POOR needs your help. For subscription/donation info. click here

Photo by Jesaka Irwin

"WHY IS MOMMY IN PRISON?"

MOTHERS DAY RALLY SHEDS LIGHT ON THE SITUATION OF INCARCERATED MOTHERS AND THEIR CHILDREN.

By Kaponda

I felt like I had been atop Mount Everest, as I listened to the small child in front of the United Nations Plaza. Even the raised concrete structure on which the beautiful, three-year old girl stood did not make her appear any taller. The sound of her voice resonated out of a loudspeaker as the breeze caused the unfurled banners to cradle her body. True to the proverb, "Out of the mouth of babes and suckling," it was she who had provided me the insight into the significance of the event held on Friday, May 12th, when she uttered, "Happy Mothers Day to all of the Mothers in Prison."

"Mothers in Prison -- Children in Crisis" was sponsored by Families with a Future, an organization founded by the mother of the three-year old wonder, Ida McCray. Now in its sixth year, Mothers in Prison, Children in Crisis is the first and only national organizing campaign that seeks to establish alternatives to incarceration as the sentencing norm for women with dependent children. Based in the state of New York, it has a broad-based community of supporters around the country whose mission is to use compelling statistics to demand legislators to overhaul current sentencing regulations.

According to statistics gathered by Campaign 2000 JusticeWorks Community, there are now 146,600 women incarcerated in United States prisons and jails. An astounding statistic by the U.S. Department of Justice: Bureau of Justice Statistic, states that of the 146,000 women incarcerated, 75% are mothers. Furthermore, two-thirds of these women have children under the age of 18.

A formerly incarcerated woman, Ida McCray had spent 12 grueling years in the California Prison System, California Youth Authority and Federal prisons. I asked her what she would most like to express to the people concerning the rally at Civic Center Plaza. "We need more places that will help families. Monies have been appropriated to fragment families. We need money to build families," according to McCray. Standing firmly on her commitment to end the separation of biological families, McCray continued to express her feelings, as the wind gingered up her healthy dreadlocks, "This is a form of genocide which is being given no attention. A glaring example is our children." Unlike many incarcerated mothers, Ida McCray did not lose her children during her time in prison.

Children are the first casualties when their mothers are incarcerated. According to a statistic by the U.S. Department of Justice: Office of Justice Programs, "Women currently in prison or jail are mothers to more than 250,000 children, the majority of whom are under 18 years of age." "While children usually remain with their mother during the incarceration of their father," according to a study by The Obsborne Association, "Children of incarcerated mothers are much more likely to experience a change in primary caretaker."

(top of article)

The strategic efforts of the supporters of the Mothers in Prison, Children in Crisis movement have opened the doors of people in high places. Acting under authority of the State of Iowa, Governor Thomas J. Vilsack proclaimed May 7, 1999 as Mothers in Prison -- Children In Crisis Day." Also, acting under authority, Governor Mike Huckabee of Arkansas, during a rally in May of 1999, proclaimed May 9th through May 11th of 1999, "Mothers in Prison, Children in Crisis Weekend."

One of the speakers at the rally was San Francisco District Attorney, Terrence Hallinan, who gave the onlookers hope when he stated that he would like to, "Declare an end to the war on drugs. A war on drugs is not the solution, as it causes more problems and much more misery." Hallinan further stated that "Women are being incarcerated for victimless crimes...."

An official for the Department of Health, Jimmy Loyce, gave a passionate speech before the crowd at the Civic Center Plaza. "Every day a mother does in prison, her child does in prison [also]," Loyce stated. He added that "The only crime is a disease called alcoholism and drug addiction," implying that a connection exists between women who are incarcerated and their addiction to drugs and alcohol.

A recent study by the U.S. Department of Justice: Office of Justice Programs has determined that, "Women in prison are more likely than men to have ever used drugs, to have used drugs daily the month before their offense, to have been under the influence of drugs while committing the offense and to have committed the offense to get drugs." "Less than 10% of those who need substance abuse treatment in prison actually receive it. Seventy-five percent of the general population who seek substance abuse treatment, never receive it," according to The Nation¹s Number One Health Problem.

Claire Campbell of Jelani House, Inc., a refuge for pregnant women, underscored the misappropriations of funds to criminalize offenders of victimless crimes by stating, "Women are in jail for nonviolent crimes, like holding drugs for others." She called for women to stay tuned in to each other.

The Executive Director for Standing Against Global Exploitation (SAGE) provided recommendations to changing the system. She stated that "Since changing institutions is very difficult, we must change the minds of individuals inside the system, and expose them to alternatives to incarceration."

According to the Mothers in Prisons, Children in Crisis¹ Fact Sheet, "Alternatives to incarceration have been legislatively endorsed for more than 20 years. The understanding which guided the early movement towards alternatives was that penal institutions are destructive to the humanity of prisoners, guards, administrators and the community. Thus, alternatives were designed to keep people out of jail and prison.

The recommended alternatives to incarceration of women would probably decrease rapidly increasing separation of biological families. There would be more children in the warm embrace of their loving parents. It is a concept that would give Mothers Day a whole new meaning.

(top of page)

THERAPY COSTS TOO MUCH!!!!
Dee Gray, M.S.W., M.F.C.   Licensed Therapist specializing in advocacy and crisis counseling. Mother, daughter and family counseling. Adoption and juvenile dependency. Literary and creative art counseling. Individual and group therapy. Sliding scale fee. (415) 541-5629.