It is common knowledge that there is a high probability that 70% of women released from a penal institution back into society with no counseling, rehabilitation, resources and limited or no job training will result in being re-institutionalized.

Research has also shown that there is a lack of organizations that are targeted to working specifically with former incarcerated women in an effort to assist with their social/economic skills and placing them in jobs.

Women offenders are not waking up saying, "I want to do crime today"; there are underlying conditions that have caused them to commit a crime.

• 60% of women prisoners have mental health problems.
• 35% have attempted suicide.
• 25% have been in the foster care system as children
• At least 50% report being victims of childhood abuse or domestic violence
• Nearly 45% of women prisoners lose their homes as a result of imprisonment
• Nearly 60% of women have no family support
• 70% re-offend on release or shortly thereafter.
• Common offences for which women are sent to prison are theft, prostitution, drug use.
• A prison bed costs around $31,000 a year.
• The women's prison population went up over 12% from 2005-2006.
• Prison is often a very expensive way of making bad situations worse.

Many women within the penal system have gone through punishment all their lives. Punishing women by locking them up and giving them no understanding of why they commit crime is not helping them understand their problem. It is only contributing to the cycle of a high recidivism rate.