On any given day, there are 190,600 women and girls incarcerated in the U.S., according to the Prison Policy Initiative (PPI). An additional 93,000 women are held in jails, with the majority (51,000) not having been convicted of a crime.

“In many states, women’s incarceration rates are continuing to grow faster than men’s,” PPI notes. “But the experiences of women – as well as trans and nonbinary people – are too often lost, because men comprise the vast majority of the incarcerated population.”

The Women’s Justice Commission – launched in July of last year as part of the Council on Criminal Justice (CCJ) – is working to raise awareness around the issues women face as part of the justice system, including access to the workforce post-incarceration.

Challenges Faced by Women Impacted by the Justice System

Topeka K. Sam, D.Div. is the founder and CEO of The Ladies of Hope Ministries (The LOHM) and a member of the commission, chaired by former U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch. Other members come from a variety of backgrounds. “There are people from academia. We have a sheriff, a legislator, justice-impacted women, people who work in corrections,” explains Sam.

Sam, herself, served three-and-a-half years in a federal prison. “We have really healthy conversations. There’s areas that sometimes we often don’t agree, because some of us have lived in prisons and some have worked in prisons.”

“We come together to create recommendations, to be a guide for people in corrections, in law enforcement, to support women and women-specific issues – focus on what’s happening with women because so often we are left out of the conversation.”

The Commission meets four times annually and is set to release its first recommendations and findings focused on the arrest, pretrial, and sentencing phases this summer around its first anniversary, according to the CCJ.

“A second set of findings and recommendations focusing on correctional conditions, programs and services, and reentry is slated for fall 2026. Both reports will identify actionable strategies to safely reduce the number of women involved in the justice system and improve outcomes at every stage,” the CCJ says.

Sam adds, “We’ll come out with our products and, hopefully, we will see substantial change and then we can work on something else.”

Workforce Pathways for Women

Women who have been incarcerated struggle to enter the workforce for various reasons including limited work histories, the high cost of childcare, and difficulty earning licenses and certifications required for in-demand industries, according to a preliminary assessment from the CCJ.

“Contemporary national data on post-release employment outcomes, however, are lacking, and results from analyses using older data show mixed findings.” But CCJ notes, “Women consistently made, on average, $3,200 to $7,200 less per year than men.”

Before she was incarcerated, Sam had an extensive resume including a position with Amtrak. “While I was in, we didn’t have career development or any type of programming that would help us in a workforce,” she recalls.

“The offering for me was a GED. I didn’t need that. You have to pay for correspondence courses, and you can’t afford that on a prison salary.

“The other continuing education courses they had were knitting, crocheting, and beading. How is that going to help you be competitive for the workforce post-incarceration? Men had CDL training, welding, HVAC – things that are skilled trades that they could come out and really start a career.”

The Work of the Ladies of Hope Ministries

“Ultimately, the one thing that people can’t take from you is when you create your own,” says Sam. “That’s why I created a pathway of entrepreneurship for myself. I did not want to have to emotionally experience more trauma on top of the years that I experienced while incarcerated – to be told that I’m unworthy of a chance or an opportunity based on a mistake or a choice that I made in my life that I actually paid my debt for.”

Sam founded The LOHM in 2017 “to support women and girls who are impacted by the criminal legal system.”

Among the LOHM programs is Pathways 4 Equity – “designed to prepare justice-impacted women for the modern workforce and advocate for fair-chance employment.” The program consists of two tracks: Digital and Professional Skills Training – and Career Ready Fellowship.

The organization is also working “to advance equity through business partnerships that support the expansion of hiring policies and diversity, equity, and inclusion practices.”

‘These things can be used in my everyday life’

The New York-based Women’s Prison Association was founded in 1845 and helps women “forge pathways toward freedom, safety, and independence.”

“Our transitional services offer employment services, specifically, in our workforce development department to women who are justice-impacted or at risk for being justice impacted,” explains Janet K. Cooper, senior director of community-based programs and workforce development at WPA.

“What that means is that they enroll into our program as regular intake, enroll into one of our cohorts that is a seven-week program where the women learn a range of different topics and receive a certificate with hopes to being placed in a job opportunity.”

The programs include one in customer service and a newly-launched small business bootcamp.

Cooper says for those who finished the customer service program in January, their information was provided to Education Data Systems Incorporated.

EDSI works with the city of New York’s Workforce 1 organization which is responsible for helping the participants with placement upon graduation.

She notes, “This is an interesting highlight – two of [the graduates] did not finish the cohort because they got jobs. We graduated 14, and they are preparing for job placement with our provider.”

Cooper says the participants’ response has been positive. “My idea is, what skills can we pour into the ladies that can be used just about anywhere? Some of the feedback that we got from our first cohort said, ‘Customer service is everywhere, technically.’ That was really powerful to hear…these things can be used in my everyday life.”

From Bootcamp to Jobs and Entrepreneurship

Regarding the bootcamp, Cooper says, “Our ladies are learning and developing their own business. They’ll have the opportunity to pitch their businesses in June and in September at conferences to some really important folks – and, possibly, some folks that will hopefully turn these ideas into something grand.”

The first bootcamp cohort concluded last month with 21 participants receiving program completion certificates.

Cooper says the workforce programs also address wellness during the orientation process to help the cohort members feel more comfortable and confident. She says the wellness workshop covers topics including conflict resolution, problem-solving skills – which she says is helpful for participants who have limited work experience.

Last year, WPA served 1,690 clients, including two cohorts of 20 women in the workforce development programs.