New Beginnings is about cutting costs and creating contributing citizens.

From PRISIONTALK.COM, posted by Debi P

I think the system isn’t geared toward rehabilitation. That’s the key . . . unless you show a person another way and give them the tools to make change, let them know that they don’t have to be reduced to a number; they will continue the behavior that they know. It’s so simple…I don’t know…I don’t have the answers, but the way the system works today isn’t working.

If national statistics hold true locally, Washington state’s women’s prison population is growing at an alarming rate, in fact, faster than that of men.

This is what we know:

Nearly 75% of the female prison population serves sentences for non-violent crimes

1% of American’s female population is in prison

29% of women in state prisons suffer mental illness

1 in 3 inmates serves a drug related sentence

Only 1/5 th of the prison population comprises violent offenders

Approximately 80% of women in prison suffered childhood abuse

Women’s crimes have become less violent but are recently punished more harshly

Fewer women than men have access to programs and services while in prison

On the national average, women spend 17 hours a day confined in cells, 1 hour of exercise outside

2 of 3 are mothers of young children; 60% of these children live with someone other than their fathers and live more than 100 miles from the prison, making visits nearly impossible.

58% have not finished high school

Few ever held a job that paid more than $6.50 an hour

40% of adult inmates are functionally illiterate

Education is the number one factor in reducing recidivism

Contact Info:

12300 SW Sidney Road
Port Orchard
Washington 98367
360.895.2426