Nominated by
Liliana Maria
January 24, 2020
DONNA HYLTON has been deeply involved in movements for social justice around the country. She draws upon her experience imprisoned in a women's correctional facility for 27 years, with some of that time spent in solitary confinement.
During her incarceration, Donna earned an Associate of Science degree, a Bachelor of Science degree in Behavioral Sciences with a concentration in Social Psychology and a Masters of Arts degree in English Literature from Mercy College.
Since her release in 2012, Donnas work focuses on building communities through economic, racial and gender justice, and the correlation between sexual violence and abuses and victim trauma and response. 90% of women who have been abused are incarcerated, especially women of color.
Donna is a founding member of From Life to Life, a national initiative dedicated to the dismantling of the prison industrial complex. More resources are allocated to a prison system that preys upon the weak and victimized, than to education -- accelerating the school to prison pipeline.