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Statement

Moms Group Urges Mitch McConnell To Bring Sentencing Reform to a Floor Vote in the Senate

March 17, 2016
Maternal Health

Lisa Lederer, 202-371-1996

MomsRising, an organization of more than one million mothers and their families, is calling on Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell to bring S.2123, the Sentencing Reform and Corrections Act to a floor vote in the Senate. The Sentencing Reform and Corrections Act of 2015 was voted out of committee more than four months ago but has since stalled on the Senate floor.  
 
Kristin Rowe-Finkbeiner, CEO and executive director of MomsRising, issued the following statement calling on Senator McConnell to take immediate action:
 
“The U.S. has the highest incarceration rate in the world. With over one million women now incarcerated or under criminal justice supervision in our country, women are the fastest growing segment of people behind bars. That means too many families are separated; too many confused children are left to struggle and to get by without the love and support of their mothers.
 
“The Sentencing Reform and Corrections Act would help make crucial changes to our justice system that would give nonviolent offenders the second chance they deserve, and would ultimately help reunite women and mothers with their families. While a vote on this bill is not a complete fix, it is a much needed first step in ending the suffering of more than 2.7 million children who are missing a parent, or even worse, are on their own."
 
“It is long past time that the Senate move forward his legislation. Each day that nothing is done is another day that families are unnecessarily kept apart. Kids and their parents can’t afford to wait any longer—and our economy can’t either!”
 
The United States has the highest incarceration rate in the world. More than 2.7 million children in America have a parent who is currently incarcerated. More than 1 million women, mostly mothers, are behind bars in the US and nearly two-thirds of the women in federal prisons are serving time for nonviolent drug offenses.
 
Nearly 20,000 MomsRising members have signed a petition to Congress urging a vote on the Sentencing Reform and Corrections Act of 2015 this session.
 
 

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MomsRising.org is an on-the-ground and online grassroots organization of more than a million people who are working to increase family economic security, decrease discrimination against women and moms, and to build a nation where businesses and families can thrive. Established in 2006, MomsRising and its members are organizing and speaking out to improve public policy and to change the national dialogue on issues that are critically important to America’s families, including criminal justice reform, immigration policy reform, and gun safety. MomsRising is working for paid family and medical leave, affordable, high quality childcare and early learning, and for an end to the wage and hiring discrimination which penalizes women — particularly moms and women of color — and so many others. MomsRising advocates for access to healthy food for all kids, health care for all, earned sick days, and breastfeeding rights so that all children can have a healthy start. MomsRising maintains a Spanish language website: MamásConPoder.org. Sign up online at www.MomsRising.org — and follow us on our blog, and on Twitter and Facebook.