CRANSTON, R.I. – December 12, 2007 – The Rhode Island Department of Corrections is pleased to announce a new brochure designed to provide helpful information to family and friends of incarcerated women at the state’s two women’s prison facilities, the Gloria McDonald Women’s Awaiting Trial & Medium Security Facility and the Dorothea Dix Women’s Minimum Security Facility. The new brochure, which is posted on the Department’s website (www.doc.ri.gov) under Facilities, is similar to the new brochure available at the Intake Service Center for the friends and family members of men at Intake, a project initiated by two sociology students at Bryant University.
“We liked the idea of being able to offer a resource to the family and friends of women incarcerated in Rhode Island,” notes Carole Dwyer, Warden of women’s facilities. “When someone’s mom, sister, aunt, grandmother, wife, or girlfriend is incarcerated, even briefly, it can be very stressful for loved ones who are unfamiliar with the system. Most of the information is available on our website, but we know that many of our inmates’ family and friends don’t use computers and would prefer something they can take away that’s straightforward and easy to read.”
The brochure includes sections on visiting information, inmate accounts, mail procedures, and telephone usage. A Spanish translation will soon be available. There were approximately 275 women incarcerated between the two facilities as of December 10th, 2007.