LEAH, 45, in her bedroom in her mother’s house, 9 months after her release. Brooklyn, NY (2019) Sentence: 21 years to life. Served: 21 years Released: January 2019 “When I am in this space, I am able to find the mental strength I need to tackle the daily obstacles I am met with because of my crime. When I am in this space, I am able to reflect on me, how I have transitioned from a weed trapped beneath the surface, into a beautiful sunflower, free and tall reaching for the stars. In this space I know that no matter what I may endure outside of it, when I return to it, I am safe and free to be me.”

SHERON, 57, in transitional housing in a hotel, 5 months after her release. Queens, NY (2022) Sentence: 25 years to life Served: 26-1/2 years Released: April 2022 “Finally! I can scream, I can cry, I can jump for joy. And no one will judge me. Now I can be the best version of myself. It begins in this space. I am ‘ridiculously’ happy and full of love.”

KAREN, 69, in a homeless shelter four weeks after her release. East Village, NY (2017) Sentence: 25 years to life Served: 35 years Released: April 2017 "When I made parole plans, I thought I was going to have a good re-entry situation in the house I paroled to. I realized almost immediately that it wouldn't work out, so I left, without anywhere else to go. Parole sent me to a homeless assessment shelter in the south Bronx. The quality of the bedding and the food was a lateral move from prison . But factoring in my freedom, there’s no question that it was an improvement. Now, I’m in a shelter run by the Women’s Prison Association. I feel safe and secure. The room is spare, with not much in it, but it’s mine. In this room, I find comfort, privacy, safety, and peace of mind."

JENNIFER, 40, in her own apartment, 15 months after her release. Brooklyn, NY (2021) Sentence: 18 years to life Served: 17-1/2 years Released: February 2020 “I feel like I’m working on being free.”

JUNIOR, 49, in her bedroom in supportive housing she shares with 2 rooommates, 15 months after her release. Bronx, NY (2019) Sentence: 15 years to life. Served: 20 years Released: September 2018 “When I came home, I had no one but my girlfriend’s mother. I didn’t know where my family was and I couldn’t find them. They had no idea I’d been released. They find me 6 months later. The prison threw me into the shelter. It’s hard. You need a foundation. Tomorrow will be 15 months I’m home. I’m clean and free. No dirty urine. I’m proud of myself.”

VERONICA, 53, in the apartment she shares with her husband of 29 years. Flushing, NY (2021) Sentence: 25 years to life Served: 27 years Released: September 2019 VERONICA: “I feel totally free, free to be all and anything I choose. In this space I am able to fill it with anything I want and the only one who can say anything is my husband.” VERNON (who visited Veronica at least 3 days a week for her entire incarceration): “This space is all about love and for me that love is Veronica being here with me.”

MONICA, 46, at home, 2-1/2 years after her release. Rochester, NY (2022) Sentence: 50 years to life Served: 23 years (Granted clemency by Governor Andrew Cuomo) Released: January 2020 “Carpe diem! Wonderment and awe. My life is filled with gratitude, love, sorrow and despair. My life’s journey and experiences are imprinted on my soul. The good and the bad, the beauty of decay and the passage of time. I now experience all of life’s moments with wonderment and awe. With eyes wide open in anticipation of what’s next, with love, joy, reflection, and the freedom to shape a future that is of my own making.”

PAT, 64, in transitional housing she shares with seven other women, nine weeks after her release. Queens, NY (2023) Sentence: 25 years to life Served: 25 years Released: January 2023 “Home to me is a quiet place Where you welcome family and friends And the people you love. You have fun together, playing games, Looking at old pictures. Playing music, having food and cooking Together And with all of this I consider this I would call Home It is a joy”

MIRIAM, 51, in transitional housing two months after her release. Corona, NY (2018) Sentence: 20 years to life Served: 30 years Released: December 2017 “This room is my room. A place of my sanity unlike the one in prison. No one will bother me if I’m heard talking to myself. I can think clearly, I can breathe, I can live my way, dress my way, look at things my may. Move my furniture around my way. I love my room. It’s mine—all mine and no one can say anything about it.”

LINDA, 74, in a transitional house she shares with 7 other women, 6 weeks after her release Queens, NY (2022) Sentence: 30 years to life Served: 30 years Released: October 2022 “I’M FREE!! I almost didn’t make it. But I had a will to live. My last year I got COVID 19, was in and out of the hospital and lived on the medical unit called Long Term Care. After my long, hard 30 years, I didn’t get to walk out…but was taken out in a wheelchair. And 9 days later, due to improper medication and a leaking valve, I landed in the hospital. I wanted so badly to make it out alive and I did… I’M FREE!!”

