“Ain’t Nobody About to Trap me”: The Violence of Multi-System Collusion and Entrapment for Incarcerated Disabled Girls of Color

Abstract

ABSTRACT Incarcerated disabled Girls of Color reside and exist within a nexus of systems that continually entrap them through the ongoing use of carceral logics. Utilizing interviews from a larger qualitative study, this article centers the lived experiences of disabled Girls of Color by interrogating the collusive partnerships between schools, child “welfare,” and other related systems in entrapping and criminalizing them. The narratives shared by the incarcerated disabled Girls of Color highlight the role of schools in perpetuating state induced entrapment, how multi-system collusion makes carceral and state-sanctioned protection systems indistinguishable, and showcase the creative ways that Girls of Color resist and subvert confinement and entrapment within carceral apparatuses. Ultimately, this article recognizes how multiple systems are set up to trap incarcerated disabled Girls of Color through collusive relations. However, through forged connections, economies, and the girls’ savvy and ingenuity, their experiences remind us that ‘nobody about to trap’ them fully.