Coalition Committees

The Coalition for Women Prisoners has three Committees: Conditions and Reentry, Incarcerated Mothers, and Violence Against Women. These Committees meet every month, as does the full Coalition. Coalition and Committee membership is open to all interested individuals.

Conditions and Reentry Committee works to improve conditions inside prison and eliminate barriers facing women when they return home.  The Committee is working to create a book highlighting the reentry experiences of women coming home from prison to help others navigate the difficult process of securing housing after release.  The Committee is also distributing its re-entry guide, My Sister’s Keeper.  If you don’t have a copy, please call us to order a copy.

Incarcerated Mothers Committee focuses on helping mothers in prison and their children maintain bonds and relationships.  The Committee successfully worked to help pass the Adoption and Safe Families Act (ASFA) Expanded Discretion Bill.  This new law gives foster care agencies the ability to not file termination of parental rights (TPR) papers against parents in prison and residential drug treatment even after a child has been in foster care for 15 out of the last 22 months.  Although the law doesn’t prevent an agency from filing a TPR, it does give them more leeway to evaluate the relationship between a mother and her child and see if the parent can keep her parental rights.

Violence Against Women Committee The Violence Against Women Committee focuses on changing the criminal justice system’s harsh and unjust response to survivors of domestic violence and abuse. The Committee is currently advocating for the passage of the Domestic Violence Survivors Justice Act (A.7874-A/S.5436), which would: (1) give judges discretion to sentence survivors whose abuse was a “significant contributing factor” in their crime to lower sentences and, in some cases, to community-based alternatives to incarceration instead of prison, and (2) permit currently incarcerated survivors to apply to the courts for resentencing. The Committee is also working to distribute its 20-minute documentary, Strength of a Woman, which tells the stories of three women who served long sentences for crimes committed as a result of domestic violence.
   

For more information about the Coalition and its Committees,
please contact Coalition Associate Stacey Thompson at sthompson@correctionalassociation.org