LINDA, 70, in her own apartment 14 years after her release. Albany, NY (2017) Sentence: 17 years to life Served: 14 years. Granted clemency by Governor George Pataki Released: February 2003 "I love my apartment. The building is clean. I feel safe and at peace. I been here 10 years. I been out of prison 14 years. It’s so hard when you get out. I just stayed strong. With a friend’s help I got a job as a housekeeper in a hospital. I stayed there for 9-1/2 years. Then I retired. As of now I have to try very hard to stay on my budget finance wise. I have a good family & friends in my life. I thank the life I have now. And I thank God everyday that I am alive and safe. Thank you God."

SHARON, 57, back in supportive housing seven years after her release. Corona, NY (2017) Sentence: 20 years to life Served: 20 years Released: May 2010 "My body tells me, I was in prison, but my mind tells me that I never spent a day there. I have this sense of freedom and a strong sense of feeling liberated. I am so in touch with my womanhood, of being a mom and a grandmother, a friend and a partner, a spirtitual sister. I’m in touch with all that . . . my room is a place of peace and a sanctuary to come home to every day. I love turning the key in my door."

JUDY, 69. in her own apartment, 5 months after her release. New York, NY (2019) Sentence: 75 years to life Served: 37-1/2 years. Granted clemency by Governor Andrew Cuomo Released: May 2019 “Every evening, when I come home from work and enter my studio apartment, I am overjoyed. Every day I wake up to a sense of overwhelming gratitude. It feels like a miracle to have my own sacred space. To be able to sit peacefully and look out the window at the tree branches swaying in the wind, and welcome the sounds of the streets below, as life flowing on. To inhabit my own body, in my own space, with no fear of intrusion. To be my own person, in my own time and place. Simply, a miracle.”

EVELYN, 42, in an apartment she shares with a roommate five years after her release. Queens, NY (2017) Sentence: 15 years to life Served: 20 years Released: April 2012 "Look where I am now. Five years ago, I came out from a little cell, started out in a halfway house, moved to an apartment, back to a transitional home, and now I’m in my own room in an apartment I share with a roommate. What can be better than this? This is happening."

CAROL, 69, in a communal residence four years after her release. Long Island City, NY (2017) Sentence: 25 years to life Served: 35 years Released: March 2013 "When I was inside, I dreamed of getting out, getting a job, travelling a little bit. But by the time I got out, my health was bad. Basically, that changed all plans. I wish I could do more, but I’m at peace. I have my grandson, Cecil. He’s precious."

TOWANDA, 45, in her own apartment five years after her release, with her daughter, Equanni. Bronx, NY (2017) Sentence: 15 years to life Served: almost 23 years Released: October 2012 "I was in the shelter system for the first four years. It was about the same as prison. You’re confined, you can’t do anything, you don’t have your own thoughts, you’re always stressed out. It’s good to have my own apartment and pay my own bills. It’s peaceful and I feel safe."

VALERIE, 62 in an apartment she shares with a roommate. Bronx, NY (2018). Sentence: 19 years to life. Served: 17 years (granted clemency by Governor Andrew Cuomo). Released: January 2017 “I got my freedom. That’s true! But it’s not the same as being free free. I like to travel. I used to go to VA, to PA, and the casinos and the boardwalk in Atlantic City. I love the beach. But I can’t go anywhere without my PO’s permission. If I want to go to a play or a concert, I need my PO’s permission. Until I get off parole, my life is messed up. I can’t do what I want.”

MARY, 51, with her niece, Trish, in her own apartment 19 years after her release. Brooklyn, NY (2017) Sentence: 15 years to life Served: 15 years Released: May 1998 “I’ve been home 19 years, but re-entry is a lifetime process. In many ways prison is with you forever. Still, the impact is a lot less than it used to be. For years, everything I did, everything I thought about, reflected back to prison. It was about 15 years out—I did 15 years in—that I stopped connecting to that girl I was in prison. Maybe you have to do the same amount of time outside as you did inside until you feel FREE from it.”

AISHA, 45, in a house she shares with 5 other women 14 months after her release. Flushing, NY (2017) Sentence: 25 years to life Served: 25 years Released: June 2016 "When I was released, I didn’t feel overwhelmed; I felt as though I was right where I was supposed to be. Later though, the feeling of being overwhelmed came as I found myself on the business side of life: food shopping, rent, bills, metrocards, etc. That was all new to me because I lived at home with my mom until I was arrested. My children were one and three years old when I left them and I felt as if they were one and three the whole time I was away. I feel that way about myself now. I was arrested when I was 19 and being in this big, unfamiliar, advanced world makes me feel like a 19-year-old trapped in a 45 year old body. I am both happy and grateful to be out here, but it’s like putting a kindergartener in college."