There are now more women behind bars than at any other point in U.S. history.This rampant incarceration has a devastating impact on families. Most of these women who become unseen and largely forgotten, are mothers. Unfortunately, pregnant women, incarcerated women and their children are subject to federal and state correctional policies that fail to recognize their distinct needs or honor their families.

Ultimately, our goal is to encourage federal and state governments to reevaluate policies that fail to protect the interests of this growing at-risk population and adopt policies that recognize the needs of incarcerated pregnant women and mothers, as well as their children.

Just as critical is whether state and federal institutions actually comply with what is required and whether they punish and correct violations. Just because a state has a high grade in any particular area does not mean that the pregnant and parenting women in that state are benefiting from the good policy.To the contrary, we know that this is often not the case. In addition to encouraging policy makers to improve upon policies that affect them.We want a formal commitment to a woman’s civil and human rights by having policies that require pregnant women to have access to prenatal care, restrict the use of restraints on pregnant women, and maintain and strengthen the mother-child bond through the use of alternative sentencing.