Each year, nearly 54,000 women in the U.S. state of Louisiana are released from prison, according to Operation Restoration, a New Orleans-based nonprofit organization with a mission to support women and girls impacted by incarceration as they attempt to restore their lives.
For many women, restoring their lives proves too difficult. Some 30% return to jail within five years.
“The number of barriers a woman faces when she is released from incarceration is unfathomable,” Syrita Steib, Operation Restoration’s founder and president told VOA. “There are food and housing issues, of course, but that’s just the tip of the iceberg.”
“You are on parole, but you have to pay the state money for that supervision,” Steib continued. “Where do you get the money for that at first, though? If you’ve been in prison for years or decades, you don’t have the network connections or technology literacy most people lean on to find a job.”
As Shenica Jackson, 43, readied for her release last year after more than 13 years in prison, she shared many of these concerns.
Jackson was one of two individuals arrested in 2011 when an ongoing feud turned violent.
“I was full of regret, of course,” Jackson said. “Regret that I took someone’s life, regret that I was leaving my daughter without a mother to take care of her, and regret that I had robbed myself of my future.”
“When you’re incarcerated at 30 years old, you don’t imagine you’re going to have lots of opportunities after that,” she added. “I thought my life was over.”
That changed when she saw Operation Restoration was training women in prison to work as laboratory assistants. That program has licensed 67 formerly incarcerated women, including Jackson.
“It gives me something to be proud of,” Jackson said. “It feels good to try to improve yourself and learn something new.”
Finding second chances
Operation Restoration has more than a dozen programs including providing housing, work training, education, food, clothing and legal advocacy. It is the kind of help that founder Steib needed when she was released from prison in 2009.
Steib served nearly 10 years for her role in a burglary and arson at a car dealership when she was a teenager. When she was released, she felt overwhelmed and disoriented.
“The world moves on without you,” Steib said, “and it happens at a rapid pace. When you get out of jail, there are barriers everywhere.”
Those barriers include housing and college applications, which often require applicants to declare whether they are felons. Steib’s college application was rejected because she answered honestly about her conviction. When she pivoted to a job search, she was unaccustomed to email, did not know how to use social media and had trouble finding the right clothes for interviews.
“I went in when I was 19 and came out when I was 29,” she said. “I didn’t know what size I wore. But if I go to buy underwear, nobody knows I was in jail. Nobody knows my story. They just think I’m a 30-year-old who doesn’t know her bra size. And imagine how embarrassing that is. Eventually it’s all too much, and you think, ‘Maybe I’ll just skip my job interview.’”
Steib eventually was accepted and graduated from college but found that brought higher restitution payments to the state.
“They said my ability to pay had changed because I had graduated college,” she said, “but I hadn’t even received a paycheck yet!”
Steib saw other women released from prison facing the same challenges with little support.
“I remember watching a presentation about the prison problem in Louisiana, and of the 50 slides, only one mentioned women,” she said. “It was ridiculous. I decided I needed to do something.”
Adding programs
One of the first problems Operation Restoration tackled was the one that complicated her going to college.
In 2017, Operation Restoration helped write and advocate for the passage of Louisiana Act 276, known as “Ban the Box,” which prohibits public colleges in the state from asking about criminal history in admissions decisions. Louisiana was the first state to pass that type of law, and seven states have since made similar changes.
Steib and her team began a college-in-prison program offering for-credit Bachelor of Arts degrees inside the Louisiana Correctional Institute for Women in partnership with Tulane University. In 2024, 34 incarcerated women were enrolled.
Comprehensive solution
Operation Restoration last year placed nearly 200 families in safe and secure housing, donated clothing and hygiene products to more than 350 women and girls, and spent more than $111,000 on clients’ childcare, transportation, food, and housing, according to the organization’s 2024 Impact Report.
Because 80% of incarcerated women in Louisiana are mothers, Operation Restoration has programs for their daughters, including tennis lessons, yoga and dance classes, and tutoring. There is a discussion group called “Girl Talk,” in which teenagers meet with a facilitator to learn about financial literacy, positive self-identity, drug awareness, reproductive health, and career and academic preparation.
Sixteen-year-old Kace — Operation Restoration requested VOA not share her last name to protect her anonymity — struggled when a parent was incarcerated. Her grandmother suggested she enroll in Girl Talk, and Kace said it has changed her life.
“I learned that I was depressed, and I needed people to open up to,” she said. “I love our talks and getting to learn about other girls in the program who are also going through challenges like me.”
“Having a group like this has taught me that just because I’m struggling and I think I’m not enough,” Kace added, “I’m enough in someone’s eyes.”
Operation Restoration is sponsored by more than 40 local and national charities, including the United Way of Southeast Louisiana.
Steib says federal government funding cuts could threaten the survival of some of its programs. That includes the programs for young girls in which Kace takes part, as well as Operation Restoration’s Lab Assistant Program. While Steib remains hopeful these cuts won’t target organizations like hers, she is pushing to raise money from other sources to ensure those programs remain supported, as well as to build a community center for her clients.
“I want women and girls impacted by incarceration to have a place in the community that feels like theirs,” she said. “They should be able to come in for their lab assistant class and find childcare for their kids and pick up some clothing for an interview. That’s what we currently need help with.”
Jackson says Operation Restoration changes women’s lives.
“To leave jail and know there is something for me out there, it’s hard to explain how important that is.” she said. “I would have never guessed my life would be going like this. I can’t believe I have choices again.”
