Coalition for Women Prisoners

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The Coalition for Women Prisoners at Advocacy Day 2009 in Albany, NY

The Coalition for Women Prisoners, coordinated by the Women in Prison Project, is a statewide alliance of individuals and organizations dedicated to making the criminal justice system more responsive to the needs and rights of women and their families.

The Coalition's goals are to:

• reduce New York State's use of imprisonment as a response to the social and economic problems facing women;

• expand community-based alternatives to incarceration, including drug treatment programs, that focus on the specific needs of women;

• strengthen family and community ties both during women's incarceration and after release;

• improve the conditions inside women's prisons in New York State;

• expand the number of programs that help women return to their communities after being released from prison;

• enable formerly incarcerated women to play a leading role in advocating for changes in criminal justice policies that directly affect their lives.

Certain fundamental beliefs guide the Coalition's work:

• a society that truly values healthy, safe, and productive individuals, families and communities must prioritize the use of rehabilitative, community-based correctional alternatives over imprisonment;

• the issues facing women offenders at all points along the criminal justice continuum often differ from those faced by men offenders, and therefore must be identified and treated differently;

• formerly incarcerated women should be in the forefront of the movement to challenge the criminal justice policies that directly affect their lives.

The criminal justice system has a strong tendency to define women offenders solely by their crimes, ignoring the various set of circumstances that affect their lives and actions. Ending the systemic injustices facing currently and formerly incarcerated women is only half of the Coalition's mission—the other half is removing the stigma assigned to women offenders and replacing it with recognition of an individual's potential to take responsibility for her actions, to change, and to become a productive member of society.

Download a copy of our brochure

For more information about the Coalition for Women Prisoners, please contact Coalition Associate Stacey Thompson, at 212-254-5700, ext 333..