women in prison
Jacqueline Polverari & Jeff Grant will Present at “The Justice Panel”, Albertus Magnus College, Mon., Oct. 19, 2020, Noon & 5 pm
Jacqueline Polverari and Jeff Grant will be the presenters at Albertus Magnus College’s spring 2020 Justice Panel, which is now scheduled for Monday, October 19th, at 5 pm in New Haven, CT. Details to come!
For the last five years, a semi-annual event at Albertus Magnus College has been a presentation by the Pursuing Truth and Justice Student-Faculty Panel, or “Justice Panel,” for short. The Justice Panel is a student-faculty collaboration aimed at addressing contemporary instances of institutionalized injustice. Themes in the past include police-community relations, human trafficking, access to mental health services, the role of the prosecutor, racial privilege and exclusion, immigration policy, racial justice in the NFL, and the status of Puerto Rico.
The Justice Panel lasts one hour and allows for each presenter to speak, followed by a respondent, additional remarks by the speakers, and comments from the floor. As we wish to include the students in the evening program, the Panel will present at 5:00 pm.
The themes of incarceration and re-entry are intended to branch out to other elements of criminal justice reform and to other topics that bear on justice. For instance, there is an interest on campus in the topics of mass incarceration, restorative justice, and the loss of civil rights by felons who have completed their sentences.
The Justice Panel is open to the entire Albertus Magnus College population and the community at large.
Justice Panel
“Incarceration and Re-Entry: A View from the Inside”
Presenters:
Jacqueline Polverari, MSW, Executive Director of Evolution Reentry Service
Jeff Grant, M.Div., Director of the Progressive Prison Project, Co-Founder of Progressive Prison Ministries
Respondents:
Cecilia Sebastian, Ph.D. Candidate in German Studies, Yale University
Tracy Bowens, ’19, Masters in Leadership Program, Albertus Magnus College
Please note: This program will be offered twice
Monday, October 19, 2020, Virtual Event
5:00 – 6:00 p.m.
To reserve a space please email (akilbride@albertus.edu) or call 203-401-2024
Sponsored by the Preaching Truth and Justice Panel Committee and the Criminal Justice Program
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Jacqueline Polverari, MBA, MSW is the founder and Executive Director of Evolution Reentry Services, focusing on the needs of women who have been impacted by the Criminal Justice System. Jacqueline has over 25 years’ experience as a professional with proven successes in business leadership, mentoring and therapeutic environments. Her experience working with trauma culminated after spending almost a year in Danbury Federal Prison Camp for Women and observing the trauma women experience related to being incarcerated. She has since dedicated herself to Criminal Justice Reform and Reentry services with a special focus on trauma and reentry services for women relating to incarceration. Jacqueline is an active member of the National Association of Social Workers, JustLeadershipUSA and #Cut50 and speaks at conferences and symposiums throughout the country. She most recently designed and hosted the first retreat for women convicted of a white-collar crime in the country in October 2019. Jacqueline is working diligently to continue her education and has returned to school to obtain her Doctoral Degree in Social Work with a concentration in Criminal Justice. For more information or to schedule a speaking engagement you can reach Jacqueline Polverari: evolutionreentry.com, jpolverari@evolutionreentry.com
Jeff Grant, J.D., M.Div. is an ordained minister with over three decades of experience in crisis management, business, law, reentry, recovery (clean & sober 17+ years), and executive & religious leadership. Sometimes referred to in the press as “The Minister to Hedge Funders,” he uses his experience and background to guide people faithfully forward in their lives, relationships, careers and business opportunities, and to help them to stop making the kinds of decisions that previously resulted in loss, suffering and shame.
After an addiction to prescription opioids and serving almost fourteen months in a Federal prison for a white-collar crime he committed when he was a lawyer, Jeff started his own reentry – earning a Master of Divinity from Union Theological Seminary in the City of New York with a focus in Christian Social Ethics. He is Co-Founder of Progressive Prison Ministries, Inc., the world’s first ministry supporting the white collar justice/economy exiled community. Jeff is the first person in the United States formerly incarcerated for a white collar crime to be appointed as CEO of a major criminal justice organization.
As an ordained minister, conversations and communications between Jeff and those he serves fall under clergy privilege laws. This is one reason that attorneys often allow and encourage their clients to maintain relationships with Jeff while in active prosecution or litigation situations.
