Prison Born

A Rotary club in Topeka, Kansas, has transformed reentry support for incarcerated women at the Shawnee County Jail through Intersection to Care, a program that pairs immediate-release support with mentorship, skills classes, and subsidized housing. The program, led by women with lived experience of incarceration, meets women at the jail exit to prevent trafficking, connects them to recovery housing through Oxford House of Kansas, and offers technology, health, art, and movement classes inside the facility. Since launching in 2022, the initiative has assisted more than 1,000 women.

Via legislative efforts, six U.S. prison systems and dozens of jails have made phone calls free for incarcerated people (with governments paying providers instead of families). This has resulted in 600 million additional calls, 6.4 billion more call minutes, over $620 million in savings for families, and improved mental health, family connections, and prison environments.

In an effort to address maternal mortality rates and overall maternal health conditions, groups of midwives are hosting community dialogue sessions that serve as educational opportunities for preventing danger. Maternal and infant mortality rates have already begun to decrease, and midwives also provide support beyond education, giving mothers food and other supplies as needed.

The Mentor Mother Program in Siaya County, Kenya, trains women living with HIV to provide peer support, counseling, and treatment assistance to pregnant and breastfeeding mothers to prevent mother-to-child HIV transmission. Mentor mothers serve as the link between communities and health facilities, tracking appointments, conducting home visits, running support groups and encouraging male partner testing. With the program’s help, the region’s transmission rate dropped from 21% in 2015 to 4.3% in 2022.

First 5 — a group of public agencies created by California’s Proposition 10 tobacco tax — provide funding for preschools, homeless family housing, pediatric dental and mental health care and infant-mother home visits to help parents in need. Home visit groups funded by First 5, like Welcome Baby, serve more than 15,000 families a year and provide necessary supplies like cribs and car seats as well as check-ins for child development.

Several counties are looking to implement bail reform as a way to address the harms people face in jail while awaiting a court date. Groups like The Bail Project have helped release 23,745 people from jail by helping pay their bail and ensure they make it to court so that bail money can go toward the next person in need.

At the Los Angeles County Jail, two men incarcerated on pending murder charges created a homegrown approach to improving the care and conditions of confinement for people with serious mental illness. Their approach is simple: showing love and care for people whose illness makes them feel like outcasts. By helping fellow incarcerated men attend counseling and other programs, and by tending to their personal needs, the initiative has contributed to a significant drop in people harming themselves. Fewer restraints are needed, and the pods where the program operates are notably cleaner and calmer than before.

An educational program called ROOTS (Restoring Our Original True Selves) taught at San Quentin prison in Marin County, California, has transformed into the Literature Club due to the pandemic and has reached other nearby prisons. The Literature Club, started by the Asian Prisoner Support Committee in Oakland, pairs people who are incarcerated with people outside, and they exchange emails to update each other on their reading progress and reflections. "More than a reading group, it’s a supportive space where emotions are openly discussed."

To alleviate the isolating effects of COVID-19 restrictions in prisons barring outside visitors, some prisons have encouraged phone and video contact with family by waiving the fees normally charged for such services. In Utah, the first 10 calls per week are free. Federal prisons have waived the charges entirely. Maintaining healthy family relationships has been shown to relieve prisoners' loneliness and anxiety, which equates to better behavior. And it reduces future lawbreaking by strengthening bonds that help in finding housing and jobs once the prisoners are released.

Alabama’s Tutwiler Prison for women, once found to be one of the worst prisons for women in the country, has undergone major reforms to change its once-abusive culture. A key part of this has been a focus on pregnant women who are experiencing incarceration, focusing more on rehabilitation than punitive measures by offering peer support groups and substance abuse programming. Tutwiler has also brought in the Alabama Prison Birth Project, offering childbirth education and doula services if desired.