Testif-i

Marissa Wells

“Somebody is going to see something in me”

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April served 28 years in prison before being released on parole a year ago. She now lives in one of the more independent homes at A New Way of Life Re-Entry Project (ANWOL). Since returning to society, April, now 53 years old, has faced both tangible and intangible barriers to re-entry.

Her journey started off a little rocky when she realized that she did not have any legally acceptable means of identifying herself. While she was in prison, she lost track of her birth certificate, social security card, and identification card – all her government-issued identification was gone.

“I broke down in the DMV because I didn’t have anything to show who I was.  I snuck my prison I.D. out to try and show who I was, but that wasn’t good enough, so I had to connect back with my parole officer.”

Her parole officer was able to produce documents and a photographic image that confirmed April’s existence. However, the data the parole officer provided only included April’s first and last names. April could no longer prove what her middle name was.

“I went into prison a whole person, and I came out half a person. I don’t even have the names that my parents gave me. I feel like when you leave the prison, it’s their responsibility to let the world know… They’ll tell the world you’ve committed a crime, but they don’t give you anything to prove who you are when you are released. That’s crazy.”

When the time came to look for employment, April discovered that she was at a technological disadvantage and experienced difficulties applying for jobs.

“There wasn’t anyone inside teaching us computer skills or showing us how to fill out applications. So you assume that when you come home and get on the computer, that it will be easy to apply for all of the jobs you see listed, but that is not the case.”

The job application process was initially discouraging for April, who felt as if she was putting in all of her information and not hearing back about any promising leads on jobs.

“The work ethic of lifers coming out of prison is very high. We push and we push to get a job where we’re not making anything because when you’re in prison, and you’re working for 6, 7, 8, 12, or 15 cents an hour, $9 per hour sounds good. We jump on those opportunities because we have a lot to prove.”

April eventually found work as a cashier and takes great initiative in her position there. Although initially excited, once reality of bills and rent hit home, April soon realized that minimal wages weren’t enough. Since she does not make enough money to support herself, she has started delivering groceries after work.

In addition to employment issues, her incarceration history has created difficulties with her family due to the growth she experienced inside prison.

“When I came home, I had to realize that even though I changed, some people didn’t. Nobody sees me as a grown woman. It’s like in their minds I came back into my circle of family the same person I was when I left.”

April hasn’t let these challenges discourage her; she continues to push each day to meet her goals. Her ultimate goal is to become a successful writer in the entertainment industry. She has a great interest in writing plays, movies, and television shows; she is currently participating in University of Southern California theater group’s production of two plays.

“Reentry is still a struggle and an obstacle, but I’m just going to keep pushing. I am having faith that something is going to come out of this. I might take off with this writing, and I am trying to push myself out there. Somebody is going to see something in me.”

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After jail, Selena finds herself “at the right place doing the right thing”

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This blog post is first in our series on the 48,000 obstacles to re-entry formerly incarcerated people face when they return to society.

As formerly incarcerated women try to reclaim their lives and their families, their quest for stability is jeopardized by tens of thousands of collateral consequences as a result of their incarceration. These barriers to reentry can be very discouraging to those who have been recently released from prison and are eager to embrace their newfound freedom. Selena, a new resident to at A New Way of Life (ANWOL), hasn’t allowed the obstacles she’s faced during her reintegration to throw her off track from achieving the goals she has set for her life.

Selena’s journey to reentry began less than a year ago when she was faced with a decision about where she would go upon her release from county jail.

“My cycle of incarceration started when I was 20 years old. I was in and out of the county jail for about a year until I finally caught a case for burglary; they gave me six months for it. That was the biggest case that I’d ever got, and it’s put me on probation for three years.

“I was struggling in between going back to my area, going to the hood, or going to a land that I never met, which was soberness and recovery homes. I wasn’t familiar with that, so it was really hard for me.”

Before coming to ANWOL, Selena, now 22 years old, had a few false starts as she struggled to find a stable living environment. There was too much temptation to engage in old behaviors while living with her grandmother and when she began drinking again, she was kicked out Shields for Families due to a DUI. Selena did not allow these instances to discourage her from trying to make a better life for herself and her son.

“I had to really grasp that I was out and that I wanted something new. I did not want to go back in. Because I remember being in jail and asking God, ‘Please get me out, help me.’”

She then joined Alcoholic Center for Women, where her counselor in the program directed her to ANWOL. Since coming to ANWOL, Selena experienced stability for the first time in her life and is learning not to let her past define her.

