Women Over Dinner Expands Global Movement to Ohio Prisons, Restoring Dignity Through Connection
(PRUnderground) March 5th, 2026
Women Over Dinner, a rapidly growing global movement dedicated to restoring women’s dignity and power, will bring its signature facilitated dinner experience into two Ohio correctional facilities this month. On March 17, the organization will host a dinner for 100 incarcerated women at Ohio Reformatory for Women in Marysville. On March 19, another 100 women will gather at Northeast Reintegration Center in Cleveland.
Over the past three years, Women Over Dinner has hosted 416 dinners globally, with more than 4,800 women attending. The organization’s vision is to extend the same access to dignity, nourishment, and meaningful connection to women living behind prison walls.
To date, Women Over Dinner has hosted dinners inside two correctional facilities: Taconic Correctional Facility in New York, where 75 incarcerated women participated, and Massachusetts Correctional Institution in Framingham, where 60 women attended. In addition, more than 60,000 incarcerated women across the United States have accessed Women Over Dinner materials electronically through prison education systems.
The impact of these gatherings inside prison walls has been profound. Participants frequently describe the experience as unforgettable, sharing that they were nourished not only by the food, but also by the warmth, care, and genuine human connection. Women who are typically silent have stood and spoken in front of the entire room. Women who rarely interact with one another form unexpected connections.
One correctional officer with more than 40 years of experience reflected on the event, saying, “The women usually have mental health issues, outbursts, and are never able to hold their attention steady for long. They sat in a room together for two hours, completely tuned into the event. What you are offering is real.”
Around a shared table and a thoughtfully prepared meal, participants move through a carefully structured format that allows for personal reflection and expression without interruption, feedback, or cross-talk. What emerges is an atmosphere of presence and deep listening, something many women, especially those who are incarcerated, rarely experience.
At the heart of this work is a simple but transformative premise: women carry an inherent power and value that is not dependent on circumstances, past mistakes, roles, or conditions. When women gather in an environment rooted in dignity and respect, that sense of self-worth naturally reawakens. From that place, women relate differently to themselves, to one another, and to the world around them.
Women Over Dinner was founded by two justice-impacted women who embody the very vision this movement stands for. Nicole Daedone is currently incarcerated at MDC Brooklyn and continues to steward the vision from inside the walls, living proof that a woman’s power is not confined by circumstance. Alongside her, Dr. Topeka K Sam, who was pardoned in 2015 after her own incarceration, now stands as a national advocate for women impacted by the justice system.
Women Over Dinner operates under the umbrella of the nonprofit Unconditional Freedom, whose mission is to create the conditions for the restoration of dignity to marginalized populations with programs directly impacting the unhoused, incarcerated, women and more.
To learn more visit womenoverdinner.org. If you’d like to more information or to get involved you can email Sofia Teplitzky at sofia@womenoverdinner.org. If you’d like to donate to the movement, you can do so at womenoverdinner.org/donate.
The post Global Movement ‘Women Over Dinner’ to Host Landmark Events at Two Ohio Correctional Facilities This March first appeared on
Original Press Release.
