Dyke Jails

The documentary 'Cárceles Bolleras' (Dyke Jails) shows women's gender discrimination in prisons and how lesbian desire could be a kind of resistance against the penitentiary institution. Our starting point is that prisons are a favorable environment for the transformation of desire. In prison, some women discover novel forms of sexuality that form an enclave of freedom. This enclave constitutes an escape as well as a form of resistance to a heterosexual and controlling institution, such as a prison. Some sense of deviant forms of sexuality in prison has been widespread, yet with little knowledge of the extent and also in what way these types of sexuality have been acted out. Cinema and the media convey, above all, the existence of forced sexual relations in mens' prisons and the abuse of power in all of them.

Nevertheless, a different reality exists in parallel: Erotic-affectionate relationships between women, often satisfactory, in women's prisons. We reached out to former female inmates willing to share their experiences with us. We were not allowed access to the prisons, thus we reproduced the experiences through reports of former prisoners as well as researchers who participated in this documentary.

Trailer...

"Cárceles Bolleras" Directed by Cecilia Montagut. Trailer from cecilia montagut on Vimeo.