Transitioning Out Of Prison: Empowering Women to Find Jobs

Rebecca Macklemore was hired at Dragonfly Thrift Boutique the day after she was released from prison. 

Throughout the country, the women’s prison population is on the rise. According to the Prison Policy Initiative, women’s state prison population grew 834 percent over nearly 40 years — more than double the pace of the growth among men.

All this week on The Takeaway, we’re looking at what happens after people are released from incarceration. So when women get out, how are they adjusting?

“That’s one of the hardest things for someone who is freshly out of prison — is get a job,” said Shazonia Horton, a woman recently released from prison who is now working at the Dragonfly Thrift Boutique in Miami, Florida. “So this store serves a grand purpose. And as that grand purpose — it’s not only help women inside of prison, but helps us transition out.”

Horton spoke with WLRN reporter Nadege Green, who recently met with women working at the Dragonfly Thrift Boutique in Little Havana, Miami, Florida. The store is a project from the nonprofit organization LEAP, which is helping women make the transition from incarceration to their communities.

Nadege Green, a reporter covering social justice issues for WLRN, Miami public radio, joins The Takeaway to talk about women’s transition from incarceration to the outside world.

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