What Could Have Kept Me Out of Prison

Nothing can help me. Only I can help myself.

Vocational programs, housing programs, and actual jobs so that we can take care of ourselves and our kids.

It would be most efficient to educate young people on the true conditions and consequences of being incarcerated.

More time to decompress once you are released from incarceration.

Cheaper college classes. I would’ve been in college instead of outside making mistakes.

To have a mentor who could have told me about the path that I was on. Someone who could have boosted my self-esteem.

Mental health and/or grief counseling.

I would have to say that more drug and alcohol prevention programs would have reduced the risk of me committing crimes. Not just some bullshit umbrella, traditional programs that do work in some cases but something more proven to work and build on that.

I believe that counseling for returning veterans is key to keeping certain types of vets from committing crimes.

I guess it would've been mental health counseling and having a better understanding of what PTSD is and how it affects you.

Having a battered women's group and being able to have a safe house to keep people safe and sources to help relocate as better support from police and other officials who could have made a difference.

Better jobs for felons also better parole officers

Something that would have been available to me as a teenage woman to realize my worth and how I should be treated in a relationship with a significant other. A mentor.

Programs that really focus on helping the young Black youth. I believe that the young Black youth can succeed just like their counterparts with the real resources that really are geared towards really helping not just to show a window dressing of help.

Daycare vouchers, and help financially as a single parent even though I worked it was hard to make ends meet with no child support from the fathers of my children.

The “listen to my dad” class

The services are available, at the time I didn't realize I needed the help

Access to a better paying job. Protection from racial discrimination.

Better paying jobs in small communities.

There's no particular program that could have helped me. I made a bad choice and I am currently paying for it.

Anger Management. I wish I would have been given the option and help that I needed. I had to come to prison to take a program that the free world has.

I tried to get into a residential substance abuse program when I was released on my last sentence but was denied because of my lack of insurance.

Access to a college education, which I've gotten while in prison. Also, better access to good mental health and substance abuse programs, along with the insurance to pay for them.

Some kind of service to assist people who are severely institutionalized, like myself. Jail is NOT a deterrent

Don’t really know, I guess just someone, anyone to give a shit and to reach out. When I was young we didn't have anything to help us.

I'm not sure exactly, but if I could have a psychiatrist evaluate me for cheap, that would be a great first step.

Intervention not incarceration for domestic violence. In Washington state people are sent to prison or jailed for domestic violence with little focus on addressing the underlying problem.

Drugs played a big part of my incarceration but after school sports would've helped me the most

We shouldn't put Veterans with PTSD in prison, it's not right. The war on terrorism ruined my life.

Parental guidance. Love. Support. Words of encouragement and other things that a child needs in his early years.

Raising the minimum wage. Providing more help for single mothers and convicted felons

Better job market for convicts. No one wants to hire us which will just mean most of us will end up here again.

A job and an affordable place to live, because most people have to work two jobs just to barely keep an apartment.

It really would've helped me to have had some type of male role model. Someone I could count on for support and help and not just judgement.

Access to affordable mental healthcare. Healthcare coverage to pay for therapy/counseling. Affordable health insurance.

An interest awareness program to find out what makes me happy at an early age.

Any support on trying to start my own business and for women that get abused and end up homeless trying to get on their feet when it’s hard finding support.

A program that teaches a trade and then allows me to use it to make some sort of income then into work release

Psychiatric counseling and less antidepressants, also being able to get the medication that I really needed and not just what the insurance would cover.

Mental health. It was hard for me to transition from prison to the streets. I wanted help so bad. I felt as if the world was moving way too fast.

After my daughter was killed by a drunk driver back in 1996, I believe grief/loss counseling would have definitely assisted me.

Domestic violence classes and finishing school

I think more services for inmates for rehab when they get out of prison

Buses in the Waterville area so I would not have to drive with no licence.

Ending this "war on drugs" and Indiana, stepping out of the 50s, and legalizing weed for recreational use

Family therapy and more of a family life that wasn’t supportive of crime and drug use.

Some kind of program to help get reestablished in housing and assistance with childcare and transportation. Continued therapy. Emergency services for single mothers on parole.

Schools being more hands on in the process of making decisions for after high school.