Your ‘restart your life’ advocate

When a woman leaves the San Diego prison system, they are thrown into a world that is very hard to navigate. They have requirements based on their parole. They need a place to stay and a job. They need to make good decisions and avoid bad ones.

Because the male prison population is so much larger, most of the state resources helping prisoners rehabilitate are focused on men. Women are left to fend for themselves.

That’s where Jackie steps in.

Jackie is a tireless advocate for ‘her ladies’. As a formerly incarcerated person who almost didn’t make it, she has dedicated her life to helping save these women’s lives, just as someone once helped save hers.

• In jail or prison:

  • She advocates for prisoners to get their degrees, in order to help them when they get out.

  • She sends women “hygiene boxes” full of toiletries and other items they need.

  • She puts women in touch with counselors when they are having problems

  • She has taught “Psycho Social” classes to inmates

• Post prison

  • “I meet them where they are” - figuratively and literally

    • Women are often released without money, a bus pass, or even knowledge of how to read a bus route. Jackie will literally meet them where they are, bring them a bus pass, and teach them how to use the public transportation system.

  • Jackie helps women work with Child Protective Services to begin the process of getting back with their children

  • The probation system is complicated. Jackie helps released inmates understand their responsibilities and their rights

  • “I’ll hold their hands if I have to. I do whatever it takes.” - Jackie Reed