I Thought I’d Escaped Poverty. Then I Went to Prison.

[eridani]

http://www.thenation.com/article/i-thought-id-escaped-poverty-then-i-went-to-prison/

No one likes to talk about the fact that “doing time” leaves the majority of returning citizens worse off than before they were incarcerated. Prior to my imprisonment, I had a very successful consulting business and I lived a solidly middle-class life. I worked hard, I traveled, and I gave back to my community and my church. I never forgot the poverty and abuse that enveloped me during my childhood and early teen years.

 I spent my holidays and summers with my college boyfriend’s family. I worked as a temp and put my typing and computer skills to use. Whenever I would sign up with a temporary employment agency, they would give a typing test and completely flip out that I was black and smart and could type over a 100 wpm with fewer than four errors. My mother was right. In my adulthood, I was never out of a job because, when times were hard, I could fall back on my typing skills and do administrative and executive assistant work. I have never cleaned anyone’s house for a living. In fact, there was a time when I was financially solvent enough to hire a housekeeper.

My mother was right until now—post-prison. I am now as poor as I was before I went into foster care. I am poorer than I have ever been in my entire adulthood, and I am recently homeless. Prison did not just leave me worse off financially; it caused my mental state to deteriorate to how it was when I was in foster care. Throughout my high school years, I attempted suicide several times. I spent years before my first attempt planning my own death.

[TreasonousBastard]

1. Yes, prison does nothing good for you and...

when you get out you are in worse shape. The myth of prison reform stays a myth because every time it is tried it is too tough to do it right and the conservatives refuse to spend the time and effort, preferring to call it a failure.

But, prison is one part of the story. Why was she in prison and could whatever she was doing to get herself in the slam also have some effect on her current life? Was she railroaded and falsely imprisoned, over charged, or did she really do something really wrong that she still has to deal with?

[Man from Pickens]

2. Went to prison for what?

Curiously omitted from the article... had to have been a felony if the consequences were that severe. If she got busted for a bullshit political charge like a drug "crime" I have a lot of sympathy. If she killed someone my sympathies would go to the victim instead.

[missingthebigdog]

5. Why?

Why does it matter what she did if she has paid the price society demanded in the form of a prison sentence?

Should she have to continue to pay? How much? For how long?

[Man from Pickens]

10. You don't think it makes a difference?

If the crime was murder or rape or some vicious assault, would you want to assume the risk of associating with someone who had already proven they would do such a thing?

If the crime was embezzlement or financial fraud, would you want such a person involved in your business or writing you a rent check?

If there's a victim with permanent injuries, do you think it's right that the person who injured them should be free and clear while they had to suffer the effects of the crime rest of their own lives?

Of course it matters - it matters a great deal.

[aikoaiko]

3. I don't think people talk about it because it's obvious

Being convicted of a crime and going to prison will fuck up your life.

Was that really a mystery to this writer?

[Live and Learn]

8. It is much worse now that preciously due to computers, data mining, the internet

and an over abundance of background and credit checks for employment. One's entire past including social media accounts and school records can now be checked at the press of a few buttons. I really fear for the next generations and their complete lack of privacy.

We must allow people to rejoin society and attempt to attain the 'American dream' after completing their sentences or letting them out at all is completely meaningless, mo matter what the crime.

[daredtowork]

9. I was interested they let her use a pseudonym

Times have really changed.

"Credible" publications used to refuse to let authors use pseudonyms no matter what your reasons. The digital snooping trail (underscored by the people who instantly want to know the gossip on the prison story) has given some people much stronger needs to attempt to protect their anonymity and seems to have softened some editors/publications views on assisting with that.

I'm thinking we should, as a society, have a conversation with Google and other search engines to figure out how to make certain types of records age out into an "archived" category: even if they are public records, they should have to involve a certain amount of work to seek them out in order to discourage casual spying. There should be some law against mining archived records to "re-expose" them online if they fall into a certain category that could be used for blackmail, such as prison records. Rules should be set up to clarify "account deletion", since many businesses try to discourage this. There are many things we could do to clean up the public space of the Internet without necessarily censoring it.

[Solly Mack]

4. K&R

[passiveporcupine]

6. I wish she hadn't said that.

?I have never cleaned anyone’s house for a living. In fact, there was a time when I was financially solvent enough to hire a housekeeper.?

This really pissed me off.

There is dignity in cleaning toilets for a living.

I have a college education and a lot of job experience, and a lot of technical skills. I could not find a job for over two years here. I tried cleaning houses a couple of times and I couldn't keep it up because of my back. It's damned hard work. And I'm good at it. I'm OCD and do great detail work. But physically I was not able. Still, it paid better than all entry level jobs in my town.

Most entry level jobs here start at minimum wage, while house cleaning is $20 an hour.

[eridani]

7. Cleaning houses has a particular meaning for women of color

It isn't good.