This issue intersects across many fields: social work, the criminal justice system, medical care, child care, family systems. How can we implement more just systems that promote mothers who are imprisoned? Social workers must invest in creating community-based programs to help alleviate the root causes of incarceration; Create programs that connect children to their mothers who are incarcerated; Create programs that help children and new caregivers process the loss of their mothers to the criminal justice system.

The United States criminal justice systems must rise to the occasion and create less harsh sentencing for low-level crimes, invest in alternatives-to-incarceration and address the sexual-assault-to-prison pipeline

US studies show that 23% to 37% of female prisoners reported that they had been physically or sexually abused prior to the age of 18.

The Guardian