In this article, the author seeks to articulate a critical feminist psychology that recognizes the relation between the State, and the imaginations, identities, and souls of everyday people of privilege, of poverty, and those who witness both. This paper is organized around five propositions linking the broad social context, including but not limited to government supports and social movements, with individual and collective critical consciousness of social arrangements. A specific research project, conducted to determine the impact of college classes for women in prison, is described. The design of this research called for both qualitative and quantitative methods, and was designed to answer the following four questions: (1) What are the fiscal costs and benefits of "providing" college to women in prison, and what are the fiscal costs and benefits of "withholding" college from women in prison?; (2) What are the personal and social effects of college in prison on students and their children?; (3) What is the impact of the college experience on the safety and management of the prison environment?; and (4) What is the impact of the college experience on the transition home from prison? Conducted over the course of three years, the research design required a quantitative analysis to assess the extent to which college reduced reincarceration rates and affected the tax burden imposed on citizens of New York State for prisons, and a qualitative analysis to determine the effects of college on the women, prison environment, their children, and their postrelease transitions. Findings indicate that college in prison dramatically reduces reincarceration rates and therefore criminal activity, and that students experience dramatic personal transformations, which they attribute to college. The paper concludes with theoretical and methodological "musings" on what the presence of an absence means for critical feminist psychology. The author offers her thoughts for a critical feminist psychology that may have to be undertaken in order to engage the presence of an absence and confront the social context that surrounds and smothers most women--poor and working class women of color, in particular. (Contains 1 table and 6 notes.)