Mothers in Prison
Mothers in Prison
When a man is arrested, he is usually confident that someone is caring for
his children. When a women is arrested, she does not have this assurance.
Because women are usually a child's primary caregiver, a mother in prison
suffers both pain of separation and concern for her children's care. Children
are unfairly punished for the crime of the mother, which adds to the mother's
punishment. Her children may be removed from home, school and community;
they are often shuttled from one care-giver to another; they are deprived
of seeing parents and siblings; they are often left on their own to comprehend
what is happening to their family. Because having a relative in jail or
prison is a social stigma, many children try to hide or keep it secret,
compounding its impact on their emotional development. Without community
support, the impact on the children of women prisoners is anger, alienation,
hostility toward authority, failure in school, feelings of abandonment,
and overall dysfunction.
Alternatives to Incarceration
Alternatives have been legislatively endorsed for more than 20 years. In
spite of the evidence that alternatives are cost-effective, they are underfunded.
In spite of the evidence that alternatives are enforceable and have a significant
effect on recidivism, they are underutilized. The guiding principle behind
alternatives has been that prisons are destructive to human lives and the
community. Prison should be the last resort, used only for the most violent
and dangerous citizens in the community. Too often, jail and prison are
the first community response to complicated social problems like addiction
and poverty. Alternatives to incarceration provide creative responses which
serve the real needs of the individual and the community. Support Family
Values. Support alternatives-not jail-for mothers!
JusticeWorks Community
JusticeWorks Community, a national nonprofit organization, educates the
public about the practical and ethical consequences of resorting to mass
incarceration instead of solving the problems of poverty, homelessness,
unemployment, addictions, illiteracy, inadequate health care, domestic abuse,
and sexual violence. It mobilizes citizen participation in direct action
projects aimed at getting our nation out of the business of crime cultivation
and into the work of crime prevention. Focusing specifically on women in
prison, exprisoners, and children as the most marginalized and underserved
members of our society, JusticeWorks brings the mainstream community into
direct dialogue with female exprisoners and their families to rethink our
responses to crime and the criminal justice system.
Within the context of a nationwide initiative to arouse citizen accountability
for criminal justice policy and its impact on society, JusticeWorks provides
employment training and transition support to women who have been incarcerated
in New York City jails and New York State prisons. For more information
or to support our work, please write, call, or fax:
JusticeWorks Community 1012 Eighth Avenue, Brooklyn,
NY 11215-4312 Ph. (718) 499-6704 * Fax (718) 832-2832
NCX Feb/Mar 1996 Archives
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