Get Involved
Your support is vital to our work at WAMI
Help fuel our mission & aid more justice-impacted women
WAMI is working on multiple projects that help us to achieve our mission and give back to our community
Here are a few of our many projects
WAMI Youth Peer Court
WAMI Youth Peer Court
"They have been proven to reduce recidivism rates, increase community engagement, and make prominent restorative justice models. "
WAMI’s Youth Peer Court program is the one and only youth court in Connecticut. Youth courts are a restorative justice-based alternative to the traditional juvenile criminal legal system where teenagers act as the judges, jurors, victim advocates, and attorneys. Youth courts divert misdemeanor cases that would otherwise be tried by juvenile court, traffic court, or a school disciplinary board. High schoolers and college students are the attorneys, judges, and jury members in youth courts. Youth juries determine the sentences, often a certain number of community service hours, along with essays, counseling, or a requirement to serve on the youth court jury in the future. They have been proven to reduce recidivism rates, increase community engagement, and make prominent restorative justice models.
Why is this project important?
Our youth peer court program is based in Bridgeport, CT. We work with student volunteers from the community and have close partnerships with high schools in Bridgeport, who, rather than treating their students with regressive punishment methods such as suspensions and detentions, allow us to utilize restorative justice and community directed service. Our youth peer court model has been advised by other courts in New York, as well as the CT Juvenile Justice Policy and Oversight Committee.
Our Work
Wrote Introductory letters for students, schools, courts, police, and the Juvenile Justice Policy and Oversight Committee.
Met with entities such as the Juvenile Justice Policy and Oversight Committee and the Center for Justice Innovation.
Moving On
Moving On
"They have been proven to reduce recidivism rates, increase community engagement, and make prominent restorative justice models. "
Moving On: A Program for At-Risk Women is a curriculum developed by clinical psychologist Marilyn Van Dieten, who has worked to help turn the lives of incarcerated individuals around for more than two decades.
This program empowers currently incarcerated women to move forward from negative past experiences by strengthening their sense of self through learning new skills, which include how to maintain healthy relationships, express emotions, and be assertive.
Why is this project important?
WAMI plans to implement Moving On in various Connecticut jails and prisons, such as the York Correctional Institution, in order to empower women to create a better future for themselves and achieve their goals. Then, in alignment with WAMI’s goals and mission, we hope to train former program participants as facilitators in order to create a supportive environment that encourages self-growth and is grounded in empathy.
Our Work
- Adapted facilitator modules to make them Connecticut-specific.
- Reviewed the original curriculum in order to think critically about how we can implement it in Connecticut.
Women Living With Violent Convictions
Women Living with Violent Convictions
"They have been proven to reduce recidivism rates, increase community engagement, and make prominent restorative justice models. "
WLVC is a WAMI-founded and led coalition of women around the nation working for freedom, justice, and better futures for all.
The WLVC coalition has three main aims. The first is inwardly focused. We hope to build a network of women living with violent convictions around the country. Through group trainings and convenings, we empower these women to take control of their own histories and stories to highlight, rather than diminish, themselves as people with valuable insight and experiences. Secondly, we are building a campaign to make women living with violent convictions a protected class, legally. The issue of the treatment of women living with violent convictions should be made known and public, and our campaign is instrumental in doing this. We aim to have our women make themselves known in public and political spaces, work together to write bills and draft legislation that will forever remove the carveouts found in all legislation regarding re-entry after incarceration, and make women living with violent convictions a protected class.
WAMI also hosts a speaker series which advocates for and emphasizes the complex stories of women living with violent convictions, hosted by our founder and executive director, Tiheba Bain. You can find content from our speaker series here on our site, on Facebook, and on Instagram.
Why is this project important?
Women who have been incarcerated with violent convictions have an exponentially more difficult time re-entering society after release from prison than any other group of individuals. They are discriminated against on both the account of their gender and their history, and thus have an incredibly difficult time after release from prison, and struggle to find housing, gain employment, rebuild their families, and more. The topic of discrimination against women living with violent convictions has never been at the forefront of discussions having to do with incarceration — it is an issue that has always been ignored. The goal of our Women Living with Violent Convictions coalition is to fight against this.
Our Work
Created a speakers series to highlight the stories of women who are currently living with the realities of violent convictions.
Created a digital registry that explains what counts as a violent conviction in all 50 states and provides resources for those who are living with these convictions.
Justice Tech Apps
Justice Tech Apps
"WAMI has worked to create multiple justice-focused web applications that aim to solve multiple of the issues that we are fighting against."
