A crowd of parole and probation officers had assembled, filling in couches and chairs around a conference table in the sunny, office space with exposed brick walls and high ceilings in the decidedly hip Lacuna Lofts building in Pilsen.
Colette Payne stood at the stage with a mic in her hand and a wide smile on her face.
“Welcome to the Women’s Justice Institute,” she said, then pausing for a few seconds.
“This,” she said to applause. “is our house.”
Payne, a director at the institute, and the other women there had spent decades inside the Illinois prison system. But on a recent day, parole and probation agents from across the country — including the head of the women’s parole unit in the Illinois Department of Corrections — were at the institute’s newly opened Reclamation Center for a presentation by Payne and other formerly incarcerated women who run the center.
Lynette Faulkner, commander of the female division for the IDOC parole unit, joined the women on the panel. Faulkner’s office, which works with the institute developing approaches and interventions for women leaving prisons as well as gender-responsive training for her staff.
The afternoon was a chance to showcase the Reclamation Center, which offers help to women who have been in the criminal justice system at some point in their lives, helping them with both practical things like housing and jobs as well as emotional support as they seek to rebuild — or reclaim — their lives. The center officially opened over the summer but the panel late last month was the first major public event to be held there.
As the day played out, it also revealed a subtle power shift: A group of women previously deemed to be menaces to society or too dangerous to be free were there to challenge and educate the system about why those labels are misleading, if not wrong, given their exposure to trauma, poverty and abuse. The goal was to inform the system why it needs to change its approaches.
“I never thought I would sit in a room with a commander and a chief and parole agents, and I don’t have any warrants and you’re not arresting me,” said Elizabeth Cruz, a senior advisor at the institute who was released from prison 20 years ago, who was sitting next to Faulkner. “You ain’t offering me a ride in the back of your car, or forcing me in the back of your car. I’m not running from you. I’m not dodging your phone calls. I actually look forward to hearing from the agents and saying, ‘how can I help you?’ What a difference this makes.”
On a recent Saturday morning, folding chairs were arranged in a large ring inside the center in anticipation of a “reclamation circle” about to be held there.
A notebook and index card sat on each, as well as a piece of paper detailing the “5 Rights and Needs” of women leaving prison.
The monthly circles are the heartbeat of the center’s work, providing a place where women who want help can start. Any woman involved in the system — previously incarcerated or pre-trial — is welcome.
This was just the fourth to be held, and staff assembled to run it were not sure how many people would show up. There was an air of anticipation and excitement as they reviewed last minute details like making sure the talking stick was passed to the left, over the heart. The meditation room was also ready in case anyone needed a break.
The circle aimed to get the women thinking about what had led them to prison and what they needed to rebuild a life outside. That work started by reflecting on five rights and needs that were identified in a major report on incarcerated women released last year by the Women’s Justice Institute after a task force of more than 500 women studied the issue.
Read More: New Reclamation Center in Chicago connects women leaving prison to services