“ANWOL has shown me that there are so many opportunities in life. They motivate me to be a mom and fight for my rights. They’ve taught me that yeah, my past is my past, but I don’t have to wear it every day. I don’t have to be that person every day, and that’s a big thing for me.”

Through her participation in ANWOL, Selena has gotten involved with Women Organizing for Justice (WOJO). WOJO is a six-month training program that fosters critical analysis of the criminal justice system, teaches the history of civil rights movements, identifies barriers to social justice and provides advocacy opportunities to affect policy and systems change.  Selena graduates from the cohort in April.

Her involvement in WOJO has been an enormous help on her journey.

“My mom used drugs my whole life, so I didn’t really have a family, and I had to fend for myself. The women of WOJO have guided and supported me like how a mother nurtures a child. I am becoming who I am because of all that they are teaching me.” 

Selena also  joined All of Us or None, a grassroots organization that works to restore the human rights of formerly incarcerated people and those still incarcerated, which taught her about “Ban the Box” and her right to vote. She is now confidently applying for jobs and is excited to vote for the first time in the upcoming primaries.

Selena has not allowed her probation to cripple her, and in addition to regaining custody of her 4-year-old son, she is now confidently applying for jobs and plans to attend college so that she can eventually begin a career as a drug counselor. She graduates from Maxine Waters Employment Preparation Center with her GED in June.

“I feel like there was a reason why I struggled in and out of using. I went through such a hard time because God wanted me to leave that area of my life and the experiences that I went through so that I could help somebody else.”

Even though Selena struggled during the first few months to stay sober, her faith, ANWOL, and her involvement in programs like WOJO and AOUON has kept her motivated throughout her reentry journey. Her eyes are now open to life’s opportunities, and she is determined more than ever before to stay focused. She fought for her sobriety and continues to fight every day.

“I try to be as involved in programs as much as I can now because it motivates me and it reminds me that I’m at the right place doing the right thing.”

 

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The 48,000 obstacles to reentry

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There are 48,000 collateral consequences that formerly incarcerated people face upon release from prison or jail. These systemic and often life-long obstacles are significant barriers to successful reentry because they limit or prohibit people with criminal records from accessing employment, occupational licensing, housing, voting, education, and other opportunities. In many cases, these penalties are not even related to the crimes committed, and they can limit people with conviction histories in some surprising ways. Some of the more outrageous consequences include:

  • Denial of a Bingo Caller License
  • Denial of a Dog Walker License
  • Denial of Car Salesmen License
  • Cannot serve on PTA Board

 

Some of the collateral consequences unique to California include issues related to maintaining or obtaining occupational licenses, family/domestic rights, and access to educational opportunities and benefits.

The 48,000 burdens loom over the heads of formerly incarcerated people as they attempt to move forward in their lives. These people have paid their debt to society. Such obstacles to reentry create a system that ultimately jeopardizes formerly incarcerated people’s quest for stability.

In a new series on our blog, we will explore the impact that such barriers have had on the women housed at A New Way of Life Re-Entry Project (ANWOL). We’ll talk to new residents in the program, as well as those who have transitioned to more independent living. You will journey with them as they share the experience of reclaiming  their lives.

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ANWOL Resident Veronica Is Discharged from Probation

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As noted in a report by the Vera Institute of Justice and the Safety and Justice Challenge, “Women often become involved with the justice system as a result of efforts to cope with life challenges such as poverty, unemployment, and significant physical or behavioral health struggles, including those related to past histories of trauma, mental illness, or substance use.”

This rings true for many of the women who transition through A New Way of Life Re-Entry Project (ANWOL). Veronica, an ANWOL resident who recently discharged from probation, credits the organization as giving her the safe space needed to reach her goals.

“Safe spaces are important because if I’m worried about my basic needs, like food and shelter, then I cannot concentrate on myself or succeeding and moving forward and doing something for myself. If you’re always worried about survival then you can’t live.”

Prior to ANWOL, Veronica had never experienced a stable living situation. As the daughter of a drug addicted mother, Veronica’s life was riddled with trauma, including sexual abuse, from its very beginning. At the age of 15, Veronica entered a marriage with the hope that she was moving to a better situation for her life. Soon after her marriage, she found herself living in a nightmare.

“I married a very, very abusive man. During the course of 20 years, he beat me unmercifully. During that time, we were selling drugs and robbing people. It was just anything for him, and anything he said, I had to do.”

One night, her husband shot her in the ankle, and now she suffers a lifelong disability.

