This
past Saturday, it took only a few hours for Benevolent donors to step up and
help Brianna keep her baby. It's not often that a small
amount of money can help a mom and baby stay together, but this was a
special circumstance. Brianna needed $210 to pay off a traffic fine so she
could keep her baby and raise him from the moment he’s born. The baby’s due
next month, and Brianna’s in prison. There’s a special program that will
allow her to stay with and keep her baby, but not if she has any outstanding
fines.
There
was something about the simplicity and raw humanity of Brianna’s need. She’s
a mom who wants to nurture her infant when he’s born. We can envision what
it will look and feel like when Brianna holds her son. We can also imagine what
it would feel like if he were taken from her. We’ve been parents; we’ve been
parented; we’ve held newborns close and we’ve suffered hurts. We can feel
the urgency of this even if we can’t imagine what it’s like to be in prison and
to face the reality of a child being taken away from us.
Over
64% of the women in prison in this country have been convicted of nonviolent
crimes, mostly property or drug offenses, and over 2,000 women in prison will
give birth this year. Most of us know that babies are born to women serving
time in prison and that the vast majority of women who give birth while
incarcerated in the U.S. don't get to stay with their babies for even a week
after they're born. We don’t often get the opportunity to change that for a
mom and her baby. This week, we did.
I
knew it. I knew that women in prison in the U.S. have their babies taken from
them when they’re born. But I’ve got to tell you, I've never signed a petition,
called my legislator or lobbied to urge policymakers to change prison policies
and programs to allow women to remain with their babies, if they choose to,
after birth.
When
Brianna's need came to us, though, I felt an immediate surge of adrenaline. I
knew we had to help this young woman get into the program that would allow her
and her son to remain together, and I knew that donors would feel as I did. I
was right. Seven donors from five different states took only seven hours to
completely fund Brianna’s need.
If
the donors felt anything like I did, it didn't matter to me how many times
Brianna might have been arrested (only once, as it turns out), what the traffic
tickets she had left unpaid were for, how many children she had (this will be
her first) or whether she had made poor choices rather than paying her fines. All
I could think about was the hours and days after my own children’s births,
about the sweetness of their new skin, about the way they smelled, cried, and
felt in my arms, about all the protectiveness and responsibility I felt for the
fragile life in my arms.
In the U.S., we seem to cherish parenting for ourselves, but not
always for others. Paid parental leave is not a protected right; all parents are
expected to work starting as soon as six weeks after birth; and babies are
taken from prisoners at birth. This makes us very different from many other
countries and cultures.
In Germany, for example, mothers serving jail sentences can have
their children remain with them until age four or six and some are allowed
work-release privileges to go and parent their children. That's right; moms leave
prison in the morning like anyone else headed off to a work-release job and
their work is getting their children ready for school, taking care of their
children's needs, and doing everything associated with being moms to their
kids. At the end of the workday, they head back to prison like any other
work-release prisoner. In Germany, being a parent is considered a vocation;
a child’s need to have his or her mom present is valued; and systems are put
into place to make the situation work.
We helped Brianna and her baby to stay together. What could
we do to help the other 2,000+ moms who will give birth in prison this year to
have the same option? I checked into it, because it seems to me that when a need we
encounter on the Benevolent site strikes us as powerfully as this one struck
me, we should find out how to get involved and become a part of the solution
for people beyond the one we’re helping through the Benevolent site.
Here’s what I found...
- The Women’s Prison Association appears
to be one of the strongest organizations engaging in research and advocacy
work around the issues of women in prison. Their program work seems to be
only in New York state, but their policy and advocacy work extends
nation-wide. Interestingly, the president of the Board of Directors for
this organization, Piper
Kerman is the author of the book
and new Netflix series
about women in prison - Orange is the New Black.
- The
National Institute of Corrections
maintains a list of programs for women in prison state by state. You could
use this website to find out how to get involved as an advocate or
volunteer in your area.
So
these are places for us to start. I hope that Brianna’s story touched you
the way it touched me. I hit “send” on the payment to Chicago
Legal Advocacy for Incarcerated Mothers earlier today so that
Brianna’s fine can be paid and she can qualify for the program that will keep
her together with her son when he’s born. I’m so glad we were there to help.
- megan kashner
founder &
ceo
Benevolent
