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Shackled and bleeding from her ankles while waiting for hours in the open on a tarmac in just a T-shirt and pants with the temperature in the 30s, flying the Justice Prisoner and Alien Transportation System (nicknamed Con Air after the 1997 movie) Litwok arrived at a Federal Women’s prison and had no idea what life had in store for her. There she experienced first-hand what it was like to be behind bars. While in prison she wrote an article that brought attention to the death of a fellow incarcerated woman due to the absence of medical care. Her unapologetic voice as an advocate for other women and LGBTQ+ people and as an open lesbian made her a target. As a result, she was shackled and put into solitary confinement. Litwok walked out of prison homeless and penniless but her advocacy continued. She was invited to speak for the White House Panel on LGBTQ+ Criminalization. Litwok founded Witness to Mass Incarceration which was born from her struggles inside the federal prison system.

She is a member of formerly incarcerated-led organizations who focus on ending mass incarceration, including The National Council for Incarcerated and Formerly Incarcerated Women and Girls; Formerly Incarcerated and Convicted People’s Movement (FICPFM); the National LGBT/HIV Criminal Justice Working Group, and the NYC Justice-Involved Coalition.

Litwok quickly became and is a respected speaker on the subject of mass incarceration. She introduces herself as a “Formerly Incarcerated Jewish Lesbian.” Her story has touched audiences at universities, colleges, community and LGBTQ+ centers, synagogues and other places of worship, and at the White House for their panel on LGBTQ Criminalization. In 2019, Litwok was designated by the Jewish Women’s Foundation of New York to be included as one of the Collective, a group of ten Jewish women social entrepreneurs. In 2015, she was chosen to be part of the inaugural cohort of JustLeadershipUSA.

Litwok has written numerous articles concerning mass incarceration, including a focus on solitary confinement, being an older person in prison, sexual harassment in prison, and surviving confinement, in addition to issues of aging and being queer in prison. These articles have been published in TheNation.com, The Forward.com and talkpoverty.org. Litwok has an MA in Psychology from Temple University.