Women's Advocate Ministry

History

In 1983, after having accompanied an accused woman to court and viewing firsthand the criminal justice system at work, Rev. Dr. R. Elinor Hare founded the Women's Advocate Ministry and began its crisis intervention program as a one-person effort. Initially, WAM served women in the Brooklyn criminal and supreme courts, under the auspices of the Brooklyn division of the Council of Churches of New York City. Within six months, however, demands for services were so great that the program was expanded to the courts in Manhattan and Queens, and soon thereafter to the Bronx. After 10 years of service to the organization, Dr. Hare retired in February 1993, and Rev. Annie M. Bovian replaced her as executive director.

Bovian, an ordained United Church of Christ minister, is a graduate of Harvard University School of Divinity, where she also attended Harvard Law School. She initiated the bilingual Hispanic Mother/Child Program for incarcerated mothers. In September 2001, she began a pilot program at the Westchester Valhalla Jail for Women that replicates WAM's Rikers Island program for incarcerated women and their children. In 1997, Bovian, along with Sr. Helen Prejean, author of Dead Man Walking, won the prestigious Lives of Commitment Award at Auburn Theological Seminary for her work with women in the criminal justice system.

Services and Target Population

According to WAM, each year approximately 14,000 women are processed at the Rose M. Singer Correctional Facility at Rikers Island. On any given day, as many as 1,800 women are held at the jail, including pregnant women and women who have just given birth, who are housed with their newborns in the Rikers Island Health Services Nursery Program. During 1999, more than 1,000 of the women who entered the Rikers facility were pregnant, and at least 180 of them gave birth while incarcerated. Because the nursery at the facility can accommodate only 15 babies with their mothers, most of the babies must be immediately placed in foster care or with relatives, which disrupts the maternal bond. Research has indicated that family ties remain a strong factor in released prisoners' successful reentry into the community.

Throughout the years, members of WAM have directed their efforts toward supporting women prisoners and improving their possibilities of integrating back into society and staying out of the criminal justice system. WAM also educates [Page 1046]women about their responsibilities and rights as parents. WAM argues that women prisoners and their newborns should be placed in residential rehabilitation programs, to help them stay together as a family unit. The organization also recommends placing women who need drug treatment in residential programs that allow them to start on the road to recovery while remaining close to their families.

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