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Rebecca Jackson, left, and Marilyn D. Jones, right, were part of a panel discussion Sept. 6 at St. Mary’s Cathedral on overcoming a life of incarceration. The panel was part of the Restorative Justice Reentry Conference and Resource Fair sponsored by the archdiocesan Office of Human Life & Dignity. (Photo by Christina Gray/Catholic San Francisco)
Sept. 9, 2019
Christina Gray
Women leaving the prison system after time served need support, “tough love” and each other to stay out of jail, according to a panel of formerly incarcerated women.
“In this transitional time, you really need to be able to focus on yourself, and establish relationships with people of the same gender and get some healthy feedback,” said Jeris Woodson, a recovering drug addict who left prison and now helps women moving out of the criminal justice system as a case manager for Westside Community Services in San Francisco.
Woodson was one of five formerly incarcerated women who participated in a panel discussion Sept. 6 about the unique challenges faced by women leaving prison and what has helped them stay out.
The panel was one of nearly a dozen offered at the annual Restorative Justice and Reentry Conference and Resource Fair at St. Mary’s Cathedral.
Sponsored by the Office of Human Life & Dignity, the one-day event was geared toward professionals and volunteers who work for agencies that serve criminal-justice clients, as well as for the ex-offenders themselves.
“When I got out of prison, I was lost,” said Victoria Westbrook, who now works in the reentry division of San Francisco’s adult probation department. “I didn’t know what my next step was. It was the women who came out before me that actually helped me take the next step.”
The panelists talked in frank terms about what led to their incarceration, which in every case was related to their addiction to drugs and alcohol.
Marilyn Jones, a former crack addict, said she was a “nerd” and gifted child from an abusive home who entered the criminal justice system at age 14. She spent 20 years going in and out of prison before going back to school and eventually earning a doctoral degree in educational leadership at the University of San Francisco.
Jones founded Because Black is Still Beautiful, a Bay Area nonprofit dedicated to “dismantling perceptions, practices and policies that negatively affect criminal justice-impacted black women.”
The women said the challenges they faced after leaving prison included stigma, and the difficulty of staying “clean and sober” after returning out of necessity or temptation to toxic environments and relationships.
“No matter how much I polished myself or whatever schooling I now had, it really all boiled down to that I was looked at only as that box checked on the paper,” said Rebecca Jackson about being an ex-offender applying for jobs or housing.
She is now the director of San Francisco’s Cameo House, where she was able put her past in the justice system to work on behalf of other women looking to change their lives as she did.
“I had to really grieve the streets,” said Shannon Wise, and “say goodbye to folks I considered family.”
Wise said she was arrested some 20-25 times before finding longtime recovery in two, 15-month stays at Walden House in San Francisco.
She also said she had to “surrender to the concept of support,” and learn to form friendships with women she met in programs like Positive Directions, a recovery support network for African Americans.
Wise ultimately earned a master’s degree in nonprofit administration and founded Solutions for Women, a grassroots organization that supports formerly incarcerated women as they develop life skills and self-esteem while learning to be healthy, law-abiding citizens.
The panelists agreed that women with children facing reentry are at a disadvantage in San Francisco, which Wise called, “not at all family-oriented.”
Jackson described a client with a 13-year-old daughter who did not have a drug problem and could not find any services that would take her.
“That hurts my feelings, that we have women who are the sole person taking care of a family, and they can’t get services and are living on the street or in cars with their kids,” she said.
Women also need more time to recover from the barriers to successful reentry, the women said. Time-bracketed services of 30, 60 or 90 days are typical.
“I’m telling you that if you have any of the barriers, of substance abuse, of homelessness, of lack of education, or of not being able to find a job because you have two small babies, 90 days is not enough,” said Wise.
When asked for what advice they would offer other women coming out of prison, the women all spoke of the importance of accountability and women mentors.
“Get an accountability partner,” said Woodson, who found someone to run big decisions by and who will offer her “hard truths,” if needed.
Jackson agreed. “We don’t have a lot of practice coming out making really good choices or we wouldn’t have been in prison,” she said.
Forgiving oneself for past mistakes is also crucial.
“Forgive yourself and accept that this is your life, all of it, and use it as a platform of strength,” Wise said.