With Mother’s Day this weekend, a protest rally is planned for noon today on the issue of women in Iowa’s prisons. Pat Forret (FOR’-it) is a leader of the group “Friends of Iowa Women Prisoners” which is holding the rally. The rally in Des Moines is among 19 in cities nationwide today, all under the theme “Mothers in Prison, Children in Crisis.” Forret says there’s always so much talk about getting tough on crime that few people are very sympathetic to the group’s efforts. Forret says two decades ago, there were only ten-thousand women in U-S prisons. Today there are more than 146-thousand. At the rally, Forret expects family members of women now in prison as well as former inmates. The rally is scheduled for noon on the west steps of the state capitol.
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