A decade ago, the National Council for Incarcerated and Formerly Incarcerated Women and Girls marched on Washington, bringing together hundreds of women and girls who had experienced firsthand the torture and devastation wrought on their families by mass incarceration. These women and girls - who had been incarcerated or had suffered as a mother, sister, or daughter was incarcerated - were brought together by one message: Free Her Now.

Ten years later, more women and girls are incarcerated than ever before. Today, that number is six times higher than it was in 1980. Mothers are being separated from their children and grandchildren, daughters cannot care for aging parents, and families experience catastrophic loss - of loved ones, housing, jobs, and security.

And so we must march again. On April 24, 2024, The National Council, Giving Others Dreams, Talk 2 Me Foundation, Women’s Justice Institute, Beyond the Walls the Movement, Art From the Heart, and Illinois Alliance for Reentry & Justice, along with many other organizations and individuals impacted by the criminal legal system, their families and families of current incarcerated women and girls from all across the US will once again descend on the nation’s capital to fight for reproductive justice in every way possible including demanding the end of incarceration of women and girls; the full restoration of voting rights for women and girls regardless of conviction or incarceration status; the restoration of rights for women returning from prisons and jails; comprehensive and need-specific access to reentry services, such as community-designed and delivered accountability, supportive and transitional housing; and the reimagining of communities as places of care and support.