Press Release

November 14, 2002

Russell Sage Foundation awards $128K to Robert LaLonde and Susan George for Incarcerated Mothers study

The research project conducted by Harris School Professor Robert LaLonde and Harris School Senior Research Associate Susan George on imprisoned women in Illinois has recently received a great deal of attention from funders, other researchers, and the community. LaLonde and George have been awarded grants from the Open Society Institute, the Chicago Community Trust, and most recently the Russell Sage Foundation. During the last few months, George has made presentations to the Congressional Black Caucus, and the Chicago Urban League; and has been twice interviewed on WVON. In addition, the University of Chicago Chronicle recently reported on their research.

The $128,000 grant from the Russell Sage Foundation will support the portion of their research focusing on the pre- and post-incarceration employment of the women in the study and its impact on family stability. This is the third grant received to date for the Project on Female Prisoners and Their Children, a multi-year project tracking, for the years 1990-2000, the histories of the approximately14, 000 women admitted to prison in Illinois and their estimated 35,000 children, as they move through the criminal justice system, foster care, welfare programs, and the legitimate labor market. The Chicago Community Trust grant is underwriting both the creation of a database that will serve as a foundation for the entire research effort, as well as the development and implementation of a plan to disseminate the data to policy makers. A grant from the Open Society Institute will be used to analyze the data in terms of the well-being of children.