Women Living with Violent Convictions
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"We empower these women to take control of their own histories and stories to highlight, rather than diminish, themselves as people with valuable insight and experiences."
ABOUT
WLVC is a WAMI-founded and led coalition of women around the nation working for freedom, justice, and better futures for all.
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The WLVC coalition has three main aims. The first is inwardly focused. We hope to build a network of women living with violent convictions around the country. Through group trainings and convenings, we empower these women to take control of their own histories and stories to highlight, rather than diminish, themselves as people with valuable insight and experiences. Secondly, we are building a campaign to make women living with violent convictions a protected class, legally. The issue of the treatment of women living with violent convictions should be made known and public, and our campaign is instrumental in doing this. We aim to have our women make themselves known in public and political spaces, work together to write bills and draft legislation that will forever remove the carveouts found in all legislation regarding re-entry after incarceration, and make women living with violent convictions a protected class.
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WAMI also hosts a speaker series which advocates for and emphasizes the complex stories of women living with violent convictions, hosted by our founder and executive director, Tiheba Bain. You can find content from our speaker series here on our site, on Facebook, and on Instagram.
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WHY IS THIS PROJECT IMPORTANT?
Women who have been incarcerated with violent convictions have an exponentially more difficult time re-entering society after release from prison than any other group of individuals. They are discriminated against on both the account of their gender and their history, and thus have an incredibly difficult time after release from prison, and struggle to find housing, gain employment, rebuild their families, and more. The topic of discrimination against women living with violent convictions has never been at the forefront of discussions having to do with incarceration — it is an issue that has always been ignored. The goal of our Women Living with Violent Convictions coalition is to fight against this.
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"The topic of discrimination against women living with violent convictions has never been at the forefront of discussions having to do with incarceration — it is an issue that has always been ignored.
Our Work
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Created a speakers series to highlight the stories of women who are currently living with the realities of violent convictions.
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Created a digital registry that explains what counts as a violent conviction in all 50 states and provides resources for those who are living with these convictions.