The voices of formerly incarcerated women are rising as they mobilize around the nation to change prison conditions for the women prisoners they left behind.
“Twenty States by 2020” is a campaign to help pass the “Dignity for Incarcerated Women Act” across the nation. The campaign is being led by the #Cut50 organization and its campaign director, Topeka Sam, who was formerly incarcerated. Sam served time in federal facilities on the East Coast. The campaign has been successful in passing the legislation in seven states, including California, Sam said.
“Twenty States by 2020” is a campaign to help pass the “Dignity for Incarcerated Women Act” across the nation. The campaign is being led by the #Cut50 organization and its campaign director, Topeka Sam, who was formerly incarcerated. Sam served time in federal facilities on the East Coast. The campaign has been successful in passing the legislation in seven states, including California, Sam said.
“God placed it on my heart to go in to spaces that necessitate the changes that we seek for the incarcerated and formerly incarcerated women,” Sam told the San Quentin News. “We have to work with other organizations and bipartisan state legislatures to get these bills passed.”
The bills challenge a state’s practice of shackling pregnant women during childbirth. They request the provision of rehabilitative programs and adequate access to sanitary items.
“Women have to prove they had used the sanitary pads that they were issued before they can receive new ones,” Sam said. “This is so degrading — you have women taking bags of used sanitary napkins to a guard for verification.”
“Women have to prove they had used the sanitary pads that they were issued before they can receive new ones,” Sam said. “This is so degrading — you have women taking bags of used sanitary napkins to a guard for verification.”
These are the types of experiences Sam and other women advocates recently recounted to the Trump administration at the White House Prison Reform Summit. Sam believes it’s important to put the faces and voices of women in prison before the public.
“The choice of buying toothpaste or tampons shouldn’t have to be a choice,” Sam said. “And the women lack supportive rehabilitative programs. I see men’s visiting rooms packed and that’s not the case for the women.”
The campaign asks states to mandate that correctional officers receive trauma identification training. The majority of women in prison are sexual assault survivors, but in many states male guards can strip search women and supervise them in showers and bathrooms, according to the campaign pamphlet.
“We want male officers to announce themselves in areas where women are unclothed,” said Sam. “We prefer them not to be there, period.”
Sam partnered with the California coalition that included Amika Mota from the Young Women’s Freedom Center and Miana McKnight, Cirese LaBerge, Norma and Shonique from the Anti-Recidivism Coalition (ARC) to get the legislation passed in the state.
“We support the organizations around the country that are already doing the work,” Sam said. “We provide them with resources like grant funds, media support and training.
“We have an ambassador in every state to draft bills, because each state has different needs,” she added.
“The choice of buying toothpaste or tampons shouldn’t have to be a choice,” Sam said. “And the women lack supportive rehabilitative programs. I see men’s visiting rooms packed and that’s not the case for the women.”
The campaign asks states to mandate that correctional officers receive trauma identification training. The majority of women in prison are sexual assault survivors, but in many states male guards can strip search women and supervise them in showers and bathrooms, according to the campaign pamphlet.
“We want male officers to announce themselves in areas where women are unclothed,” said Sam. “We prefer them not to be there, period.”
Sam partnered with the California coalition that included Amika Mota from the Young Women’s Freedom Center and Miana McKnight, Cirese LaBerge, Norma and Shonique from the Anti-Recidivism Coalition (ARC) to get the legislation passed in the state.
“We support the organizations around the country that are already doing the work,” Sam said. “We provide them with resources like grant funds, media support and training.
“We have an ambassador in every state to draft bills, because each state has different needs,” she added.
Sam has become a globe trekker. She has visited prisons in Ghana, Africa, and Trinidad, where she helped place a prison reform bill.
She entered San Quentin’s newsroom jet-lagged after just arriving from New York, but her spirits ran high for the work she is doing.
“In Trinidad some women sit in prison 10 to 15 years without being convicted,” Sam said. “There are three women to a cell and there is no bathroom, just a bucket in the corner. There are also no phones.”
Sam also tackles women’s reentry needs. She founded HOPE HOUSE NYC and The Ladies of Hope Ministries to provide safe housing for women and girls recently released from prison. She has expanded HOPE HOUSE to Trinidad.
She entered San Quentin’s newsroom jet-lagged after just arriving from New York, but her spirits ran high for the work she is doing.
“In Trinidad some women sit in prison 10 to 15 years without being convicted,” Sam said. “There are three women to a cell and there is no bathroom, just a bucket in the corner. There are also no phones.”
Sam also tackles women’s reentry needs. She founded HOPE HOUSE NYC and The Ladies of Hope Ministries to provide safe housing for women and girls recently released from prison. She has expanded HOPE HOUSE to Trinidad.
“After our (Trinidad prison) visit, a family offered to build us a reentry home with a resource center. We now have three homes there,” Sam said. “Our goal is to have a safe place for transformation in every state in America.
“We ask the women what they want to do with their life and we help them with that. It’s very rewarding to know you are impacting someone’s life.”
“We ask the women what they want to do with their life and we help them with that. It’s very rewarding to know you are impacting someone’s life.”
She hosts a radio program called “Last Mile Second Chances” on Sirius XM’s Urban View Channel 126 every Sunday.
Sam noted there are still 13 states to go to reach the “20 States by 2020” to bring a sense of dignity to the mothers, sisters and daughters that languish behind bars.
“We have to not only address systemic issues to incarceration, such as poverty, but the mental state where the women dare to dream again,” Sam said. “I’m proud to be a part of #Cut50 and work with Van Jones and Jessica Jackson- Sloan. We share the same ‘by any means necessary’ approach.”
Sam noted there are still 13 states to go to reach the “20 States by 2020” to bring a sense of dignity to the mothers, sisters and daughters that languish behind bars.
“We have to not only address systemic issues to incarceration, such as poverty, but the mental state where the women dare to dream again,” Sam said. “I’m proud to be a part of #Cut50 and work with Van Jones and Jessica Jackson- Sloan. We share the same ‘by any means necessary’ approach.”
