SAN FRANCISCO PROTEST
Women in prison, children in crisis
By Brenda
Sandburg
San Francisco
Prison rights advocates demonstrated in San Francisco on May
11 to demand alternatives to prison for women with dependent
children.
The "Mothers in Prison, Children in Crisis" protest, linked
to Mother's Day, is part of a national campaign. Joyce Miller,
an organizer and chair of the rally, said events were held in
21 cities to educate the public about the need for alternative
programs.
According to JusticeWorks Community, a New York-based group
that sponsors the annual campaign, there are now 150,000 women
incarcerated in U.S. prisons and jails--75 percent of whom are
mothers. Two-thirds of these women have children under the age
of 18. And most women are in jail as a result of drug and
alcohol addiction.
Dorsey Nunn, program director of Legal Services for
Prisoners with Children, exposed what the government's
so-called war on drugs has meant for African American people.
The incarceration of African American women has increased 800
percent since the beginning of the drug war, he said at the
rally.
Where is the money going to fight this war? he asked. "$109
million is going to supervise 54,000 people" in prison and $9
million for services. When women get out of prison they have
one year to get their children back, he added. "How many social
workers are helping make sure you get help?"
San Francisco District Attorney Terence Hallinan applauded
the passage of Proposition 36. This initiative mandates that
people convicted of drug possession receive treatment rather
than incarceration.
Several women who have been in prison spoke about the
difficulty of being separated from their children and the
alternative housing programs that had helped them get their
lives back.
"I had to learn how to talk again, walk again, be around
people again," said Juanita Johnson, who lived at Cameo House
with her two children after being released from prison.
This article is copyright under a Creative
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