We asked Angela to share her story about the difficulties she faced as a returning citizen and the need she had for a place to stay and the support a shelter can provide.

My name is Angela. I am in recovery. I am a mother of 3. I have two daughters.  When 16 years old, I lost my first-born, a son. to a medical condition while he was infant. When I was 13 years old, I started using with my older sisters. I gave birth to my oldest daughter shortly after graduating high school. When my infant passed away, I dealt with a lot of bullying and ended up in Juvenile Detention for fighting. On the day I got out of juvenile detention for a 28 day sentence my brother was killed. Soon after my cousin was killed in an alcohol related car accident.  One can start to see that by 18 years old there was already a lot of inner turmoil in my life.

I have been convicted for minor misdemeanors, felony (receiving stolen property) and forgery. My first time being incarcerated as an adult was in January, 2013. I was indicted in December, 2012, for felony charges and had pending court for a misdemeanor theft charge. I was 24 years old, addicted to crack cocaine and opiates. I did not receive re-entry services or aftercare from my incarcerations.

When I went to court, I begged for help with my addiction. I knew I was powerless on my own. Instead, I served 30 days and was out. The court could not help.  The one option I was recommended was to attend outpatient services.  After 90 days, without accompaniment, I relapsed, and return to jail for failing drug testing.  Another 45 days. 

The psychology of being an addict started to take me over. I felt hopeless that I could not escape a life of addiction. I attempted suicide. There was no mental health treatment provided to me while I was in jail.  I was released on intervention in Lieu of Conviction; to complete court ordered treatment.

A probation meeting was set for 10am the following morning. My sister was my ride home from jail. It would be bad for me to go back to where I was living.  I wanted to go to my mom’s house, but my sister could only take me part way.  She dropped me off near my apartment.  I soon found a friend who wanted to hang out and use.

Within 3 hours I had alcohol poisoning and had to be rushed to the hospital. I picked up 3 new charges because of that night. I went back to jail and was on suicide watch.  My Intervention in Lieu of Conviction was revoked. The felony charges were made permanent. I was sentenced to 4-6 months in Marysville Community Based Correctional Facility (CBCF).

I wanted to return to my mother’s house after CBCF. Other than Alvis House, I had nowhere to go. Alvis House was in Columbus. My kids are in Delaware. My mother denied this request because conditions there could make it easy for me to lose sobriety.  I was running out of time.  My counselor began trying to explore other options but to no avail.

CBCF got me a job in a sports bar. One morning when told to clean the bar area I poured myself a drink. I took one sip and threw it away.  I got scared.  When I admitted to taking that drink during a moment of weakness, I was kicked out of the program.  As a result, I was sent back to county jail.

Shortly after I asked the judge to serve the remainder of my sentence in Alvis House so that I could build a stable foundation for living, work, transportation, and recovery. The judge denied my request and sent me to Ohio Reformatory for Women to serve the remaining sentence of 8 and a half months. I was denied any type of transitional living following my prison sentence because I was to be released without probation.

Ultimately, I returned to my mom’s house.  During this time, I was denied standard visitation with my children. We had no transportation, public or private. I was able to work fast food and walked to work every day.

I have sought help for my addictions since I was 15 years old. I was in the drug court program (specialized court docket programs) from 14 to 18. During this time, I was never sent to treatment by probation.  Even seeing my battle with addiction was relentless and often failing drug tests I had no type of follow up recovery or mental health services.  The only release I knew was to drink or drug. So that’s what I did.

My consequence was always just a couple days in jail. I have been homeless more times than I can count. I went to Alcoholics Anonymous and Narcotic Anonymous; those programs alone were never enough for because the circumstances around me were always unstable. As I sit here now in my first long-term treatment program; I can see how being offered re-entry services at any point in my journey would have made a world of difference.

Finally, after all these years I have help now.  Living in a residential program where I was given time to find employment, resources for transportation, treatment and recovery, access to food, case management, and mental health services has made my recovery foundation so strong. These things are extremely important if I am going to maintain sobriety.

I have reconnected with my children.  I have given back to my community supporting those in recovery and families of those who have loved ones incarcerated.  I have my own business!   It is one day at a time, but each day is a better day.  It is not without struggle, not without hope.

I believe that every person who faces a conviction should have a solid plan of returning to society. That is what re-entry services and housing are for. They should be offered and available to everyone, everywhere.

No returning citizen should be faced with these fundamental uncertainties. It is too overwhelming to do alone. A good housing program provides navigators to accompany returning citizens in finding safety and security from relapse. Learning how to access public transportation, food pantries, or find wage employment is scary and hard. Reducing that anxiety with stable shelter gives hope to stay focused while seeking out what they will do until they secure treatment and employment.