For Women in Prison, Mother's Day is No Holiday
By Akin Salawu,
Posted: 2005-01-21 16:34
S. Epatha Merkerson is a busy lady. Every Wednesday night, 19 million Americans tune in to watch her solve crimes as no-nonsense police Lieutenant Anita Van Buren on the hit NBC drama Law & Order. On top of this, she's somehow managed to star in the upcoming HBO film Lackawanna Blues for producer Halle Berry, dash back to her hometown of Detroit to attend her 77-year-old mother's college graduation, and put the final touches on "The Art of Change," an all-star benefit she's producing the day after Mother's Day to raise money for mothers in prison and those transitioning to life on the outside.
| 150,000 women are in America's prisons. 50% of them are there for drug-related offenses. And a whopping 75% of them are mothers. |
Now is the point when most Hollywood actors would head to the hills for a little R & R. But this award-winning actress of stage, film and television is just getting started. To make absolutely sure her message is heard, Merkerson has enlisted fellow Law & Order stars Jesse L. Martin, Christopher Meloni, and Benjamin Bratt to lend support when she and co-producers Delissa Reynolds and Natasha Ferguson commandeer New York's famed Public Theatre for a May 10th event benefiting Brooklyn-based JusticeWorks Community.
Mega-poets Nikki Giovanni and Sonia Sanchez, as well as recording artists Sweet Honey in the Rock and Valerie Simpson of Ashford & Simpson, have also signed on for the high-energy evening of slam poetry, art and music by ex-prisoner women.
So, how does one of TV's top crime fighters end up fighting for mothers behind bars?
For Merkerson, these women are role models in the rough. "Two years ago, JusticeWorks Community invited me to host a gala," remembers Merkerson. "I met eleven ex-prisoner women. Eight of them either had a masters degree or were pursuing one. All these women really wanted to change their lives. They were seeking knowledge. I was intrigued and humbled when I was near them. I thought this was something I could get involved in."
Despite the crimes the women have — and sometimes haven't — committed, Merkerson believes the difference between their fate and hers is a matter of chance. She credits her mother for keeping her eyes on the prize. "She encouraged me to do what I felt was good and strong and giving. But on the same day I got that encouragement, these women did not. It's so important to have family connections. I've been really lucky."
By all accounts, her lucky break was not shared by the 150,000 women residing in America's prisons. A majority of them are survivors of violent homes, abusive relationships, poverty and even abandonment. 50% of them are in prison for drug-related offenses. And a whopping 75% of them, Merkerson says, are mothers.
"These are young women who made mistakes. To give them these harsh sentences and take them such a distance away from their children..." Merkerson doesn't finish her thought, but the grim truth hangs in the silence: For the largely African American and Latino families ripped apart by a mother's incarceration, the results are often devastating.
Mary-Elizabeth Fitzgerald, Executive Director of JusticeWorks Community, points to the story of one incarcerated woman as an example of this vicious cycle. Safia, a 41-year-old African American woman, battled drug addiction for years before finally being arrested on a felony drug charge. When faced with the choice of admitting Safia — then a mother of six and pregnant with her seventh — to a treatment program or sending her upstate for hard time, a local prosecutor chose prison, believing the low-income single mother would never change her ways. Safia was separated from her children, and like more than 50% of mothers in prison, never received visits from her family during her years behind bars. She gave birth to her youngest child during her first year of incarceration.
"The children are the hidden victims of this cycle of addiction, arrest, conviction and incarceration," says Fitzgerald. "They are forgotten, ripped from their homes and schools, and placed in foster care. Oftentimes family members refuse to tell them the truth of what has happened to their mothers."
It was this image of motherless children that moved Merkerson to first volunteer and then join the board of JusticeWorks. "Their mothers are gone and who's watching them? What are they learning? What are they feeling about themselves?"
According to Fitzgerald, they're feeling extreme bouts of anger, alienation and abandonment. Academic problems and even failure in school are common. "They are prisoners, too," says Fitzgerald. "They are imprisoned by insecurity, low self-esteem and lack of motherly love."
Safia's now-adult daughter Monica puts it in simpler terms: "There were many days and nights I cried just to hear my mother's voice, just to be able to hear and say 'I love you...'"
Producing the "Art of Change" event is one way Merkerson and Fitzgerald are working together to make a change in the lives of these mothers and their children. The event showcases the final results of workshops in photography, sculpture and poetry that JusticeWorks organized for ex-prisoner women. "It's amazing to see them flourish in the middle of all this art," Merkerson exclaims. "These are women who have children and they are really trying to break the cycle. So often we hear the negative and we don't get the success stories. The women I've met are success stories."
And so, at a time when most Americans are dashing into Hallmark stores in search of last-minute Mother's Day cards, or fighting the crowds at Penn Station to get home in time to hug mom in person, Merkerson is headed to a meeting with the event's production crew to prepare for the star-studded affair on Monday night.
