Maxine Waters: “Mr. Chairman, I would rather not be here this time of the evening having to strike the last word to stand up for women…”

“Mr. Chairman, I would rather not be here this time of the evening having to strike the last word to stand up for women who cannot stand up for themselves, but since there are those who have chosen to pick on the most vulnerable women, women in prison, those of us who are free, those of us who have a voice, must take this time to speak for those women. It is about time that we show some compassion and understanding regarding this very personal issue. I think it is time that we talk about this issue, at least in ways that we can respect everybody that is involved. Why would this Congress insist on bearing its weight again on this vulnerable population in our Federal prisons? Consider the plight of some of these women. Yes, it has been said here this evening, for whatever reasons, the numbers of women incarcerated is increasing. Those numbers, for whatever reasons, are getting higher and higher. Many of them are being convicted on conspiracy charges. Many of these women have not been proven to be guilty of anything. Many of them are the mates or the spouses of others, of men, who are involved in drug trafficking and they get caught up in this web through the surveillance techniques and all of those things that we have. So they are there. Many of them, yes, are HIV infected and some of them happen to be pregnant women, but pregnant women who are incarcerated.”