Watching the national news, one might get the idea that our Capitol is all glitz and glamour---stately buildings where wealthy politicians, PACT groups and foreign dignitaries hold sway, while the designer - dressed Real Housewives of D.C. throw lavish dinners in their honor, as their nannies put the children to sleep in their sumptuous mansions. Such visions belie the fact that just blocks away from the White House is a pocket of poverty, unemployment, murder and drugs that makes up most of the rest of D.C.
In the midst of the “other D.C.” are women who are coming back to it all from prison, but this time, with dreams of a better life. According to the Washington Post there has been an 832 percent increase over the last three decades of women in prison. That figure translates to approximately 200,000 incarcerated females; two-thirds of them have children. When they are sentenced their parental rights are often terminated. The children, in the best scenario, go to live with usually already overburdened relatives. In the worst case, the child often travels between several foster care homes.
Life in prison is not easy for a woman from D.C. They are sent away from their neighborhoods, often to another state such as Connecticut, or West Virginia. Visits from their children and family are rare as traveling expenses are often out of most families’ budgets. D.C. women were originally treated as a sub-species by the Federal Bureau of Prison and segregated from the rest of the prison population at the Federal Correctional Institution in Danbury, CT. But, they survive their sentences, and most are sent home after completion of their term.
When they come home, they have familiar supporters to help them with a smoother transition. Our Place was founded ten years ago in response to the needs of women reentering their communities after being released from prison. Last year, the non-profit organization helped over 1,300 women who came to its doors. Our Place may have met some of the women on visits to the prisons to acquaint them with their services, or when Our Place provided inexpensive transportation and lodging for families of the incarcerated women to visit them in Hazelton, or Danbury. The excitement of these impending visits permeates the prisons, as the women anxiously await visits with loved ones that are often too few and far in between.
Staff members at Our Place can help a woman get the necessary identification she needs, such as a birth certificate, or social security card. If a woman is looking for a job, there are leads to employment, and advice on job-seeking skills. Clothes and accessories from the organization’s Clothes Closet are provided to wear to an interview. Bus tokens are provided to job seekers, as well as to those in need. While at the center, a woman is offered snacks and a light meal, such as donated sandwiches and baked goods. The Clothes Closet also provides an array of items for women to wear to church, or at home, since most women in reentry have lost their clothing in the period following arrest and conviction.
Our Place also offers the women legal services, educational classes, HIV/AIDS education, help with staying drug-free, and “Welcome Home” baskets containing sheets, pillowcases, soap, shampoo and other toiletries. And poignantly, Our Place offers a roof over a woman’s head, along with many empowerment programs, at Camille’s Place, named for a beloved client who slipped through the cracks after reentry, and was found dead in an abandoned building soon after.
For the women it serves, and for formerly incarcerated women from other areas who know about the organization, Our Place is the paradigm of what a reentry organization for women should be. Having a place to come to that greets you, first with the basics, a place to stay, food to eat, clothes to wear, personal items that refresh you, and then shows you, through its various programs, how to put your past behind you and live up to your potential is of paramount importance to a woman coming out of prison.
Most of the 200,000 incarcerated women will come back to their communities one day. If only other cities or states had an organization modeled after Our House to welcome them back, perhaps the recidivism rate for women would be dramatically reduced.
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