Incarcerated Women / Female Offenders

Breaking Down the Bars – Rockville (Tuesdays at 9 ET / 8 CT), Oprah Winfrey Network – this unique television series about life behind bars chronicles the journey of a select group of women in three different stages of incarceration; entering prison, others mid-sentence and a few preparing to re-integrate into society. These women will share their personal journeys of self-discovery and redemption while they try to make peace with their families, their regrets, their hopes, their dreams, and life on the inside. But first, they'll need to break down their own bars, face the way and how so they can begin the long climb back.

Free Battered Women – formerly known as the California Coalition for Battered Women in Prison (CCBWP), is a statewide grassroots coalition of currently and formerly incarcerated women, their families, activists, attorneys, students, community members, and other dedicated individuals throughout the state who strive to end the re-victimization of battered women in prison, San Francisco, CA.

Legal Services for Prisoners with Children – advocates for the human rights and empowerment of incarcerated parents, children, family members and people at risk for incarceration. We respond to requests for information, trainings, technical assistance, litigation, community activism and the development of more advocates. Our focus is on women prisoners and their families, and we emphasize that issues of race are central to any discussion of incarceration, San Francisco, CA.

Michigan Women's Justice & Clemency Project – works to free women prisoners who were convicted of murder but who acted in self-defense against abusers and did not receive due process or fair trials; and to conduct public education and advocacy for justice, human rights and humane alternatives to incarceration for women, Ann Arbor, MI.

National Directory of Programs for Women with Criminal Justice Involvement, National Institute of Corrections – a place where practitioners, policymakers, and community members can find information on programs and services for women in the criminal justice system. The database includes programs and services for women at all states of criminal justice involvement, both in correctional facilities and in the community, Washington, DC.

National Resource Center on Justice Involved Women – the Bureau of Justice Assistance, in partnership with the National Institute of Corrections, established the Resource Center to address the unique needs and complex needs of adult women involved in the criminal justice system. NIC will continue to deliver products and services to the field specific to justice-involved women, and will work closely with BJA and the Resource Center to assure a coordinated approach. The mission of the Resource Center is to provide guidance and support to criminal justice professionals ~ and to promote evidence-based, gender-responsive policies and practices ~ in order to reduce the number and improve the outcomes of women involved in the criminal justice system.

Women in Prison Project, Correctional Association of New York – dedicated to addressing the effects of the state’s criminal justice policies on women and their families, New York, NY.

Women’s Prison Association – a service and advocacy organization committed to helping women with criminal justice histories realize new possibilities for themselves and their families. Our program services make it possible for women to obtain work, housing, and health care; to rebuild their families; and to participate fully in civic life. Through the Institute on Women & Criminal Justice, WPA pursues a rigorous policy, advocacy, and research agenda to bring new perspectives to public debates on women and criminal justice, New York, NY.

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