Stark Conversation with Jennifer Toon: The Devaluing of Women Within the Legal System

Today, on Stark Conversations, I discuss the devaluing of girls and women in the legal system with Jennifer Toon, the Project Director for Lioness Justice Impacted Women’s Alliance. A nonprofit led by formerly incarcerated women who envision a society where all women are spiritually, emotionally, mentally and physically free from violence and harm in the criminal legal system. 

Our conversation focuses on:

• The unique issues girls and women face when they enter and exit the legal system.

• How investments in intervention prevent acts of survival that many commit that end in incarceration.

• Menstruation, White Uniforms and shaming in prisons

• Child Birth in Prisons

• There is a need for more resources for many women and girls in the legal system compared to men.

• The extreme lack of temperature control and ready access to water in the prison system.

• If 95-97% of incarcerated people are released, why are we denying them the resources to heal and recover while incarcerated?

• Jennifer reminds us that prison is a consequence, not a form of torture designed to dehumanize inmates.

• The saving grace of sisterhood with incarcerated women.