first totally separate prison for women in the United States. In an effort that has already made the national news and which was awarded the Indiana History Outstanding Project for 2016 by the Indiana Historical Society the Indiana Womenamp8217s Prison History Project worked under conditions of sometimesextreme duress excavating documents navigating draconian limitations on what information incarcerated scholars could see or access and grappling with the unprecedented challenges stemming from coauthors living on either side of the prison walls.amp10With contributions from ten incarcerated or formerly incarcerated women the result is like nothing ever produced in the historical literature a document that is at once a shocking revelation of the roots of Americaamp8217s first prison for women and also a meditation on incarceration itself. Who Would Believe a Prisoner is a book that will be read and studied for years to come as the nation continues to grapple with the crisis of mass incarceration.