{"id":22195,"date":"2015-12-14T08:10:46","date_gmt":"2015-12-14T14:10:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/?p=22195"},"modified":"2015-12-09T07:44:48","modified_gmt":"2015-12-09T13:44:48","slug":"a-chance-for-a-change-for-cook-county-jail-women","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/a-chance-for-a-change-for-cook-county-jail-women\/","title":{"rendered":"A chance for a change for Cook County Jail women"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Enrica Nicoli-Aldini<\/strong><\/p>\n

Several colored posters decorate the walls of Division 17 at Cook County Jail, motivating its women residents with words of encouragement such as \u201cTogether we can make it.\u201d Light blue walls lead the way up to the Pink Salon, a beauty shop where women can work or get their hair and nails done. A clinic and dispensary occupies the end of one tier\u2019s corridor, near multipurpose rooms filled with brown chairs arranged in circles, for group meetings, therapy sessions and church services.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe building looks more like a school, not a prison,\u201d said Division 17 resident Margot Zyskind. \u201cThis is colorful, and it\u2019s been a lot more pleasant than I expected.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Zyskind is one of the 163 female inmates who currently populate Division 17 as part of the Women\u2019s Justice Program, an intensive 120-day treatment program for women detained at Cook County Jail awaiting trial for offenses that usually fall under the categories of drug possession and retail theft.<\/p>\n

The program provides mental health services and classes to equip detainees with skills for both family and work life after jail.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese women come here with a lot of baggage,\u201d said Kelly Baker, who has been superintendent of Division 17 for 10 years. \u201cThey want to be listened to, and with our team effort, they get a lot of attention here.\u201d<\/p>\n

She said the division has existed in its current form since 1999. Before that, she said, \u201cmen and women were treated the same.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cBut women are more needy,\u201d she continued, hence the creation of a program specifically tailored toward their needs.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey have mental health issues. They\u2019ve been traumatized. They come from generations of drug abuse, they lack parenting skills, they\u2019ve been molested, and all sorts of horrors I can\u2019t even imagine,\u201d said Baker.<\/p>\n

Zyskind said the reason why she is in jail pales in comparison to what she calls \u201cshocking cases\u201d of other women in the division. At 27, an aspiring high school teacher\u2014\u201cironically enough,\u201d she joked\u2014she is awaiting trial for possession of heroin and retail theft. \u201cAt first, I was terrified. This is my first time in jail, and you feel like all rights have been taken from you,\u201d she said. \u201cBut then I realized my case is not the end of the world.\u201d<\/p>\n

Red scabs cover Zyskind\u2019s arms and face, signs of heroin consumption and subsequent withdrawal. She talks fast and bluntly, because \u201call I have is time,\u201d she says. She started going down \u201cthe slippery slope of heroin\u201d in 2012, after spending her college years binging on alcohol and other types of drugs.<\/p>\n

Zyskind credits the Women\u2019s Justice Program for making her jail experience more bearable. \u201cI\u2019ve been learning a lot, more than I did in college, from the classes here,\u201d she said. \u201cYou learn common sense skills that are usable in real life experiences.\u201d<\/p>\n

Preparing women for life after jail goes hand in hand with keeping the risk of recidivism at bay, said Baker. According to a 2010 Bureau of Justice Statistics report on recidivism trends at the national level, two-thirds of female inmates were re-arrested within five years of release. The same report found that the recidivism rate among women was about 10 percentage points lower than among men.<\/p>\n

U.S. District Judge Joan B. Gottschall used to co-run a re-entry program for men and women coming out of federal prisons. She said that she found women to be more disposed than men to change their lives after prison. \u201cThe women I met all seem really committed to do whatever they had to do to get their lives off on a better footing,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Still, criminal records make it harder to find work and a smooth re-entry in the community, especially when prior criminal charges are related to a drug addiction. Sheila Hill knows this first-hand. She was incarcerated five times on drug charges before starting her path to recovery and a managerial job at a recovery home in Chicago.<\/p>\n

\u201cI had a drug addiction and I was selling drugs,\u201d said Hill. \u201cThat is what I was used to doing. If you can\u2019t find a job, you know what you gotta do. Change is hard and fearful.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hill, a 42-year-old West Side resident, sees her job as a way to give back the support she received. \u201cChange is so hard without support,\u201d she said. She did not want to give the name of her employer without permission.<\/p>\n

