Two inmates at the California Institution for Women celebrated their Bat Mitzvah over the weekend, Haaretz reported. According to the chaplains involved, it is the first time such an event has occurred inside a United States prison.
Six months ago the two women approached the institution’s rabbi with the idea of making a bat mitzvah, and began preparing by learning Hebrew and writing a speech. Both women are incarcerated for a variety of offenses, including drug-related charges.