"You do what you have to do, when you have to do it," she says. "And if there's something you want to do, you find the time. Volunteering makes Law & Order worth it, because I'm able to function in the community in a very strong and vocal way."
Again, she's reminded of her mother's words of wisdom: "If you believe that you can do it," she would say, "you put your foot forward and you do it." Even over the phone, you can hear her smile. "My mother was real simple with the things she said."
"The Art of Change" will be held on Monday, May 10th at New York's Public Theatre. For more information, please visit www.JusticeWorks.com or email Info@JusticeWorks.com.
Mega-poets Nikki Giovanni and Sonia Sanchez, as well as recording artists Sweet Honey in the Rock and Valerie Simpson of Ashford & Simpson, have also signed on for the high-energy evening of slam poetry, art and music by ex-prisoner women.
So, how does one of TV's top crime fighters end up fighting for mothers behind bars?
For Merkerson, these women are role models in the rough. "Two years ago, JusticeWorks Community invited me to host a gala," remembers Merkerson. "I met eleven ex-prisoner women. Eight of them either had a masters degree or were pursuing one. All these women really wanted to change their lives. They were seeking knowledge. I was intrigued and humbled when I was near them. I thought this was something I could get involved in."
Despite the crimes the women have — and sometimes haven't — committed, Merkerson believes the difference between their fate and hers is a matter of chance. She credits her mother for keeping her eyes on the prize. "She encouraged me to do what I felt was good and strong and giving. But on the same day I got that encouragement, these women did not. It's so important to have family connections. I've been really lucky."
By all accounts, her lucky break was not shared by the 150,000 women residing in America's prisons. A majority of them are survivors of violent homes, abusive relationships, poverty and even abandonment. 50% of them are in prison for drug-related offenses. And a whopping 75% of them, Merkerson says, are mothers.
"These are young women who made mistakes. To give them these harsh sentences and take them such a distance away from their children..." Merkerson doesn't finish her thought, but the grim truth hangs in the silence: For the largely African American and Latino families ripped apart by a mother's incarceration, the results are often devastating.
Mary-Elizabeth Fitzgerald, Executive Director of JusticeWorks Community, points to the story of one incarcerated woman as an example of this vicious cycle. Safia, a 41-year-old African American woman, battled drug addiction for years before finally being arrested on a felony drug charge. When faced with the choice of admitting Safia — then a mother of six and pregnant with her seventh — to a treatment program or sending her upstate for hard time, a local prosecutor chose prison, believing the low-income single mother would never change her ways. Safia was separated from her children, and like more than 50% of mothers in prison, never received visits from her family during her years behind bars. She gave birth to her youngest child during her first year of incarceration.
"The children are the hidden victims of this cycle of addiction, arrest, conviction and incarceration," says Fitzgerald. "They are forgotten, ripped from their homes and schools, and placed in foster care. Oftentimes family members refuse to tell them the truth of what has happened to their mothers."
It was this image of motherless children that moved Merkerson to first volunteer and then join the board of JusticeWorks. "Their mothers are gone and who's watching them? What are they learning? What are they feeling about themselves?"
According to Fitzgerald, they're feeling extreme bouts of anger, alienation and abandonment. Academic problems and even failure in school are common. "They are prisoners, too," says Fitzgerald. "They are imprisoned by insecurity, low self-esteem and lack of motherly love."
Safia's now-adult daughter Monica puts it in simpler terms: "There were many days and nights I cried just to hear my mother's voice, just to be able to hear and say 'I love you...'"
Producing the "Art of Change" event is one way Merkerson and Fitzgerald are working together to make a change in the lives of these mothers and their children. The event showcases the final results of workshops in photography, sculpture and poetry that JusticeWorks organized for ex-prisoner women. "It's amazing to see them flourish in the middle of all this art," Merkerson exclaims. "These are women who have children and they are really trying to break the cycle. So often we hear the negative and we don't get the success stories. The women I've met are success stories."
And so, at a time when most Americans are dashing into Hallmark stores in search of last-minute Mother's Day cards, or fighting the crowds at Penn Station to get home in time to hug mom in person, Merkerson is headed to a meeting with the event's production crew to prepare for the star-studded affair on Monday night.
"You do what you have to do, when you have to do it," she says. "And if there's something you want to do, you find the time. Volunteering makes Law & Order worth it, because I'm able to function in the community in a very strong and vocal way."
Again, she's reminded of her mother's words of wisdom: "If you believe that you can do it," she would say, "you put your foot forward and you do it." Even over the phone, you can hear her smile. "My mother was real simple with the things she said."
"The Art of Change" will be held on Monday, May 10th at New York's Public Theatre. For more information, please visit www.JusticeWorks.com or email Info@JusticeWorks.com.