As she cycled in and out of prison, Veronica realized that she truly wanted a meaningful future.

“The revelation hit me about eight months before I was scheduled to go home. A lady inside asked me, ‘if you died today, who would show up to your funeral and what would they say?’ I couldn’t pick five people on my hand that would show up… That was the worst feeling in the world for me. But then it’s like ‘Get off the pot – what are you going to do?’”

Following this revelation, Veronica began doing research and looking for opportunities post release.

“I knew I couldn’t do this by myself or with the same mentality and the same people. You can’t do the same thing and expect that it’s going to be different.”

Now, for the first time since she was a teenager, she is not under any mandatory supervision.

“I knew how to live in society, but I was living for the next day. But now I could live and kind of plan a little bit for a future and I was never able to do that before. I had to live in the moment; I was surviving. I was never living, and now I finally have a chance to live.”

With her newfound freedom, Veronica realizes she deserves to embrace and live a happy life.

“My motivation is different now – it’s not for anyone, it’s finally for me. I’m trying to build my relationship with my daughter again. My daughter is 24 years old and she doesn’t know her mother. I’m trying to build a relationship with me again, like ‘Who are you? Who am I?’”

Veronica is currently a dispatcher for a construction company and hopes to one day open a battered women’s shelter that will cater to both women and their children.

“Life is exciting to me at almost 50. It takes some longer than others I guess, but I’ve got it.”

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From the Back of the Bus to the Front of the Prison

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From the Back of the Bus to the Front of the Prison

 

The day before Martin Luther King Jr.’s birthday, Susan Burton’s memoir “Becoming Ms. Burton” received the 2018 NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Literary Work in the category of Biography/Autobiography. “I’m honored to be recognized for my life story,” said Burton in acceptance of the award. “I think about Rosa Parks. She took us from the back of the bus. And now, Black women are at the front of the prison. I wonder… how we will get them out of the front of that prison? That’s my work.”

Burton’s words demonstrate the need for a movement to reduce the growing number of incarcerated women. According to a Vera Institute of Justice 2016 study, “since 1970, the number of women in jail nationwide has increased 14-fold – from under 8,000 to nearly 11,000 – and now accounts for approximately half of all women behind bars in the United States.” These numbers do not include the number of women in prisons which The Sentencing Project reports has been increasing at a rate 50% higher than men since 1980.

The study also reports that the population of incarcerated women is “disproportionately people of color, overwhelmingly poor and low-income, survivors of violence and trauma, and have high rates of physical and mental illness and substance use.”

Policies that allow such disparities to take place have caused the population of women of color in jails and prisons to rise. Scarce resources in low income communities such as job opportunities and lack of access to quality health care are also among the numerous factors that contribute to exploding rates of over-incarcerating women. Now instead of being relegated to the back of the bus, women are tagged “criminal” – rising to the front of the prison. According to Wendy Sawyer with the Prison Policy Initiative, the Bureau of Justice Statistics 2016 annual update on prison populations is largely consistent with her findings that women’s prison populations remain near record highs while men’s populations are falling.

Ms. Burton’s life experience, chronicled in her award-winning memoir, connects flashpoints of trauma, pain experienced without options or opportunities to access horizons of healing. Instead, she was dragged into chains and thrown to the horror of incarceration. According to Burton, her story is not unique. Having served over 1,000 women through her non-profit organization, A New Way of Life, she knows their suffering echoes hers. “Although we might want to say Black people have moved forward, reality is that we have not,” said Burton.

Even after being released, formerly incarcerated women (and men) are faced with 48,000 collateral consequences. These systematic and often life-long obstacles can serve as barriers to successful re-entry. Collateral consequences are defined by both The Council of State Governments Justice Center & the National Institute of Corrections as legal and regulatory sanctions and restrictions that limit or prohibit people with criminal records from accessing employment, occupational licensing, housing, voting, education, and other opportunities.

To demonstrate that all rights have not been restored, Burton and All of Us or None (AOUON) members participated in the 50th anniversary of the Selma to Montgomery voting rights marches. The group decided to start the march on the reverse side, in Montgomery facing Selma, to represent how they recognize that there are some issues that they need to go back and fix.

Susan Burton and AOUON members marching in the 50th anniversary of the Selma Montgomery marches of 1965.

Susan Burton offers hope, which fuels her advocacy on behalf of women in chains. She leads an ambitious project to place 11,000 copies of her memoir, Becoming Ms. Burton, in prisons throughout all 50 states. She is also lifting the voices of other women, to create more compassionate policies and opportunities for women with histories that mirror hers. Burton says, “We need to transform the violent nature of this country with love and respect for all human life. That’s the only thing that’s going to make this right.”

