![]() He beat his first wife, and as much as I told myself, “Oh, he’ll never do that to me,” of course he eventually did. No matter how much I tried to maintain the corporate lifestyle, if someone in your life is involved in violence, it will affect you eventually too. My husband at the time fit that bill perfectly. I had a “looking for love in all the wrong places” problem, and had a thing for the intelligent bad boy type. Something always felt missing to me in a sense. I felt like my brain had been wired wrong because of a perverted man who had sexualized my body at such a young age. I was molested as a child, which caused me to have very low self-esteem. However, like many victims of sexual exploitation, I had underlying mental health issues that I had never dealt with or spoken about. I then worked for a large corporation, in charge of a staff of 25 people. I graduated from Loyola University in 1985 with a degree in finance and have always been an overachiever. I went from six figures and a beautiful home to abandoned buildings and alleysĪs a child, I was always expected to excel. If it could happen to me, it could happen to anyone. If more jails and prisons ran like Cook County’s, especially for victims of prostitution, I believe we could bring these numbers down. We need to treat prisoners as individuals who need counseling, resources, and preparation for the outside world - not bad people who deserve punishment. I believe this comes down to how we approach prison time for the incarcerated. The jail has seen an 81 percent drop in felony convictions three years following prisoner release for those who have gone through their drug court program. Among the nation’s 2,700 drug courts, Cook County is considered in the 10 model programs for prisoners. Other developed countries have much lower numbers - Nordic countries have recidivism rates between 20 and 30 percent.īut in the nation’s drug courts - criminal sentencing that typically includes mandatory addiction treatment - research shows that recidivism drops significantly. Nationally, 76 percent of all inmates end up back in jail within five years. ![]() American correctional facilities are known for high recidivism rates. Cook County Sheriff Tom Dart focuses on rehabilitation services rather than punishment, providing women with the tools they need to get out and stay out of prison. The type of treatment and care given to prostituted women and victims of sex trafficking at the Cook County Department of Corrections is different than at many other jails. Now I hope to make it the same for more victims like me. I never expected that jail would be my saving grace. Domestic violence led me to the streets, which led me to drugs, which led me to prostitution, which, thankfully, then led me to jail. My story broadly follows a pattern that is common for victims of prostitution. I had no idea that four years later, I’d return every day as a full-time employee of the very place that locked me up. ![]() I spent my first night as an inmate at the Cook County Jail dreaming about the day I’d get out. ![]()
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