Religious conversion was central to Hill\u2019s recovery. \u201cMy last effort at trying to recover from addiction came with so much pain that I surrendered,\u201d she said. \u201cI went to church and started reading the Bible. That\u2019s what I\u2019m still doing, and I\u2019ve been good since.\u201d<\/p>\n

Baker said that in the 10 years she\u2019s worked as superintendent for Division 17, she\u2019s witnessed a reduction in the recidivism rate among women. \u201cBut I\u2019ve also seen women coming back in my career. Some girls only get it the second or third time around, others even need more time,\u201d she said. \u201cBesides, it takes years to be completely clean after recovering from addiction.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Empowerment Center within the Women\u2019s Justice Program at Cook County Jail seeks to provide a continuum of care to women exiting the criminal justice system, Baker noted. The center connects women with services in the community that help them find housing and job and provide legal assistance in the process.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have connections with companies that hire and train these women,\u201d said Baker. \u201cWe teach women practical skills such as sewing, banquet serving, gardening and landscaping. We also teach them how to write a resume, compile a checkbook and manage money. We\u2019ve had quite a bit of success.\u201d<\/p>\n

Marian Hatcher, project manager and human trafficking coordinator at the Women’s Justice Program, said the recidivism rate for women exiting the program in 2014 was 25 percent.<\/p>\n

Getting Division 17 residents ready for post-jail employment often starts with jobs the jail itself, including in the laundry service and the beauty shop. During one of her stays at Cook County Jail, Hill served food to other inmates, making about $14 a week, or $2 a day.<\/p>\n

Women are eligible for jobs in the jail depending on what crime they committed and the bond that was set for them. Detainees can also be part of a residential advisory committee that briefs Baker on problems or issues in Division 17.<\/p>\n

Zyskind is one of the committee members. She feels like life at Division 17 resembles high school. \u201cI met women who were similar to me, and we bonded over our similarities,\u201d she said. \u201cBut then you also have 50 women crammed in the tiny space of a tier, and just like high school, there\u2019s bullying going on.\u201d<\/p>\n

Baker said it\u2019s especially hard to work with young residents in the division. \u201cThey know everything,\u201d she said. Her team tries to defuse fights between detainees and with staff. Unlike other parts of the jail, isolation is not used as a punishment.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe try to manage them with our minds instead of our actions and words,\u201d said Baker. Drawing a distinction between reacting and interacting, she suggested the staff at the Women\u2019s Justice Program favors interaction with residents as opposed to mere reaction.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou understand that these women do not care so much what you tell them,\u201d said Baker. \u201cThey just want to be listened to.\u201d<\/p>\n

