The vast majority of women in the US prison system are mothers. Nearly 60% of women in the country’s prisons have minor children, and so do 80% of those who are in jail. A large number of them have not even been convicted of a crime, but can’t afford to pay bail. They are overwhelmingly poor, women of color, and disproportionately Black—they couldn’t be more different from Holmes.
Yeah, this wasn't the best framing for this discussion. I think there's something to be said about the awareness she gets and how it's a little frustrating to read media coverage that acts like we've never sent a mother to prison before and don't do it all the time to poor people, and frankly I'll jump on any opportunity to raise the "I don't want to live in a country that routinely violates human rights in its prisons" discussion, but the headline might have overreached a bit.
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