Interfaith group advocates for women in prison and their children

Published: 2005-01-05

CORONA, Calif. (CNS) -- With women comprising only 7 percent of California's prison population, their needs are often ignored in the shadow of a much larger population of male inmates, according to prison reform advocates. They point out that 80 percent of the nearly 11,000 women in California's state prisons are mothers, the majority unmarried. The women struggle to find caretakers for their children and to maintain contact with them, as well as to keep a sense of self-worth and dignity amid sometimes degrading prison policies. An interfaith delegation recently spent a day touring and meeting with inmates at the California Institution for Women in Corona, 40 miles east of Los Angeles. The group included more than a dozen women of various faiths and Los Angeles Auxiliary Bishop Gabino Zavala, who chairs the California bishops' Committee on Restorative Justice. The delegation was organized by Women and Criminal Justice, a new nonprofit advocacy organization directed by Sister Suzanne Jabro, a member of the Sisters of St. Joseph of Carondelet. The group hopes to work with prisoners and prison administrators to address the needs of incarcerated women and their families.

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