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Pregnant inmates supported by Alabama Prison Birth Project

Two percent of inmates at the Julia Tutwiler Prison for Women are pregnant, and even though they represent a minority, they are still women in need of specialized services, as Ashely Brown was quick to learn. Incarcerated at 26 for a probation violation after a 2009 robbery conviction, Brown was arrested in Nov. 2016 for

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Indiana inmates deliver unique research on history of incarcerated women

Indiana Women’s Reformatory as seen in 1873. Photo courtesy of the Indiana State Library. Prisoners at the maximum-security Indiana Women’s Prison have undertaken a remarkable feat – conducting and presenting their own original research on the history of the 143-year-old prison. While funding was cut for non-vocational education programs in Indiana in 2011, volunteer instructors

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School to Prison Pipeline: The Criminalization of Black Female Students

When it comes to the school-to-prison pipeline in America, a thought-provoking book by a prominent U.S. author and justice advocate sheds startling insights into an often-overlooked segment of our broken justice system – the discrimination against black girls. Pushout: The Criminalization of Black Girls in Schools by Monique W. Morris spotlights a group that is

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The surprising new source of prison education advocacy

Prison education advocacy is coming from an unlikely country: Lebanon. The country is generally only on America’s radar for its assistance in the conflict against ISIL and a fractured and complex internal political state. But despite the beleaguered state of the nation at the moment, the Minister has seen fit to prioritize the rehabilitation of prison populations.

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Law Classes Educate Inmates at Kenya’s Langata Women’s Prison

By Gabe Joselow At a women’s prison in Nairobi, Kenyan inmates are taking the law into their own hands. Law classes have helped inmates launch their own appeals and defend themselves in court. In a classroom behind bars, three inmates and a prison officer learn the basics of the common law. Inmate Rose Musyoki said

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Female Prisoners in Kansas Make Dentures for Low-Income Patients

By Christopher Zoukis  Image courtesy prisonprofiler.com

The women of Topeka Correctional Facility in Topeka, Kansas are an interesting sort.  While some sweep, mop, wipe down tables, or engage in wholesale janitorial work assignments, a special group of 8 female prisoners make dentures for low-income patients through an innovative partnership between the Kansas Department of Corrections, Kansas Correctional Industries, and the Southeast Kansas Education Center at Greenbush.

Founded by the Delta Dental of Kansas Foundation, in 2007, the dental technician program employs 8 female prisoners at Topeka Correctional Facility, all of which were specially selected by prison administrators for program placement.  These female prisoners make dentures for Kansas Association for the Medically Underserved (KAMU) patients.

The process is complex.  The KAMU clinics make an impression of the patient’s mouth.  This impression is then sent to the female prisoner dental technicians at the Topeka Correctional Facility, who create a wax and plastic teeth mold of the impression.  This temporary mold is then returned to the KAMU clinic to ensure that the fit is perfect.  Once approval is granted, the mold is sent back to the prison, where the female prisoner dental technicians use plastic teeth and hard acrylic to craft the final set of dentures.  These are then delivered back to the KAMU clinic for delivery to the eagerly awaiting patients.

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LIFE Project-Prison Education for Women Inmates at Coffee Creek Correctional Facility

Located outside of Wilsonville, Oregon, lies the Coffee Creek Correctional Facility. Inside of this correctional facility is a very special prison education program for women inmates called-LIFE (Lifelong Information for Entrepreneurs.)  The program has been developed to build business and pro-social skills for incarcerated women.

The core of the LIFE program addresses self-employment and micro enterprise development for women after they are released from the Coffee Creek Correctional Facility. Inmate/students are taught skills that can be used in business and self-employment. LIFE helps their students to create productive lives after release and to establish self-sufficiency and economic stability for themselves and their families.

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Hiland Mountain Women's Correctional Center Orchestra

The sound of violins and cellos fills the room with beautiful string music and this coming from a women’s orchestra where many of the players had no previous musical training, and who also happen to be prisoners incarcerated at Hiland Mountain Women’s Correctional Center outside of Anchorage, Alaska. 

Founded in 2004 by the nonprofit organization, Arts on the Edge, the Hiland Mountain Women’s Correctional Center Orchestra began as a unique opportunity to see if women inmates would grow as human beings being able to play music as part of a team in an orchestra.

 

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Telling My Story

Whether you wear a prison uniform or college clothes, people all have dreams, hopes, fears and wish to be understood. This became the sentiment from both women inmates at and several college students at Dartmouth College after working together creating a play and subsequent documentary, Telling My Story, about the lives of incarcerated women. 

The 14 female prisoners are spending incarcerated time at the Sullivan County House of Correction in Unity in New Hampshire. The 10 students were enrolled in a community-based learning course at Dartmouth College in Hanover, New Hampshire. For 10 weeks the unlikely combination of Dartmouth college students and Sullivan County prisoners collaborated to create a play that addressed the difficulty of women in prison. 

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I’m FREE – Females Reentering Empowering Each Other

Women who have spent time in prison, often have a much harder time reentering into society than men do. There is much stigma placed on women who have spent time in prison and they have been separated from their children, family,  friends and support groups. Many of these women suffer from depression, ill-health and mental health. 

The Females Reentering Empowering Each Other, known as I’m FREE, works with women who have been incarcerated in Philadelphia and Southern New Jersey in helping them to self-sustaining lifestyles. The organization offers year-long residential training to assist women who have recently been released from the judicial system and are members of the Council for Returning Citizens at Resources for Human Development. 

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