Becoming Ms. Burton: From Prison to Recovery to Leading the Fight for Incarcerated Women

by Susan Burton

Three days: that’s the average time for someone to relapse after getting out of prison. I knew nothing about statistics, but I knew that, in a drug high, I could escape into silence.

He teared up, something I’d never seen him do before. “I knew you’d be all right one day, Sue. And you’re all right. It just took a little time.” And then he changed the subject, and we ordered lunch. A decade later, when I was honored as a CNN Hero, I’d thank George Cameron on international TV for standing by me, his devotion proving that anybody can be that one person who believes in you.

In large urban areas such as Los Angeles and San Francisco, up to half of those on parole are homeless.

“I got caught stealing two sweatsuits, and struck out,” she said, referring to the Three Strikes sentencing law. “I’m a lifer now. I’m not coming home.” Nearly half the states in the nation had some type of three-strikes law, though, in California, the name was a misnomer because it also hit “two-strikers,” automatically doubling the sentence on a second offense, regardless of the crime.

“What does it mean that the number-one funder for political campaigns in our state is the California Correctional Peace Officers Association, which is the prison guards’ union? It means that law enforcement organizations are deciding who will be our governors and our state senators, who in turn write laws to expand prisons. What does it mean that recidivism rates are at an all-time high? It means that, rather than create more mental health treatment centers and hospital beds, there’s an incentive to create more prisons and prison beds. The State of California profits from the expansion of incarceration. It benefits from repeat customers. Our state’s coffers are being bankrupted to create the most well-funded prison system in the world.”

Over 70 percent of Americans in prison cannot read above a fourth-grade level. When inmates are provided literacy help, the rate of recidivism drops to a 16 percent chance of returning to prison—as opposed to a 70 percent chance for those who receive no reading help.

Nearly 80 percent of formerly incarcerated women are unable to afford housing after release. Most public housing authorities automatically deny eligibility to anyone with a criminal record. No other country deprives people of the right to housing because of their criminal histories.

In most states in America, anyone convicted of a felony loses the right to vote until their sentence plus parole or probation is complete. Voting rights may be permanently revoked in ten states (Alabama, Arizona, Delaware, Florida, Iowa, Kentucky, Mississippi, Nevada, Tennessee, and Wyoming), even after someone has been released from prison and completed parole and probation—and while still requiring payment of taxes. Eight states (Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Michigan, Missouri, South Carolina, and South Dakota) restrict voting for anyone convicted of a misdemeanor. Only two states, Maine and Vermont, allow voting from prison.

In 2016, the Department of Justice announced the end of funding for privately operated prisons, deeming the facilities unsafe, ineffective, and costly. Good riddance—but this only applied to thirteen prisons and affected a mere 11 percent of federal inmates. There was no change for the majority of inmates housed in state prisons—including privately funded state prisons.

With grant funding, we tracked the success rate of the women of A New Way of Life, noting improvement year after year. In 2015, we saw a mere 4 percent recidivism rate, which meant that 96 percent of the women of A New Way of Life stayed out of prison. Couple this with the fact that our services were provided for less than half the cost of incarceration.