Women Against Mass Incarceration (WAMI) is a left-of-center criminal justice advocacy group located in Bridgeport, Connecticut, that operates an advocacy campaign on behalf of left-of-center criminal justice policies, including supporting reentry efforts and protections for women with convictions for violent crimes. The group provides resources and training for women in jail or prison as well as those recently released. The group also promotes policies loosening sentencing and appears to oppose women being held in custody for any reason, stating on its website that “Women do not belong in cages, and we are so proud of the women we’ve helped in the past with our compassionate release work.” Funders of the organization include Borealis Philanthropy, the Haymarket People’s Fund, and Resist. ^{1 2 3}

Background

Women Against Mass Incarceration was founded in 2015 by Tiheba Bain, who concurrently has held roles with the National Council for Incarcerated and Formerly Incarcerated Women and Girls, and the ACLU-CT Smart Justice project. ⁴

The group is located in Connecticut, focuses on campaigns throughout the state to provide reentry services to female convicts, and conducts advocacy campaigns supporting increased clemency and pardons for individuals. Other services of the group include a “number of hands-on initiatives, such as postcard writing and packing up care kits to be distributed in the women’s correctional facilities” with which the group works with religious groups as partners. ⁵

Connecticut Testimony

In 2019, Women Against Mass Incarceration founder Tiheba Bain testified before the Connecticut state legislature in support of a bill “concerning discrimination based on a person’s criminal history,” stating that individuals returning from incarceration, including those convicted of violent crimes, experience “trauma” when attempting to reenter society as they try to find jobs, housing, and educational opportunities. Bain delivered the testimony on behalf of both WAMI and the National Council for Incarcerated and Formerly Incarcerated Women and Girls. ⁶

Bain revealed in her testimony that she herself was convicted of a violent crime 16 years prior and detailed that she had trouble finding a job subsequently. ⁷

Activity

Women Against Mass Incarceration operates several programs including the Women Living with Violent Convictions coalition, which states that it is “building a campaign to make women living with violent convictions a protected class, legally.” The coalition wants to include women with violent-crime convictions in criminal justice leniency bills that generally cover individuals with nonviolent convictions. ⁸

The group also has a Court Watch Connecticut program that includes individual volunteers watching and reporting on court proceedings with a goal to “harness the power of the people to organize for transformative change toward abolition” and “hold court actors accountable to ending the injustices in the criminal legal system that target Black, brown, indigenous, immigrant/migrant, queer, and TGNC communities.” ⁹

The group’s pardon and clemency work area claims that Connecticut has “recently and unjustly cracked down on regulations regarding clemency” further stating “Women do not belong in cages, and we are so proud of the women we’ve helped in the past with our compassionate release work.” ¹⁰

Funders

Listed funders of Women Against Mass Incarceration include Borealis Philanthropy, the Haymarket People’s Fund, Resist, the City of Bridgeport, Circle For Justice Innovations, Fairfield County’s Community Foundation, Peace Development Fund, Sparkplug Foundation, the Tow Foundation, and the National Council for Incarcerated and Formerly Incarcerated Women and Girls. ¹¹

1. “Supporters.” Women Against Mass Incarceration. Accessed May 20, 2024. https://www.wamict.org/supporters
2. “Sentence Commutation and Clemency.” Women Against Mass Incarceration. Accessed May 20, 2024. https://www.wamict.org/copy-of-re-entry-aid-community-enga
3. “Home.” Women Against Mass Incarceration. Accessed May 20, 2024. https://www.wamict.org/
4. “Tiheba Bain.” LinkedIn Profile. Accessed May 20, 2024. https://www.linkedin.com/in/tiheba-bain-52549961/details/experience/
5. “Connecticut Area Members Meet Tibeha Williams Bane of Women Against Mass Incarceration.” Order of Malta American Association. January 25, 2023. Accessed May 20, 2024. https://orderofmaltaamerican.org/2023/01/25/connecticut-area-members-meet-tibeha-williams-bane-of-women-against-mass-incarceration/
6.  “Written Testimony of Tiheba Bain” Women Against Mass Incarceration. Accessed May 20, 2024. https://www.cga.ct.gov/2019/labdata/tmy/2019HB-06921-R000226-Bain,%20Tiheba,%20Founder-Women%20Against%20Mass%20Incarceration-Criminal%20HIstory%20Discrimination-TMY.PDF
7. “Written Testimony of Tiheba Bain” Women Against Mass Incarceration. Accessed May 20, 2024. https://www.cga.ct.gov/2019/labdata/tmy/2019HB-06921-R000226-Bain,%20Tiheba,%20Founder-Women%20Against%20Mass%20Incarceration-Criminal%20HIstory%20Discrimination-TMY.PDF
8. “Women Living with Violent Convictions.” Women Against Mass Incarceration. Accessed May 20, 2024. https://www.wamict.org/copy-of-moving-on
9. ^[1] “Court Watch.” Women Against Mass Incarceration. Accessed May 20, 2024. https://www.wamict.org/copy-of-justice-tech-apps
10. Sentence Commutation and Clemency.” Women Against Mass Incarceration. Accessed May 20, 2024. https://www.wamict.org/copy-of-re-entry-aid-community-enga
11. “Supporters.” Women Against Mass Incarceration. Accessed May 20, 2024. https://www.wamict.org/supporters