ORIGINAL FRIENDS DOLLS
INFORMATION ABOUT THE PROJECT
The Prison Doll project was started by Rebecca Roth during a lengthy legal battle in which she was wrongly accused and incarcerated in Puente Grande, a prison near Guadalajara, Mexico.
In 2007 Rebecca made the first Original Friends doll for a toddler named Lupita who lived in her cell. Children born while their mothers are detained in the Mexican prison system are allowed to remain there until they are 3 years old. In a cell made for 6 people, 15 women lived with one baby. Lupita had no toys to play with and would kick a 2 liter coke bottle around for fun so Rebecca decided to make her a cloth doll that she could call her own.
Lupita named her doll Mia, which means “mine” in Spanish.
Women in prison earn very little money from prison jobs, so Rebecca began a sewing workshop to make dolls to sell. The women learn to make and then decorate the dolls with their own individual style. Each doll is hand painted and no two look alike.
Since Rebecca’s release nine years ago, the project has continued and as of 2019 over 2000 dolls have been created and sold. Incarcerated women continue to make dolls, along with women who have since been released. Recently the project has expanded with a cooperative of women living with limited means along the lakeside area of Chapala, Ajijic, and San Juan Cosala, Jalisco.
We are very fortunate because of the generous material donations from seamstresses, quilt makers, jewelry makers and others who love the dolls and believe in the project. These donations of materials are one of the features of our dolls, since about 95% of the doll is recycled materials. One of our most unusual donations to date was a huge bag of silk neckties donated by a now retired office jockey!
If you would like to donate materials please contact us.
A special request for those donating materials: Please give us contact information in the bags. A piece of paper, a card or envelop with your name, phone number and email address. We really want to personally thank you for your generous donations and many times we can't because we don't know who donated!
In 2007 Rebecca made the first Original Friends doll for a toddler named Lupita who lived in her cell. Children born while their mothers are detained in the Mexican prison system are allowed to remain there until they are 3 years old. In a cell made for 6 people, 15 women lived with one baby. Lupita had no toys to play with and would kick a 2 liter coke bottle around for fun so Rebecca decided to make her a cloth doll that she could call her own.
Lupita named her doll Mia, which means “mine” in Spanish.
Women in prison earn very little money from prison jobs, so Rebecca began a sewing workshop to make dolls to sell. The women learn to make and then decorate the dolls with their own individual style. Each doll is hand painted and no two look alike.
Since Rebecca’s release nine years ago, the project has continued and as of 2019 over 2000 dolls have been created and sold. Incarcerated women continue to make dolls, along with women who have since been released. Recently the project has expanded with a cooperative of women living with limited means along the lakeside area of Chapala, Ajijic, and San Juan Cosala, Jalisco.
We are very fortunate because of the generous material donations from seamstresses, quilt makers, jewelry makers and others who love the dolls and believe in the project. These donations of materials are one of the features of our dolls, since about 95% of the doll is recycled materials. One of our most unusual donations to date was a huge bag of silk neckties donated by a now retired office jockey!
If you would like to donate materials please contact us.
A special request for those donating materials: Please give us contact information in the bags. A piece of paper, a card or envelop with your name, phone number and email address. We really want to personally thank you for your generous donations and many times we can't because we don't know who donated!
