Releasing Hope

Women's Stories of Transition from Prison to Community

Ruth Elwood Martin, Mo Korchinski, Ruth Elwood Martin, Mo Korchinski

• Publisher: Inanna Publications
• Year: 2019
• Print ISBN: 9781771337052
• eBook ISBN: 9781771337069
• Topic: Social Sciences
• Subtopic: Criminology
• Index: Social Sciences

Releasing Hope was born out of the first book Arresting Hope, which describes participatory health research and the experience of women incarcerated inside a British Columbian provincial correctional centre from 2005 to 2007. Readers of Arresting Hope, moved by the stories written by incarcerated women, asked, "What happened next?" And, "How are the women doing, now that they are released from prison?" Starting in 2007, women who were released from prison formed a network called Women in2 Healing because they wished to continue participatory health research in the community. Their overarching research question was, "How can we improve the health of women in prison and following their release?" Releasing Hope describes the journeys of formerly incarcerated women and their encounters with the barriers (financial, emotional, familial, systemic) that they confronted during their reintegration in the community. Releasing Hope touches on the stories of individual women and the learning from participatory health research that made visible their lives, their hopes, their dreams and fears.

What are you feeling most hopeful about?1

I Am Hopeful About

everything:

changing

being free

being happy

finding a job

being a mom

losing weight

going to college

doing things right

getting on my feet

getting healthy again

beginning a new life

getting my life on track

having a life without drugs

learning more about spirituality

working things out with my family

moving forward with my life

putting my record behind me

regaining my husband’s trust

keeping my shit together

maintaining a steady life

staying out of jail

living a good life

taking care of me

supporting peers

taking initiative

being content

staying clean

everything:

NOTES

1Found poems were created from responses, provided by women who were recently released from prison, to the survey question of the title. Each chapter of Releasing Hope e...

