“A lot of women in prison have experienced trauma or abuse,” Burton said. We’re to support each other and help each other.”Ī New Way of Life, which has 55 beds for women split between Watts and Long Beach, wants the women to feel as if they are a family. “Our theme is my sister’s keeper, said Mary Starks, A New Way of Life’s housing program manager. They also must do chores, cook and go grocery shopping. The goal, ultimately, is to help build life skills many of the women lack. That meeting is one of several the women regularly attend – as well as a daily meditation each morning – on subjects such as personal responsibility, financial literacy and stress management. “Even returning a phone call could show the other person you care.” “It means, like, being there for the other person,” one of the women said. “What does it mean to be dependable to someone?” the intern asked. On a recent Friday morning, a handful of women - some middle-aged, others in their 20s - sat around a table at the Hoffman House, the Long Beach residence A New Way of Life took over last year.Īn intern, majoring in social work, led a discussion about healthy relationships. She began picking up women, just returned from prison, and offering them a place to stay. “It’s important to have a place to recognize our own humanity,” she said, “and understand we all make mistakes and deserve a second chance.”īurton bought a small house in Watts. The percent of those who get arrested within three years, however, is 69 percent.Īnd most transitional housing programs, meant to help ex-prisoners adapt to the outside world, place strict requirements on its residents – such as prohibiting cell phones, requiring regular drug tests and locking the doors even during the day.Ī year after entering the Santa Monica rehab, Burton sought to change that. Recidivism rates – the percent of former convicts who return to prison within three years of their release – have declined for years in California, but still hover around 23 percent, according to the most recent Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation data. “If other communities had a place like this, it’d be much better for everyone.” “It was a totally different approach,” she said. Rather than the rigidity and harsh dehumanization of prison, Burton said, she found a place that treated her with compassion. She entered a treatment center in Santa Monica. “I was trying to find the best in me,” Burton said, “and utterly failed.”įinally, in 1997, exhausted by the criminal turnstile, Burton caught a break. Then began a continuous cycle: She’d get busted for drugs, get arrested, serve time she’d get out, try to get clean, relapse. In 1987, her 5-year-old son was run over by a car and died. She’d been in and out of prison over a 20-year period, often for drug offenses. “I couldn’t let them close down women’s beds,” Burton said. That’s why, in November, A New Way of Life merged with the struggling Harbour Area Halfway Houses, saving that organization’s Long Beach home from shuttering. Especially since women are the fastest growing demographic in prison, according to data from the FBI and the nonprofit Sentencing Project. “And a place to feel safe, a place to feel supported and nurtured.”īut despite recent efforts to revamp the criminal justice system, both in California and nationally, there are too few places like that for women, Burton said. “It’s important to have a place we belong,” said Susan Burton, A New Way of Life’s founder. There is no timeline on when the women have to leave. They do not have to take drug tests every time they return from an excursion into the city. It has diverged from the traditional halfway house model – which, some who have lived in them say, are extensions of prison – and instead offered a more compassionate vision. The nonprofit has done this by overseeing houses in Watts for women like Maldonado to live – and in doing so, has run an experiment on rehabilitation. Her goal, she said, is to become a productive citizen.Ī New Way of Life has, since 1998, attempted to help women recently released from prison return to society. Instead, she moved to Los Angeles, to a house run by A New Way of Life Reentry Project.
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