Free Her March & Rally (South)

While advocates across the country have called for the end of mass incarceration, that rallying cry often ignores the startling rise in the caging of women and girls.

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 and other organizations that represent criminalized women and girls will once again descend on the nation’s capital to demand the end of incarceration of women and girls; the restoration of rights for women returning from prisons and jails, including the right to vote; comprehensive and need-specific access to reentry services, including supportive and transitional housing; the support of pregnant women facing criminalization and the reimagining of communities as places of care and support.

In donating to the FreeHer 2024 March and Rally you will provide financial support for women and girls from the South to attend the march and rally and have their voices heard. All donations will go to the costs of transportation and lodging for formerly incarcerated and directly impacted women and girls. We hope that you will stand with us as we say once again: FreeHer, FreeHer Now.

Women in the South have organized for the liberation of women and girls. Successes have included:

We ask today for you to support our goal of sending 160 women and girls from the 16 Southern states to the Free Her march. We represent: Alabama, Arkansas, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana Maryland, Mississippi, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, and West Virginia.

To meet these goals, the Southern delegation urges your support in one or more of the following ways: