What about the Children?

This card was made for a Drug War POW by her son.

Families without children are targeted by the Drug Warriors, as well. Click here to read about a couple who havebeen separated by the US INS officials over a 30-year old marijuana arrest.

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Women and children truly bear the brunt of the Drug War. Women are the "hidden body count" and children are the "unseen victims." The children of prisoners lose one or both of their parents, forcing them to fend for themselves, to be taken in by relatives or family friends, or to live in foster or group homes. Psychologists have compared the loss of one's parents to the prison system to experiencing a death in the nuclear family. Parents and children grieve each other's absence, and miss them in their lives.

It is difficult for children to cope with all these significant losses in their lives, which may result in behavioral problems, failure in school, and overall dysfunction. They feel angry lonely, abandoned, and alienated. As a result, the children of prisoners are five times more likely to end up in prison than are other children.

The family is truly a casualty of the Drug War. Brothers and sisters are often separated from each other in the breakup of their families. Asset forfeitures seize family homes, cars, and savings, leaving many families homeless with no transportation and no money.

Too often, children watch in horror as DEA agents break down their front door, throw their parents to the floor and aim guns at their heads. Even the children themselves are frequently kept detained at gunpoint for hours.

What will become of these children?

• Over 75% of the female prisoners in the United States are mothers.
• It costs taxpayers $20,000 a year per child for foster care.
• About 1.5 million children have a parent behind bars today.

Sources: 1996 Prison Law Project of the National Lawyers Guild. 1995, Bureau of Justice statistics

"They have made orphans of
the children. They cry and
miss their parents whom they
love and were good to them."

-- Winnie Crowley,
mother of Jodie Israel

"I have four children who all live with family, but in separate homes and towns. My oldest son lives with my husband's mother. My husband draws beautiful pictures and my little son keeps each and every one of them in a box, three years worth. One night, he asked his grandma if he could sleep with the box. She went into his room later, and he had fallen asleep with his arm over the box... the only real part of his father he knows."

Jodie Israel

Serving 11 years for marijuana conspiracy.

Her husband, Calvin Treiber is serving 29 years.

Women, children: Victims of the Drug War.

Nancy Simmons' twins spent their
first birthday in the prison
visiting room with their mother.

The women are the "hidden body count" and their children are the "unseen victims." Children of prisoners lose one or both of their parents, forcing them to fend for themselves, to be taken in by relatives, or to live in foster homes. Brothers and sisters are often separated from each other in the breakup of their families. Asset forfeitures seize family homes, cars, and savings, leaving many families homeless with no transportation - and no money.

Too often, children watch in horror as DEA agents break down their front door, throw their parents to the floor and aim guns at their heads. The children themselves are frequently kept at gun point for hours.

Nancy Simmons

age 43, serving 10 years, charged with conspiracy to distribute cocaine

"I am serving this ten year sentence in a Minimum Security Prison. They call it a Prison Camp. I am such a danger to society that I am in a prison that has no fences, no bars, no prison cell. There are only one to two officers on the compound that are watching (baby-sitting) us. Some 300 to 325 women are here.

"Everyday when my children are spread apart from each other, someone is preparing their daily meal at dinner time. About 400 miles away, their mother is sitting on a bunk bed, listening to music, crocheting, reading, writing a letter or just relaxing ... something is terribly wrong with this picture. There are other alternatives to this situation; solutions that would benefit the welfare of the children."

Lovetta Clark

Age 43, serving 30 years

charged with conspiracy to
import and distribute cocaine

Marcella Robinson

sentenced to 10 years for LSD

She has been deprived of her child's early development years;

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