California Story Fund
When Will Punishment End?
Stories by Formerly Incarcerated Women
University Corporation Northridge
Project Director: Marta Lopez-Garza
Formerly incarcerated women reveal struggles of reentering society in video documentary
What does a woman find upon her release from prison? A job? A home? Her children? What are the choices available to her? How well do our state, county and city government ease a woman’s transition from prison to community? What services does she find upon her return to the community?
These are some of the questions that this project seeks to answer through interviews with formerly incarcerated women and social service providers who work with them.
The women live in three areas in Los Angeles County: Watts in South Los Angeles, the Boyle Heights section of East Los Angeles and the city of Long Beach. They live on their own or in halfway or transitional living homes and most are affiliated with organizations assisting their transition back into society after their involvement with the criminal justice system.
“Through extensive first-person accounts, the stories reveal the challenges of trying to reenter society and the conditions under which these individuals attempt to rebuild their lives,” said Project Director Marta Lopez-Garza, a professor in the Women’s Studies and Chicana/Chicano Studies Departments at Cal State Northridge and an expert in feminist research methods, economic development and urban studies.
Initially a video of the stories will be screened in communities where the women live. “The main purpose of these screenings is to increase understanding among families and neighbors of the problems involved in reentering society,” Lopez-Garza said. “We also plan to make the documentary available for screening in other neighborhoods and at universities and colleges."