“I have seen the devastating impact that incarceration has had on families. For the women and children left behind, it can deepen poverty and hopelessness.” ~Alicia Keys

This devastation can’t be ignored. The U.S. has a higher incarceration rate than any other nation in the world. Two-thirds of the women in the federal prison system, most of whom are mothers, are incarcerated for nonviolent drug offenses. Women are the fastest growing segment of the incarcerated population. This excessive incarceration is harming our nation, our economy and our families while for-profit prison corporations earn billions of dollars.

This is a problem that we can, and we must, fix.

*Take a moment now to sign on to our Valentine’s Day card along with Alicia Keys to tell Congress: Take action on criminal justice reform for the good of our families and economy now.

http://action.momsrising.org/sign/alicia_keys_valentines/?source=blog

Together we can have an impact! This week, Alicia Keys released a Valentine’s video message to Speaker Paul Ryan, asking him to bring criminal justice reform to a vote. Will you add your name? Help us flood Speaker Paul Ryan’s office on Valentine’s Day with your voice.

Sign on to our Valentine’s Day card to tell Congress: Take action to keep families together and reunite those unjustly torn apart by excessive incarceration.

http://action.momsrising.org/sign/alicia_keys_valentines/?source=blog

Currently, the U.S. spends $80 billion a year on incarceration and 1 out of every 100 Americans is behind bars. A shocking 70 million Americans have a criminal record. Five million U.S. children have had at least one parent imprisoned, with black, poor, and rural children being affected most. Our system of justice has gotten out of control, bloated, and unfair.

Excessive incarceration is a problem for all of us—it hurts our families, our communities, and our economy. We only have a few months left to pass criminal justice reform under President Obama, and Speaker Paul Ryan is one of the few people who can help make it happen.

Join MomsRising and Alicia Keys in sending Speaker Ryan a real-life Valentine card asking him to let Congress vote on reform. Valentine's Day is all about love, so it's the perfect time to remind him why this matters. With your help, we can reunite loved ones who've been unjustly torn apart by excessive incarceration.

Speak out NOW for justice reform! Join Alicia Keys and MomsRising in urging Congress to “Keep families together and reunite those unjustly torn apart by excessive incarceration.”

When you click the link above, you’ll show that you support reforming our broken criminal justice system. Lawmakers depend on hearing from us to know what they should prioritize and—with strong bipartisan support—this is a critical time for our representatives to hear from us!

We are closer than ever before to taking steps towards justice reform. Right now, both houses of Congress have introduced comprehensive justice reform legislation, but it’s not yet at the top of their
priority list. Let’s make sure Congress knows families care about reforming our justice system and decreasing excessive incarceration—and we want it done this year.

Sign on now! Demand that Congress take action to roll back the incarceration industry in America.

http://action.momsrising.org/sign/alicia_keys_valentines/?source=blog

With the largest U.S. prison population in the world—about 2.2 million people—too many families are negatively impacted by our criminal justice system. In too many neighborhoods, young people of color are more likely to go to prison than to college and women, the majority of whom are in prison for nonviolent drug offenses, are the fastest growing segment of the incarcerated population.