Technology is becoming a more integral part of our society by the day, which is why WAMI believes that we must incorporate this ideal into our mission to fight for justice. In collaboration with Neota Logic, WAMI has worked to create multiple justice-focused web applications that aim to solve multiple of the issues that we are fighting against.
One of the apps we worked on is a forced labor risk detector tool. This app helps users to identify signs of forced labor (labor trafficking or sex trafficking) in situations that either they or a loved one are experiencing. In terms, the app provides users with personalized guidance on how to best respond to their situation. Another app we worked on is a public defender access tool for Connecticut. This app can help a user to learn more about what a public defender does, determine their eligibility for working with a public defender on their case, and receive guidance on how they can work with a public defender if they already have one.
Why is this project important?
Ensuring equitable access to resources is a crucial aspect of our fight for justice. Developing these applications allows us to significantly expand our reach while offering assistance to individuals from diverse life experiences and backgrounds. By doing so, we can empower everyone in our society to live life to their fullest potential by getting the help that they need to succeed.
Our Work
- Crafted a forced labor risk detector tool that provides personalized guidance based on the signs of sex and / or labor trafficking that are present in the user’s situation.
- Built a public defender access tool that enables Connecticut residents to determine their eligibility of obtaining a public defender, gain advice on how to work with one, and learn more about what public defenders do.
Court Watch
Court Watch
" We hold court actors accountable to ending the injustices in the criminal legal system that target Black, brown, indigenous, immigrant/migrant, queer, and TGNC communities"
WAMI’s CourtWatch CT program is the only formal court watching organization active in the state of Connecticut. Our base of courtwatchers is primarily comprised of volunteers, and we a longstanding relationship with groups of students at Yale University, who are some of our active volunteers.
Our goal is to harness the power of the people to organize for transformative change toward abolition. We watch court proceedings, shift power in the courtroom, report what we see, 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.
Why is this project important?
Court watching is an organizing tool that puts everyday people in the courtroom, and helps the public keep the actors and actions of the courts accountable. We watch what goes on in criminal court, and collect data based on our observations. The actions, reports, and campaigns that come from our data and observations aim to shift power in the courtroom and build up community power.
Our primary targets are the District Attorneys (DAs) of each judicial district, as well as the courts’ judges. District Attorneys are the district’s chief prosecutors, and they are very powerful actors in the courtroom as they have the power to decide whether or not to prosecute a case, what charges to bring, whether to request bail, whether to permit a plea, and what sentence to seek. Under each District Attorney works several Assistant District Attorneys, who do the same.
Our Work
Wrote Introductory letters for students, schools, courts, police, and the Juvenile Justice Policy and Oversight Committee.
Met with entities such as the Juvenile Justice Policy and Oversight Committee and the Center for Justice Innovation.
Support Us
Our courtwatching program also informs WAMI’s participatory defense work, which you can learn more about at our participatory defense page. If you are interested in learning more about courtwatching, or starting to volunteer for us, please contact WAMI at courtwatchct@gmail.com.
Re-entry Assistance, Mutual Aid and Community Engagement
Re-entry Assistance, Mutual Aid, and Community Engagement
"We sponsor and teach programs that mentor, educate and empower individuals in and around the community"
We help people returning home after release from prison in finding jobs, housing, and getting back onto their feet. We sponsor and teach programs that mentor, educate and empower individuals in and around the community, from students in school to women staying in the Lucy Baney house.
WAMI also regularly hosts events and drives for events such as our annual backpack event, where we support families and young people in our community by providing book bags and other necessary school supplies. During the COVID-19 Pandemic, we brought 800 care packages to our sisters at the York Correctional Institute, filled with necessary items that they are deprived from, like menstrual products and hand sanitizer.
Why is this project important?
WAMI works as hard as possible, using our resources, to help whomever we can. We donate resources, clothing, money, food, and time to anyone needing it. From paying bail for a proceeding to providing the money to buy resources for a newborn baby, WAMI is willing to help.
Our Work
- Providing school supplies at our annual book bag giveaway event.
- Provided care packages to the York Correctional Institute
Sentence Commutation and Clemency
Sentence Commutation and Clemency
"Much of the people that WAMI serves are currently incarcerated women who are ready to regain their freedom"
Much of the people that WAMI serves are currently incarcerated women who are ready to regain their freedom. We keep in contact with incarcerated women and help them get access to the necessary legal advice or forms to apply for sentence modifications and commutations. If you know someone who is incarcerated and trying to have their sentence modified, please contact us.
Why is this project important?
Connecticut has recently and unjustly cracked down on regulations regarding clemency, but WAMI has been instrumental in bringing incarcerated back home with our clemency work. 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.
Our Work
Advised women to help them receive sentence modifications.
Kept in contact with women to ensure they are able to get the outcomes they deserve.