Table of contents

• Cover
• ADVANCE PRAISE FOR RELEASING HOPE
• Copyright
• Title Page
• Dedication
• Table of Contents
• Acknowledgements
• We have a chance as women with lived experience to help women being released from prison. As peers, we understand the emotions and fears that build upon our release. When the gates open, a person has a choice: to give in to the old way or walk alongside a peer who will guide you to freedom.
• Preface
• Invitation to Readers
• The Editors Are Beset by Questions
• I. Release
• Keys to the Gates
• Doctor’s Journey
• Jail
• Inside the Gates
• My New Start
• Amber’s Story
• Stigma
• Stuff Happens
• Solitary
• Amber’s Story
• Born with a Conscience
• First Year
• Step by Step
• Prison Aboriginal Day
• Right or Left
• What are you feeling most hopeful about?1
• II: Women in2 Healing
• We are not going to arrest our way out of these issues.
• Doctor’s Journey
• Early Meeting of Women in2 Healing
• Introducing the Newsletters
• Where We Are At Now
• Value of Women in2 Healing
• Annotated Values
• My Passion
• Dialogue
• Dialogue
• Dialogue
• Dialogue
• Dialogue
• Post Incarceration Syndrome
• Great Intentions
• Revolving Door
• First Job
• Galiano Island
• Catching the Ferry
• Galiano Retreat
• Kindness
• Galiano Writing
• I Wasn’t Going to Be a Victim1
• Why Do I Do This?
• Happy Birthday
• The Power of Words
• Newsletters
• Chairs
• Still Running
• Reflections
• Letter from Anna
• Amber’s Story
• A Time of Giving
• With your release from prison, what are your hopes for the next three months?
• III. Health Goals
• I would like to ask you some questions about your health, based on the nine topic areas that women in prison told us were important to their health. Some questions will invite you to tell me your story in your own words. Some questions will invite you to reply on a scale of one to five….
• Doctor’s Journey
• Letter to Martina
• Amber’s Story
• Process Notes from Co-Investigators’ Meeting
• Tackling the Impenetrable
• Project
• Sitting at the Bus Loop
• Answers
• Doing Time Complexities
• Gaps in the System
• Women Who Didn’t Make It Out
• What do you want people to know about women leaving prison?
• Hope: Interlude One
• Thoughts on Hope in Prison
• IV. Mentoring
• Peer mentors are like angels.
• Doctor’s Journey
• Peer Mental Health Program1
• Being a Peer Health Mentor
• Unlocking the Gates—What We Do
• Job Interview
• In Loving Memory of Jen (1983-2009)
• Milestones In Our Lives1
• Working with Women
• Significant Person in My Life
• Life and Death
• In Celebration of Mo
• Driving Down the Windy Road
• Numbers
• What was it like having a mentor the day you were released?
• V. Preventive Health
• I think people forget or don’t know how vulnerable women who have faced childhood trauma react to being rejected. I know for me, being rejected just confirmed that I was worthless and that I didn’t matter as a person.
• Doctor’s Journey
• Amber’s Story
• Iceberg
• Amber’s Story
• Marnie’s Health Tips
• Health Workshops and Peer-Teaching
• Anger and Fear
• Letter to Myself
• Amber’s Story
• Wendy’s Health Messages
• Preventive Health Workshops
• Doctors
• Cancer Walks Free
• Shoplifting
• Passport Angst
• Full Circle
• What are you most looking forward to now that you have been released from prison?
• VI. Indigenous Healing
• We’ve got to research why women in prison are getting breast cancer. We have to stop this and figure it out.
• Doctor’s Journey
• They’re Going to Be Living in Your Community When They Get Out
• Notes for Aboriginal Healing Outside the Gates – 1
• Notes for Aboriginal Healing Outside the Gates – 2
• Aboriginal Healing Outside the Gates Interview
• Aboriginal Healing Outside the Gates Theme Analysis
• They’re Going to Be Living in Your Community When They Get Out – 2
• Aboriginal Healing
• Aboriginal Healing Outside the Gates Theme Analysis
• They’re Going to Be Living in Your Community When They Get Out – 3
• Notes for Aboriginal Healing Outside the Gates – 3
• They’re Going to Be Living in Your Community When They Get Out – 4
• Aboriginal Healing Outside the Gates Theme Analysis
• Notes for Aboriginal Healing Outside the Gates – 4
• Outside the Gates Info Fair
• Aboriginal Healing Outside the Gates Theme Analysis
• A Piece I Didn’t Know Was Missing
• Aboriginal Healing Outside the Gates Theme Analysis
• Aboriginal Healing Outside the Gates Interview
• Out in the Community, I Felt Dropped
• Aboriginal Healing Outside the Gates Interview
• They’re Going to Be Living in Your Community When They Get Out – 5
• Lora “Koala” Kwandibens
• What does spiritual health look like to you today?
• Hope: Interlude Two
• Re-Leasing Hope
• VII. Mothers, Babies, and Children
• The claim that children should not be with their mothers is not evidence based. It is a mean-spirited perspective that robs incarcerated mothers of their self-identity and hope, and robs their children of the best chance for flourishing lives.
• Doctor’s Journey
• Mothers Separated from their Children
• Best Interests of the Child
• Lost Time With My Son
• Living on Alder
• Finding My Children
• Mo’s Story
• Seeking to Forget
• Amber’s Story
• Closing of the ACCW Mother-Baby Unit
• Babies
• New Mother-Baby House in Maple Ridge
• Planning the Mother-Baby Proposal
• Mother-Baby House Update
• Second Visit with the Mayor
• Mother-Baby House Postcript
• Bonding Beyond Bars
• Visiting Mom When I Was Thirteen
• Court Decision
• Creating Guidelines for Mother-Baby Units in Correctional Facilities
• Fifteen Guiding Principles for Mother-Baby Units in Canadian Correctional Facilities
• After the Trial
• ACCW Mother-Baby Unit Update
• Amber’s Story
• How many more years will I be doing this?
• Letter to My Granddaughter
• Custody of Grandchildren
• Gratitude
• Little Angel Above
• What would you like people to know that would be helpful for women being released?
• VIII. Education
• My goal is to be an educated woman, not a statistic. I can be a role model for my daughter. Now in recovery, I believe with education plus my history I will be a great helper to others who struggle.
• Doctor’s Journey
• Career Builders Program
• Dressing the Part
• Live Your Dreams
• Presentation at Douglas College
• Going Back to School
• Battle Out of Darkness
• Funding Education
• Learning and Growth
• Filmmaker as Educator Activist
• Alumni Speech
• Return to School
• A Moment of Hope
• Do you have any fears about being released?
• IX. Ways Forward
• It is one year tomorrow since I held my father’s hand as he passed. Our last conversation was about how proud he was of what I have become—that I’ve made a career informed by my experiences and struggles—and that he was completely at peace knowing I would continue to support my mom after he was gone. That kind of trust is something that we rebuilt over time, and for me, believing that he was again able to place that kind of faith in me means everything.
• Doctor’s Journey
• Staying Hopeful
• What Changed?
• Meaningful Work
• Advice
• No Threat to Others
• You Against Them
• Done Button
• Amber’s Story
• Soar
• Final Reflections
• But today none of us are the women who left that prison; today we are productive members of society.
• When I Was a Little Girl
• Transformation and Action
• Here, In This Moment
• We Need to Rise Above
• A Lingering Resonant Note
• Twenty-Six Ways of Listening to Hope
• Who We Are
• Appendices