Women Exiting Incarceration Demand Better Thinking Freely

For Women’s History Month, we are highlighting the issues facing women exiting the criminal legal system and why we need a dedicated pre-release facility for women.

The number of women and girls in the criminal legal system has grown substantially over the past several decades. The over-incarceration of women devastates families, because 75% of women who are incarcerated are the primary or sole caretakers of children. Currently, the Department of Public Safety and Correctional Services operates nine dedicated lower-security facilities for men who are preparing to return to their communities from prison. But there are none for women. The re-entry services available to women are inadequate as they are, but the situation is even more egregious in light of the services available to men. We were joined by Qiana Johnson, the Executive Director of Life After Release, to discuss why women need a dedicated pre-release facility in Maryland and how to support incarcerated women.