From Imprisoned To Empowered: Four Women’s Journey To Rebuild, Re-identify And Recreate Themselves

Angelena Jackson is a mother of three and a housekeeper at the Biltmore Hotel in Miami, Florida. Her favorite artist is Erica Mason. She believes that Gabrielle Union is one of the greatest actresses alive.

Jackson,50, is also a returning citizen, released from the Florida Department of Corrections in June 2021. She is a product of Florida's foster care system. Like 82% of currently and formerly incarcerated women in the United States, Jackson is also a survivor of childhood molestation and sexual abuse.

According to the Prison Policy Initiative, Jackson is just one of the more than 81,000 women released from prison and 1.8 million released from jail each year. With few re-entry programs in the country focused on women, Ladies Empowerment and Action Program (LEAP) in Miami and Friends of Guest House in Alexandria, Virginia, are on the frontlines fighting for women to return to a society that has made reintegration almost impossible.

Since her teenage years, Jackson has served five stints in jail, but her final time was different. After renewing her relationship with the Christian church and losing her sister and godmother to COVID-19, Jackson knew her return to citizenship would be new and require something unique.

"I was changing," said Jackson, a native of New York. "So I decided to apply to about ten to twenty different re-entry transition houses."

Regrettably, while never participating in a transitional re-entry program, all of Jackson’s applications for her June 2021 release were denied. That was until LEAP—a non-profit re-entry program for formerly incarcerated women—visited her correctional facility. During an initial meeting hosted by LEAP Executive Director Mahlia Lindquist, Jackson found an immediate support system. After that, she successfully applied for and enrolled in the non-profit's five-month pre-reentry program.

During the 250-hour in-prison education program, Jackson and 50 to 60 other mission-driven women completed intensive coursework, including entrepreneurship, workforce readiness, trauma-informed addiction counseling and extensive cognitive-behavioral work. Course participants also collaborated with instructors and skilled mentors to create business plans, exit plans for re-entry into society and relapse prevention plans.

"LEAP became my support system, and losing my loved ones solidified that this time was something different," said Jackson, who holds a license in cosmetology. "I found a purpose and meaning for life."

Lindquist said she sees the aforementioned outcome as part of LEAP’s role.

"There isn't one solution to healing, integration or rehabilitation. It is a multifaceted program that deserves a multi-pronged approach," Lindquist said. "We look at the root cause while also addressing the baseline needs like providing a job, transportation and two years of housing."

For Jackson, that approach included solidifying her spiritual foundation, learning how to journal, reconnecting with her three children, getting a cellphone, and finding employment. As a survivor of drug addiction, Jackson feels she has turned the page thanks to the lifeline LEAP provided.

"If I had not got to LEAP, I might have been dead," said Jackson, who has a son, 24, and two daughters, 23 and 34. "Now I am living life and moving back and forth."

In 2017, the Vera Institute of Justice—a non-profit focused on combining research and technical expertise to assist government leader developing justice policy—found that 75% of imprisoned women are victims of domestic violence as adults, while 70% suffer from addiction, and 52% have minor children. With just 14% of women having access to educational programming or substance abuse treatment in state prison, the path to recidivism or re-offending is made much easier.

Danielle Estes, a 38-year-old graduate of LEAP, said re-entry programs are the difference between thriving and re-offending for returning women citizens. Estes currently serves as an executive assistant for LEAP and LEAP’s thrift store, Dragonfly Thrift Boutique.

"When I went to prison, I lost my self-esteem and identity. I was stripped of my dignity, and I was scared that my son would never talk to me again," said Estes, a Miami resident. "The structure provided by LEAP allowed me to find myself, and now I am working my way back to getting my child and getting back in school."

For Estes and Jackson, the road back to society is complex. Re-entry becomes difficult when workplace discrimination, lack of voting rights, and prohibition of public assistance, student loans, and driving privileges stand in the way of full citizenship.

Misinformation and media misperception also exacerbates returning citizens’ misfortune. Tanaine Jenkins, a re-entry motivational speaker and recidivism strategist, said this occurs too often.

"Society is continually shown the recidivism rate is that, and the number of re-offenders is this, so that is what people are programmed to think," said Jenkins, a returning citizen and 2022 Jacksonville TedX speaker. "Rarely ever are we shown the women who went to prison and turned their lives around."

It is within that view that McKenzie Stickley wants to be seen. As a participant in the Friends of Guest House, Stickley's track to re-entry started after receiving the first visit from her young daughter while locked behind bars.

"I watched my daughter crawl for the first time. I heard her say mama for the first time. And watch[ed] her take her first step. And it was all through the glass," Stickley said. "That was it for me. I had to figure it out."

From that point on, Stickley, with the help of dedicated counselors, fellow program participants, and professional staff at Guest House, became laser-focused on putting in the work, figuring it out, and making the best life possible for her daughter and herself. "She doesn't deserve my drama," Stickley said about her now grade school-aged daughter.

Armed with Friends of Guest House's five pillars–healthcare, employment, education, housing and reconnection–Stickley regained custody of her daughter, acquired a good job and stable housing, and continues to work with other women and moms navigating the re-entry process.

"If we could open others' eyes to our struggle, it would make a real difference in our experience," Stickley said. "We are real people. We have real emotions. We have really bad stories, bad trauma."

Sonja Allen, executive director of the Friends of Guest House, said Stickley and other program participants count among some of society's most intelligent and resourceful women. "These women are us," she said.

"I think the misconception is that the women are inherently bad, inherently bad decision makers. And that is just not the case," Allen said. "The things that we as people who have not been incarcerated take for granted every day, if we can assist the women with those very simple things...then they're going to be on track to leading successful lives."

Those words seem to reflect the truth for Angelena Jackson, Danielle Estes, Tanaine Jenkins, and Mckenzie Stickley. With multiple years of freedom combined under their belt, these women seem poised to find innovative ways to contribute to society and change the stigma surrounding female returning citizens.