Women’s History Month at Avenues for Justice

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As we  kickoff Women’s History Month, we want to showcase the  remarkable stories of perseverance and determination of two women from our  AFJ community impacted by the NYC criminal justice system. Participants  Anastacia and Crystal, who are mothers, are empowering others by sharing  their stories of personal struggles with mental health and of being pregnant  or having a child while incarcerated, along with the impact of the services  which they received while at AFJ that changed the trajectory of their  lives. 

According  to the most recent available data, 2.3 million people are confined in a U.S. correctional  facility, 231,000 of which are women. Of these, roughly 109,000  are women of color, who are overrepresented in the incarcerated population.  Among incarcerated women, three out of four are of childbearing age, more  than half are mothers of minor children, and up to one in 10 were pregnant  when they entered incarceration.

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