A march is happening in D.C. next week to call attention to sentences given to women who are serving time in prison.
The FreeHer March and Rally is set for April 24. Qiana Johnson, founder of Life After Release, who herself served time, said the incarceration of women has had a devastating impact on families.
“Eighty percent of the women incarcerated are mothers.”
Johnson’s and other organizations are calling on President Biden to release women from prison in time for Mother’s Day.
“There are women that have been inside of prison since 1993, that have, you know, have been locked up all this time, with not even doing a violent crime.”
She said as the country has reconciled harsh criminal codes, resulting in people being released for certain crimes, women are being overlooked.
“Start to pay attention to women, because women are at the bottom of the totem pole and they’re not getting any of the relief that the men are getting.”
The march organizers state on their website, “Under the Obama Administration, with Joe Biden as Vice President, 1,715 acts of clemency were issued, signaling a strong stance of racial justice. Now, under his direct leadership, President Biden has granted a mere 13 acts of clemency.”
Johnson said the organizations involved in the FreeHer March also want policy reform to rectify some of the others ways women have been harmed by the justice system, including reinstating voting rights and addressing inhumane conditions in some women’s prisons.
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