IWA NONPROFIT

HOW WE GOT STARTED AND WHY

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I am a woman of color who is a Unites States Army Veteran. After looking far and wide, I was unable to find a nonprofit that specialized in assisting incarcerated women, so I decided to start one. There are tons of prison ministries, and some make a point to evangelize at female facilities.  However, we are not an evangelical non-profit. We are a social justice non-profit cause. 

 

Our purpose is to visit and sit with women to provide emotional support and be a listening ear. Similar to a pen pal, we show up on visitation day armed with civility and genuine interest in them. In collaboration with the facility, we are able increase the prison morale. Someone asked if we consider ourselves to be counselors. Our response is no. If we could best fit what we do in one word, it would be mentorship. 

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The reason I am passionate about this social target market is many female prisoners receive little support from family or friends, virtually no visitors at the rate of their male counterparts. The disparity is glaring.  What I would like to do is organize a morale boosting volunteer effort. Aside from being depressing, many inmates who receive frequent visits from loved ones do better both during their stay behind bars and AFTER their release. Joshua C. Cochran, Daniel P. Mears, and William D. Bales state, "Visitation helps individuals maintain social ties during imprisonment, which, in turn, can improve inmate behavior and reduce recidivism. Not being visited can result in collateral consequences and inequality in punishment."  More can be read from their article that was published online, July 29, 2014 titled, Who Gets Visited in Prison? Individual- and Community-Level Disparities in Inmate Visitation Experiences.

 

Visitation helps individuals maintain social ties during imprisonment, which, in turn, can improve inmate behavior and reduce recidivism. Not being visited can result in collateral consequences and inequality in punishment.  Let us use our philanthropic spirit to tackle this issue together!