| The Reentry National Media Outreach Campaign offers media tools and resources to support informed discussion, decision making, and action about solution-based reentry programs that foster public safety and support healthy communities. We encourage you to review the diverse materials and consider how you may be able to use them effectively. |
| The Reentry National Media Outreach Campaign acts as a catalyst to encourage solution-based reentry activities. Review this chronicle of public television and community events/actions to gain ideas on what may work in your arena. |
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CHICAGO LEGAL ADVOCACY FOR INCARCERATED MOTHERS (IL)
Program Description Chicago Legal Advocacy for Incarcerated Mothers (CLAIM) was created in 1985 to address the legal needs of female prisoners and their families. Since that time, the organization has become an important source of legal aid to women in prison by providing legal and educational services to help them preserve their families. In addition to working with individuals, CLAIM actively promotes programs and policies that benefit families through public advocacy. In 2002, CLAIM served a total of 1,670 clients through several different programs. CLAIM has on-site client education classes that provide basic information to groups of women about family law issues such as placement, guardianship, the foster care system, termination of parental rights, and domestic relations law. CLAIM also has a volunteer program called the Jail Project. In this program, volunteers at the Cook County Jail teach classes to women about the criminal court system and family law. Each teaching team includes a criminal defense lawyer. Class topics include how to communicate with lawyers, bonds, discovery trials, sentencing, and appeals. The Advocacy Project is run by a staff that includes formerly incarcerated women. Its central component is Visible Voices, a forum that allows members to consider various reentry issues and other policy issues that affect incarcerated mothers and their families. The project provides opportunities for discussion, support, and the sharing of resources as well as referrals. Other
activities include outreach groups conducted for women in the correctional
system and a speaker's bureau that provides training on public speaking
and communication skills. CLAIM also has a panel program, which
is made up of a pool of volunteer paralegals and lawyers who provide
pro bono representation in family law cases. Visible Voices worked
with the Women's International Information Project in 2000, which
resulted in the creation of a 20-minute award-winning video entitled,
"What We Leave Behind." The video challenges stereotypes of women
in prison and looks at the impact imprisonment has on their children.
CLAIM is also one of six partners in Girl Talk, a group that meets
with girls in detention centers. Program Goals Networking, Partnering & Collaboration CLAIM is a founding member of the National Network for Women in Prison. The organization recently collaborated with the Sentencing Project to examine the increase in parental rights termination proceedings for incarcerated mothers. CLAIM also worked with Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch to raise awareness of correctional practices that violated the human rights of Illinois female prisoners. On the local level, CLAIM worked intensively with Chicago Coalition for the Homeless draft legislation to sentence women to a treatment-intensive pilot program in Chicago instead of distant prisons. Outcomes
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