Unforgiving: Women and Mass Incarceration

There are now over 110,000 women serving time throughout the US, with the majority being mothers, people of color, considered poor and living with mental and physical illnesses. They are also women who are navigating the world with trauma from experiences involving violence and abuse. Most of their crimes have been deemed low-level, having to do mostly with drug and property-related offenses, but they are still vulnerable to serving drastic sentences. The amount of time they are forced to live within prison walls is the same or comparable to that of a defendant accused of a more serious crime. The tools and regulations used to judge their cases are biased and ignore the needs and circumstances of women. The jail and prison practices were not created with women in mind; they are punished unfairly, sent away and routinely ignored in this time of alleged reform. Visit the Vera Institute's website to download the full report on women judged by the unforgiving system promoting mass incarceration.