Shedding light on the crisis of women behind bars

Crime and Punishment

The Women Behind Bars Project is about breaking away from black-and-white rhetoric on issues of crime and punishment in general--and females in the criminal justice system in particular. The prison crisis is one of the most complex issues facing our country, particularly as it has been compounded by the multi-decade, multi-billion-dollar strategy of fighting the American War on Drugs.

As a part of the drug war, girls and women have been swept along in ever-greater numbers, owing in great part to the mandatory minimum sentencing, federal "conspiracy" charges, and weighty allocation of public funds for drug-related undercover operations, sweeps, arrests, and prosecutions in both rural and urban areas.

The Women Behind Bars Project is about:

Engaging in an ongoing, critical examination of our criminal justice system;

Sharing findings and accounts of the human and fiscal costs of mass imprisonment;

Listening to real, uncensored stories about the lives of incarcerated girls and women, as well as their children, parents, and partners.

Acting as a resource for constructive discussion about:

Criminal justice reform

Conditions of confinement

Human and constitutional rights

Gender-specific programming

Mental illness

Intergenerational trauma

Ethnic/racial profiling

Prisoner re-entry

Discrimination and disenfranchisement

Sentencing alternatives

The Women Behind Bars Project:

Does not seek to prove the innocence of specific prisoners

Does not advocate for legislation or political candidates

Does not excuse violence or otherwise destructive behavior

Does not diminish the perspectives/experiences of people who have been victims of criminal actions

To contact the Women Behind Bars Project please send an email to womenbehindbars@gmail.com