Shandre Delaney
Mother’s Day is not happy for everyone. In the United States — which incarcerate 2.3 million people, the most in the world — more women are locked up than in any other country. .
While male incarceration is decreasing, the incarceration of women has increased by 50 percent. As of 2018, 219,000 women are being held in local jails, state prisons, federal prisons, immigrant detention center and youth centers. Eighty percent of these women are mothers. Sixty percent of mothers incarcerated had a child under 18. Seventy percent of the mothers in state prisons were the sole provider and carer for their children prior to incarceration. And for the disparities of incarceration by race, black women are the highest number of incarcerated women, at double the rate of white women.
Incarceration creates an economic impact on the family when men, traditionally the head of the household, are imprisoned. So imagine the impact when the head of the household is a single mother.
The incarceration of a mother can lead to a number of breakdowns in the family. Permanent family separation becomes a major issue. Female prisoner’s children are five times more likely to be placed in foster care, and many lose parental rights forever. Poverty is a major factor for the incarceration of women as well as the quality of education. Studies have found that incomes prior to incarceration of all genders and races fall below their non-incarcerated counterparts.
The bail system in the U.S. has come under a lot of scrutiny lately. And rightly so. It is a system that penalizes poverty. If you have the financial means, you can pay your bail and be released until trial. If you are poor, your life may be drastically impacted by being unable to pay bail. A person living in poverty, paycheck to paycheck, may not even be able to afford bail as low as $50.
Women in this situation can end up losing their job and maybe their housing. In the case of a single mother, this scenario is likely if she doesn’t have support systems in place. The harsh reality is more than a justice system issue. This is a humanitarian issue.
Some women lose their lives awaiting bail, like Sandra Bland, who was arrested in Texas after a traffic stop escalated into her arrest. Nicole Bolden, of Florissant, Missouri, was jailed and transported to multiple municipalities and held at each location until she could pay bail. Tammy Jackson, gave birth to her baby in a jail cell after her pleas for help were ignored.
Organizations such as Arch City Defenders, a nonprofit legal organization that represented Bolden in a lawsuit, use funds to bail out people in St. Louis. National Bail Out started to bail out people. It coordinates mama bailouts across the country. It also has a fellowship, which is an eight-week program for previous bailed-out mothers and caregivers.
In 2019, National Bail Out and other organizations are coordinating bailouts for Mother’s Day. These bail funds help people avoid life-altering situations.
Mother’s Day is supposed to be a day for mothers to receive cards, flowers and other seasonal gifts. But some mom who owed a ticket she couldn’t pay will be sitting in jail because she couldn’t afford bail.
I urge my readers to make a donation to a bail fund, or bail out a mama you know. You could be saving more than one life.
The following organizations are participating in Mother’s Day bailouts: Michigan Black Mama Bail Out, National Bail Out, Philadelphia Community Bail Fund, Texas Organizing Project and Vocal-NY.
For more information on incarcerated women and to learn how you can help, visit Sentencing Project, Prison Policy and National Conference of State Legislatures.
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