Publisher's Synopsis
This joint report by Human Rights Watch and the American Civil Liberties Union documents the harms suffered by women who have minor children and who are entering or leaving pretrial detention in Oklahoma jails. A study conducted by the US Bureau of Justice Statistics reported that a majority of incarcerated mothers were the sole or primary caretaker of minor children prior to their incarceration, which means that their children can end up either with other relatives or in foster care. Jailed mothers often feel acute pressure to plead guilty so that they can return home to their children, and upon release may have difficulty regaining child custody. Human Rights Watch and the ACLU urge Oklahoma and other states to consider alternatives that would facilitate involvement of incarcerated parents in. their children's lives.
