Convicted Women Against Abuse (CWAA) is the first inmate-initiated and led group in the California prison system. They meet twice a month and provide a setting for abused women to share their past experiences of victimization and to discuss their legal cases.

Over the past twenty years, the women's efforts have resulted in some of their fellow inmates being released. Yet, the remaining CWAA members refuse to accept their status as powerless women prisoners. They choose to create new means to have their voices heard. For, their voices are important, they are also the voices of the thousands of American women who do not survive that final violent assault.