Support visits for incarcerated moms and kids!

Visitation between incarcerated mothers and children has always been extremely challenging. Prisons tend to be built far from major population centers, and many families do not have the transportation and funds to drive. For example, the two main women's prisons in Illinois are each 180 miles away from Chicago. Guardians are often grandmothers who struggle with health issues, and so making the journey is difficult. Paperwork and visitation rules are a further complication. Then COVID came, and what visitation there was came to a screeching halt that has only reopened to a trickle of previous visits. 

THAT'S WHERE YOU COME IN! We are relaunching the Reunification Ride visits to Logan and Decatur in honor of Mother's Day. After over two years of no visits, we hope to restart visitation this May. 

Unfortunately, the costs for to restart visitation are high. We will need to repurchase many supplies, including insurance. We will need to organize families who used to participate and reach out to many new families (unfortunately new families are still being separated daily by the system). We will also need to pay for buses at a time when transportation costs are sky rocketing. 

Luckily, we have a few private donors so far that will make a big dent in costs. However, we estimate that we still need to raise about $5,000 to have enough buses to visit both prisons. Any extra funds would be used to fund future visits (an ongoing cost of about $4,000 each month)! Please consider a donation to make this a reality for so many families who have been unable to see each other for far, far too long. 

If you would like to make a larger donation, please reach out to alexis@womensjusticeinstitute.org so that we can arrange a direct donation without any fees. Tax receipts are available for all donations.