To request a special paperback copy for an incarcerated loved one, click here: http://becomingmsburton.com/request-a-copy-of-becoming-ms-burton-prison-edition/

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Another Election Year

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Another Election Year

 

“We used to say that ours is not the struggle of one day, one week, or one year. Ours is not the struggle of one judicial appointment or presidential term. Ours is the struggle of a lifetime, or maybe even many lifetimes, and each one of us in every generation must do our part. And if we believe in the change we seek, then it is easy to commit to doing all we can, because the responsibility is ours alone to build a better society and a more peaceful world.” 

-John Lewis, “Across That Bridge: A Vision for Change and the Future of America”

Congressman John Lewis is one of the young men that led the Selma to Montgomery marches of 1965, contributing to the passage of the Voting Rights Act which would enable African American citizens to exercise their constitutional right to vote without discrimination.

The series of marches consisted of thousands of civil rights activists and religious leaders who were fighting the discrimination and voter suppression tactics taking place in the segregated South. These brave men and women mobilized to reach their goal of ensuring that we all would be able to make our voices heard in elections.

Unfortunately, the U.S. system of mass incarceration has significantly undermined those very same voting rights.

Today, the population of incarcerated African Americans is grossly disproportionate to their overall population in the country. Because of the removal of most civil rights, including voting rights in many states, there are about 6.1 million people who cannot vote, with 1 in every 13 adult African Americans permanently banned from voting. This fact has made room for the dominant group in society to once again cripple African American voices and political input in this country.

This year A New Way of Life Re-Entry Project (ANWOL) is expanding their voter registration efforts to include those who are newly eligible to vote. The passage of Assembly Bill 2466 in 2016 has made it possible for men and women serving time for a felony conviction in county jails to now make their voices heard through voting.

The passage of this bill comes decades after men and women serving time in jail were denied the opportunity to exercise their right to vote and it’s a great start at tackling the laws that disenfranchise far too many citizens of this country.

With impending elections in June and November, the Voter In-Reach project of ANWOL will begin soon where we will visit county jails to conduct voter registration for those who are eligible.

ANWOL staff and All of Us or None (AOUON) members have submitted applications to the Sheriff’s Department to go inside of the jails for the purpose of registering voters. Once clearance is obtained, we will begin sending staff and volunteers inside to register people to vote and to conduct voter education.

Ingrid Archie with Prop. 64 canvassers. (Photo by Ed Crisostomo, Orange County Register/SCNG)

Staff members of ANWOL are looking forward to spreading awareness to the men and women in jails about their right to vote.

“It’s very important. There are tens of thousands of people in the state of California who are disenfranchised simply because they do not know that they have the right to vote even when they are incarcerated,” explains Rev. Larry Foy, ANWOL Policy & Advocacy Director. “The only thing that should legally prevent people with convictions from voting in California is if they are on parole or serving time in state or federal prison.”

The goal of the project is not only to let incarcerated individuals understand that they can vote, but to also let them know that their vote is important. The volunteers will educate the men and women on the policies and politicians on the ballots so that people serving time in jail or awaiting trial will have a deeper understanding on the key issues that may affect their lives.

“Politicians travel to areas where people have a higher propensity to vote. They go to those areas and speak to their needs. There’s a whole constituency of people who are incarcerated that are eligible to vote,” said Ingrid Archie, ANWOL Civic Engagement Coordinator. “We want to maximize the number of incarcerated people who are voting so people will recognize that

incarcerated men and women do vote. Their votes have the potential to turn a whole vote or even flip a seat and once people see the power of the votes of incarcerated men and women they will realize that they need to visit jails to solicit those votes as well.”

Some people of color do not feel that their votes matter in elections or that the outcome of policies will affect them directly. That was the case for Ed Garrett, ANWOL’s technology consultant. “I didn’t think about my vote being important because my life was in the streets,” said Ed. “But you find out when you get into an institutional environment that all of the things that happen, happen because somebody voted and made a decision.”

Community organizations working on civil rights must continue the movement to mobilize for changes to voting laws that have continuously chipped away at that great victory in 1965.

Susan Burton & AOUON members marching in the 50th anniversary of the Selma Montgomery marches of 1965.

Throughout the next few months, voter registration training will take place for the specific purpose of training those who will be registering men and women in jails. If you are interested in participating please contact Ingrid Archie at 323.563.3575.

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