Resources for Female Inmates
acwip.wordpress.com Action Committee for Women in Prison works to bring fairness and equity into the criminal justice system and to shift the focus to treatment and restorative justice. They educate the public, develop new legislation, implement new programs, and build resources for incarcerated women. They are advocates for the humane and compassionate treatment of all incarcerated women everywhere. They work for the release of women who pose no danger to society, including those who are unjustly imprisoned. They strive to eliminate the overreliance on incarceration, and to develop sane and sensible alternatives to imprisonment.
769 Northwestern Drive
Claremont, CA 91711
Email: info@acwip.net
626–710–7543
womenprisoners.org California Coalition for Women Prisoners, or CCWP, raises public consciousness about the cruel and inhumane conditions under which women in prison live and advocates for positive changes. They promote the leadership of and give voice to women prisoners, former prisoners, and their families.
California Coalition for Women Prisoners
1540 Market Street Suite 490
San Francisco, CA 94102
415–255–7036 Ext 4
chicagobwp.org The Chicago Books to Women in Prison is a volunteer collective working to distribute books free of charge to women in prison nationwide. They are dedicated to offering women behind bars the opportunity for self-empowerment, education, and entertainment that reading provides. Incarcerated women send the organization their requests for books directly. They attempt to furnish the requested materials from a stock of donated books. They send three books in each package, and also furnish books directly to prison libraries.
Chicago Books to Women in Prison
c/o RFUMC
4511 N. Hermitage Ave.
Chicago, IL 60640
www.cgla.net Chicago Legal Advocacy for Incarcerated Mothers, or CLAIM, provides legal and educational services to maintain the bond between imprisoned mothers and their children. CLAIM advocates for policies and programs that benefit families of imprisoned mothers and reduce incarceration of women and girls.
CGLA provides both criminal and civil legal services, integrated with social work support, to individuals facing barriers stemming from an encounter with the criminal justice system. They provide services in areas of acute need, including criminal records relief, defense, family and housing law. They partner with scores of law firms, corporate legal departments, and law schools to tap thousands of pro bono hours that multiply the impact. They have a Criminal Records Program, Criminal Defense Program, Family Law Program, Housing Law Program and Client Support Services.
CGLA
740 N. Milwaukee
Chicago, IL 60642
312–738-CGLA (2452)
www.wpaonline.org Women’s Prison Association, or WPA, works with women at all stages of criminal justice involvement. They promote alternatives to incarceration and help women living in the community to avoid arrest or incarceration by making positive changes in their lives. Inside prison and jail, they are a source of support to women and a resource to them as they plan for release. After incarceration, women come to WPA for help to build the lives they want for themselves and their families in the community—find safe and affordable housing, prepare for job interviews and obtain employment, reunify with their children, comply with criminal justice mandates and live safe and law-abiding lives, access addiction, health, and mental health services, gain peer support from other women and learn household budgeting and skills for daily life.
Women’s Prison Association
110 Second Avenue
New York, NY 10003
646–292–7740
Michigan Battered Women’s Clemency Project This is a volunteer group working to identify, interview, select and oversee the preparation and filing of clemency petitions for women in Michigan prisons who have been convicted of murder, but who acted in self-defense of an abuser.
National Advocates of Pregnant Women The National Advocates for Pregnant Women (NAPW) works to secure the human and civil rights, health, and welfare of all women, focusing particularly on pregnant and parenting women, and those who are most vulnerable—low-income women, women of color, and drug-using women. NAPW seeks to ensure that women do not lose their constitutional and human rights as a result of pregnancy; that addiction and other health and welfare problems they face during pregnancy are addressed as health issues, not as crimes; that families are not needlessly separated, based on medical misinformation; and that pregnant and parenting women have access to a full range of reproductive health services, as well as nonpunitive drug treatment services.
Northwest Women’s Law Center The Northwest Women’s Law Center uses the law, one of the most powerful tools in our democratic society, to improve women’s social, economic, and legal status. They bring groundbreaking lawsuits to change the law, advocate for legislation that advances women’s rights, and educate women and the community about women’s legal rights. And they do so on with virtually any issue that affects women, believing that the challenges women face are multidimensional.
Prison Match of NC Prison Match of North Carolina, Inc. provides incarcerated mothers and their children with the support and resources necessary to maintain and strengthen their family relationships. Prison Match is a nonprofit organization that understands all children need their mothers. They are an organization that helps children spend time with their incarcerated mothers in a warm, homelike setting. Their programs are designed to show these children they were not abandoned and they are loved and worthy.
Redeem-Her Redeem-Her, a New Jersey Nonprofit Corporation, is an inmate and ex-offender directed, self-help, social services organization. Redeem-Her has its roots inside the confines of the Edna Mahan Correctional Facility for Women in Clinton, New Jersey. It was birthed there by inmates who were bold enough to forge a new direction in a place where one is expected only to follow directions; by women who sought to change the culture of the institution to one of cooperation, community, and service.
Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom The Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom was founded in 1915 during World War I, with Jane Addams as its first president. WILPF works to achieve through peaceful means world disarmament, full rights for women, racial and economic justice, an end to all forms of violence, and to establish those political, social, and psychological conditions that can assure peace, freedom, and justice for all. WILPF works to create an environment of political, economic, social and psychological freedom for all members of the human community, so that true peace can be enjoyed by all.