CLAIM

Chicago Legal Advocacy for Incarcerated Mothers

Welcome to CLAIM

Visible Voices Member Wenona Thompson and her children. Photo courtesy of Chicago Foundation for Women.

Chicago Legal Advocacy for Incarcerated Mothers (CLAIM) provides legal and educational services to maintain the bond between imprisoned mothers and their children.

CLAIM advocates for policies and programs that benefit families of imprisoned mothers and reduce incarceration of women and girls. (Read more)

Governor Quinn Signs Bill to Protect Pregnant Inmates

Sat, 01/14/2012 - 10:41am |

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newborn baby We are thrilled to report that Governor Quinn signed into law the bill protecting pregnant women against shackling while in Cook County custody. We applaud Governor Quinn and the bill’s lead sponsors, Representative Robyn Gabel and Senator Toi Hutchinson. We thank our 40 coalition partners who worked so hard to pass the bill, especially Mary Dixon and Khadine Bennett of the ACLU of Illinois. We especially thank the courageous, generous women who gave testimony so that mothers will no longer suffer the violations and pain that they survived when they gave birth while in correctional custody.

Wed, 12/21/2011 - 6:43pm |

gail

Child with antlers, reading

One of the hardest things for young kids is not having their mom there on Christmas morning. Until the day when we win the battle against prison sentences for nonviolent offenses, and a policy of keeping families together, it's nice to see this story by the Chicago Tribune's Bonnie Miller Rubin.

Help CLAIM celebrate our policy victory!

Make a donation today to help celebrate CLAIM's hard work to win the new state law protecting pregnant women! We are ecstatic that pregant women in Cook County have greater protection, but more work is needed to extend this protection to women in Illinois prisons. Please consider a donation today to help CLAIM continue to strive to protect human rights, and to support our legal aid and client education programs in the coming year to maintain the mother-child bond.

Quick Facts

More than 16,000 women go to jail annually in Cook County Jail and about 82% are mothers.
About 80% of women detained at Cook County Jail are charged with non-violent crimes and only 1.8% of the 3,100 women admitted to Illinois prisons in 2009 were classified as a high security risk.

Download Fact Sheet

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Because children need their mothers.

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