The National Campaign
MOTHERS IN PRISON, CHILDREN IN CRISIS
CAMPAIGN'95

JusticeWorks Community is launching a national movement in ten major cities to end the incarceration of mothers with dependent children by advocating cost-effective and enforceable alternatives.

On May 12, 1995, the Friday before Mother's Day, activists in ten major cities will rally on the steps of local courthouses to highlight the devastating impact of incarcerating more and more mothers, the majority of whom have committed non-violent crimes and are women of color from poor communities. The campaign will release a policy statement demanding that alternatives to incarceration become the sentencing standard for mothers with dependent children, which will be delivered to judges following the rally.

Participants in the local rallies will include: exprisoners and their children, social justice advocates, service providers, members of the clergy and religious community, elected officials, and academicians. Highlighting the enormous social and economic costs of incarcerating women, activists will carry large, colorful placards with a woman's name, number of children, crime, length of sentence, and cost to taxpayers, and will distribute brochures and handmade origami flowers with remembrance ribbons.

FACTS:

• There are more than 90,000 women in prisons and jails in the United States.
  
  
• Women are the fastest growing population in prisons.
  
  
• Seventy percent of the women in state prisons are serving sentences for nonviolent crimes.
  
  
• Two-thirds of the women are mothers of two or more dependent children.
  
  
• New York State prisons cost $30,000 per year; NYC jails cost $59,000.
  
  
• Foster care for each prisoner's child can cost an additional $20,000 per year.

And the cost to human lives is devastating. Families are destroyed, children are lost in the foster care system, and communities are ripped apart. Many women are incarcerated for drug-related offenses, victims of the mandatory sentencing laws. These families and the larger community would be better served by drug treatment programs, job training, and community service than by wasteful incarceration.

The organizing sites are: Atlanta, GA, Prison Ministries with Women, Inc.; Baltimore, MD, Grace Presbyterian Church; Boston, MA, City Mission Society Prison Project and AIM in Boston; Chicago, IL, Prisoner and Family Connection and CLAIM; Denver, CO, Empowerment Program Services for Women; Detroit, MI, Women Arise and Team for Justice; Indianapolis, IN, Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) and A New Beginning; New York, NY, interfaith Partnership For Criminal Justice; Sacramento,CA, Options for Recovery for Women and Children; San Antonio,TX, Living Proof.

JusticeWorks Community, the national campaign headquarters, is a Brooklyn, New York, based nonprofit organization that serves women prisoners, exprisoners and their families while educating and organizing the public to make changes in the criminal justice system. JusticeWorks provides employment training and transition support to women who have been incarcerated in New York City jails and New York State prisons, and directs nationwide initiatives to foster citizen accountability for criminal justice policy and the social causes of crime.