Photo at top: The Women’s Justice Program at Cook County Jail provides mental health services to about 160 women. (Enrica Nicoli-Aldini\/Medill)<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Enrica Nicoli-Aldini Several colored posters decorate the walls of Division 17 at Cook County Jail, motivating its women residents with words of encouragement such as \u201cTogether we can make it.\u201d Light blue walls lead the way up to the Pink Salon, a beauty shop where women can work or get their hair and nails […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":195,"featured_media":22203,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[509,30],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-22195","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-fall-2015","category-public-affairs"],"yoast_head":"\nA chance for a change for Cook County Jail women - Medill Reports Chicago<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/a-chance-for-a-change-for-cook-county-jail-women\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"A chance for a change for Cook County Jail women - Medill Reports Chicago\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"By Enrica Nicoli-Aldini Several colored posters decorate the walls of Division 17 at Cook County Jail, motivating its women residents with words of encouragement such as \u201cTogether we can make it.\u201d Light blue walls lead the way up to the Pink Salon, a beauty shop where women can work or get their hair and nails […]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/a-chance-for-a-change-for-cook-county-jail-women\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Medill Reports Chicago\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2015-12-14T14:10:46+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2015\/12\/Cook-County-Jail-Courthouse.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1100\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"825\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Enrica Nicoli Aldini\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Enrica Nicoli Aldini\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"6 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/a-chance-for-a-change-for-cook-county-jail-women\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/a-chance-for-a-change-for-cook-county-jail-women\/\",\"name\":\"A chance for a change for Cook County Jail women - Medill Reports Chicago\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/a-chance-for-a-change-for-cook-county-jail-women\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/a-chance-for-a-change-for-cook-county-jail-women\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2015\/12\/Cook-County-Jail-Courthouse.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2015-12-14T14:10:46+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/#\/schema\/person\/60dc83bf81a198192e1eaf0997188a99\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/a-chance-for-a-change-for-cook-county-jail-women\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/a-chance-for-a-change-for-cook-county-jail-women\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/a-chance-for-a-change-for-cook-county-jail-women\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2015\/12\/Cook-County-Jail-Courthouse.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2015\/12\/Cook-County-Jail-Courthouse.jpg\",\"width\":1100,\"height\":825,\"caption\":\"The Women's Justice Program at Cook County Jail provides mental health services to about 160 women. (Enrica Nicoli-Aldini\/Medill)\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/a-chance-for-a-change-for-cook-county-jail-women\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"A chance for a change for Cook County Jail women\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/\",\"name\":\"Medill Reports Chicago\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/#\/schema\/person\/60dc83bf81a198192e1eaf0997188a99\",\"name\":\"Enrica Nicoli Aldini\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/b057c13e9e4c7006b9fbe5a4b48ac3a091ae59193a69f4ace96ad28a16b3c65a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/b057c13e9e4c7006b9fbe5a4b48ac3a091ae59193a69f4ace96ad28a16b3c65a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Enrica Nicoli Aldini\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/author\/enricanicolialdini\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"A chance for a change for Cook County Jail women - Medill Reports Chicago","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/a-chance-for-a-change-for-cook-county-jail-women\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"A chance for a change for Cook County Jail women - Medill Reports Chicago","og_description":"By Enrica Nicoli-Aldini Several colored posters decorate the walls of Division 17 at Cook County Jail, motivating its women residents with words of encouragement such as \u201cTogether we can make it.\u201d Light blue walls lead the way up to the Pink Salon, a beauty shop where women can work or get their hair and nails […]","og_url":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/a-chance-for-a-change-for-cook-county-jail-women\/","og_site_name":"Medill Reports Chicago","article_published_time":"2015-12-14T14:10:46+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1100,"height":825,"url":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2015\/12\/Cook-County-Jail-Courthouse.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Enrica Nicoli Aldini","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Enrica Nicoli Aldini","Est. reading time":"6 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/a-chance-for-a-change-for-cook-county-jail-women\/","url":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/a-chance-for-a-change-for-cook-county-jail-women\/","name":"A chance for a change for Cook County Jail women - Medill Reports Chicago","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/a-chance-for-a-change-for-cook-county-jail-women\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/a-chance-for-a-change-for-cook-county-jail-women\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2015\/12\/Cook-County-Jail-Courthouse.jpg","datePublished":"2015-12-14T14:10:46+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/#\/schema\/person\/60dc83bf81a198192e1eaf0997188a99"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/a-chance-for-a-change-for-cook-county-jail-women\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/a-chance-for-a-change-for-cook-county-jail-women\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/a-chance-for-a-change-for-cook-county-jail-women\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2015\/12\/Cook-County-Jail-Courthouse.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2015\/12\/Cook-County-Jail-Courthouse.jpg","width":1100,"height":825,"caption":"The Women's Justice Program at Cook County Jail provides mental health services to about 160 women. (Enrica Nicoli-Aldini\/Medill)"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/a-chance-for-a-change-for-cook-county-jail-women\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"A chance for a change for Cook County Jail women"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/#website","url":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/","name":"Medill Reports Chicago","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/#\/schema\/person\/60dc83bf81a198192e1eaf0997188a99","name":"Enrica Nicoli Aldini","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/b057c13e9e4c7006b9fbe5a4b48ac3a091ae59193a69f4ace96ad28a16b3c65a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/b057c13e9e4c7006b9fbe5a4b48ac3a091ae59193a69f4ace96ad28a16b3c65a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Enrica Nicoli Aldini"},"url":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/author\/enricanicolialdini\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22195","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/195"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=22195"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22195\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/22203"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=22195"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=22195"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=22195"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}