Policies Tear Families Apart in New Mexico
Policies Tear Families Apart in New Mexico
For Immediate Release: April 11, 2006
Contact: Diane Wood, 505-379-9470
ALBUQUERQUE: Prominent authors Nell Bernstein and Renny Golden will appear on a panel speaking to failures in the criminal justice system with youth from PB& J Family Services, Inc. in Albuquerque on Wednesday, April 19 from 6 – 8 p.m. for a book signing and discussion at the UNM Law School in room 2402.
Award winning journalist Nell Bernstein, author of All Alone in the World: Children of the Incarcerated, will have signed copies of her book available for $25.95. This recent work reveals through the words of those intimately involved, how children and parents are torn apart by the American penal system, thereby failing millions of innocent children and ultimately creating an endless cycle of imprisonment. Bernstein notes that 2.4 million American children have a mother or father behind bars. Bernstein is an award winning journalist and former Soros Justice Media Fellow at the Open Society Institute of New York.
Professor Renny Golden is a criminologist, published poet, and activist for social rights in El Salvador and Guatemala. Golden is the author of War on the Family: Mothers in Prison and the Children They Leave Behind.
This event is organized by, the New Mexico Women’s Justice Project, Inc. (NMWJP) and PB&J Family Services, Inc. Co-sponsors include the Women’s Agenda, NM Voices for Children, Drug Policy Alliance- NM, New Mexico Coalition to Repeal the Death Penalty, NM Criminal Defense Lawyers Association; Southwest Women’s Law Center; American Civil Liberties Union of New Mexico (ACLU-NM) and Coalition for Justice.
NMWJP aims to achieve justice and fairness for New Mexico women, children, and their families impacted by the criminal justice, delinquency, and abuse/neglect systems. PB& J Family Services, Inc. is a non-profit social services agency that serves families with significant challenges, including those with incarcerated parents.
The estimated total numbers of women incarcerated in NM on a given day is 1150 to 1200 and most are incarcerated for non-violent crimes - property and drug offenses. The Corrections Department is projecting a female inmate population growth of 3.3% over the next ten years. Over 85% of incarcerated women are mothers, which impacts several thousand children in New Mexico.
####