I was honored and excited to be invited to participate in a panel discussion following the New York screening of Chesa Boudin’s powerful documentary film Beyond Bars. This was my first time seeing the movie, and it proved to be an incredibly moving and emotional experience for me. The film…

FREEHER 10th Anniversary On April 24th, 2024, a historic event took place in Washington, D.C., as more than a thousand passionate individuals gathered to commemorate the 10th anniversary of the Freeher march. This monumental event, organized by “The National Council for Incarcerated and Formerly Incarcerated Women and Girls,” was a…

The Right/Write to Heal Initiative is a joint project of the Columbia Center for Justice and V-Day’s Beyond Incarceration Project. Through Right/Write to Heal, women share how they cope with the consequences of incarceration on themselves, their families and communities, with the goal of changing how people understand the impact…

In a powerful display of solidarity and creative expression, participants from Right/Write to Heal New York traveled to Portland, Maine, to participate in the second annual “Abolition Night” at the STRAND THEATRE in Rockland, Maine. The Right/Write to Heal Initiative is a joint project of the Columbia Center for Justice…

https://www.nationalcouncil.us/ The 5th annual FreeHer conference brought together formerly incarcerated women and directly affected people. Activists, advocates, experts, policymakers, and supporters from across the country came to connect and share ideas and resources to work collectively toward ending the incarceration of women and girls and creating systems to empower themselves…

I had the opportunity to go to the New York state capitol in Albany three times in March with Release Aging People in Prison (RAPP) to urge lawmakers not to sign onto Governor Hochul’s plan to push back bail reform. It is appalling that she wants to implement the passage…

New $10 Million Women’s Re-entry Center Opens in Maine» After three years of parole supervision, New York State finally discharged me. As a free woman, my excitement brewed for my first visit to  Maine. Cheryl Wilkins and Yolanda-Peterkin Johnson accompanied me. We wanted to connect with the women in our…

On October 13, 2021, several organizations came together to protest closing the death camp; closing this death chamber has been a long-standing issue for advocates of criminal justice reform and abolitionists throughout New York State for decades. The crumbling infrastructure, the infestation of rodents,  inhumane living conditions, the onset of…

  With the pandemic’s devastating effects on the prison communities and the world, this year has been tough on all of us. August 12th, 2021, was a day criminal justice advocates set aside to remember the life of Valerie Gaiter, my co-defendant. Val never received the proper medical evaluation and…

As an advisory board member of Donna Hylton’s A Little Piece of Light, I was invited to attend the organization’s trip to touch base with their California partners. A Little Piece of Light is a non-profit organization whose mission is to empower and facilitate healing for women, girls, and gender-fluid…