Forbes: Jacqueline Polverari: After Prison, Woman Dedicates Life To Helping Women Recover From Incarceration, by Walt Pavlo
Jacqueline Polverari is a Team Member of our Ministry, Member of our weekly online White Collar/Economy Exiled Support Group, a past prisonist.org guest blogger, and a past Criminal Justice Insider guest. Jacquie’s organization, Evolution Reentry Services, helps returning women and their families rebuild their lives. Oct. 5th – 7th, she will be hosting a retreat in for returning women. Oct. 30th, Jacquie and I will be speaking at Western Connecticut State University. – Jeff
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Reprinted from Forbes.com, Sept. 21, 2019.
According to my friends over at The Sentencing Project, “Between 1980 and 2017, the number of incarcerated women increased by more than 750%, rising from a total of 26,378 in 1980 to 225,060 in 2017.” More than 60% of women in state prison have a child under the age of 18. While there are challenges that differ for women while they are incarcerated, there are also different challenges when they get home. One of them was Jacqueline Polverari and now she’s seeking to make that transition home easier.
Polverari, MSW a Connecticut Social Worker has been working with women who have experienced incarceration, particularly white-collar crime for the past four years. She spent seven months in the Danbury (Connecticut) Federal Prison for Women for charges related to a mortgage fraud case from 2015. Her experience in prison and her transition back home led her to researching women who commit white-collar crime and correlations to underlying mental health issues.
After working with several different criminal justice organizations, she founded Evolution Reentry Services out of Branford, CT. In an interview, I asked Polverari what her goals for Evolution were, “To help women returning from prison put their broken lives back together.” Polverari said many of these women were once pillars of their communities, bread winners of the family, who are dealing with isolation, embarrassment and shame when they return home. At the same time, they are trying to keep their families together.
The women she has seen over the past several years displayed very similar characteristics of “low self-esteem, lack of self-confidence, being the caretaker or “fixer” with the inability to say ‘no’.” Realizing that there were few resources for women returning from prison, she started helping as many people as she could.
“People have little empathy or sympathy for this group of women,” Polverari said, “typically seeing them as privileged women who were greedy or taking advantage of others but in reality, that is rarely the case. One can see that with the ‘Varsity Blues’ cases that involve Felicity Huffman and Lori Loughlin. Women are currently being incarcerated at a higher than ever before, yet there is little statistical information and resources dedicated to guiding these women to a productive life beyond prison.
Polverari decided that there needed to be more focus on these women in order to help change the stigma related to their crime and why they committed those crimes in the first place. Jacqueline has been speaking all over the country creating some noise as to the lack of resources available for this group. “These are women who are very educated, had been in positions of upper management and made some poor choices within the workplace,” Polverari said. “In fact, I have found that their actions that led to criminal acts initiated as a result of trying to fix a problem, which created a new problem, and so on.” Now, even though they served their time for the mistake, they are labeled a felon for life.
Of the 120+ federal prison camps, only 27 are for women, usually creating situations where they are far from home (financial burden of family travel and fewer visits). In Danbury, Polverari said there were about 157 inmates but she rarely saw more than two guards at the prison. “For the most part, women live a life of isolation in prison that carries over when they are home,” Polverari said. Like many male white collar offenders who go to prison, they are allowed to self-surrender. There were no locks or bars and most women have never even been handcuffed. However, the real issues are when they come home where they have lost their husbands, homes, and respect from their communities.
One powerful therapy for these women, according to Polverari, is to talk with other women who have gone through it. But there is a problem, conditions of supervised release post prison prohibit speaking with another felon whether that other person is on supervised release or not. “It poses a problem because how can these women find someone who can relate to their situation?” Polverari said. She’s trying to change this.
Polverari and her group at Evolution are hosting a mental health retreat where women who have been convicted of a non-violent crime can gather under the guidance of a social worker. The retreat is available to all women regardless of ability to pay. It is the weekend of October 4-6th for a day of bonding, communicating about employment opportunities, housing solutions, finances and gratitude. It is a mental health retreat to help women understand that one poor choice does not define the rest of their lives, even with a felony that follows them their entire lives.
At a time when our society has focused on issues regarding mental health, it is good to see that there is help for this group of unique individuals who in the past have led a life of isolation.
Guest Blog: My First Week at a Women’s Federal Prison
Barbara (Basia) Skudrzyk reported to the Satellite Camp at Greenville Federal Correctional Institution on June 3, 2019 to serve a thirty-three month sentence. She has been a member of our White Collar Support Group for about nine months, and will be writing letters regularly for publication on prisonist.org.
Dear Jeff,
Thank you for staying in touch and being a tremendous guide during this life-altering experience. It’s day nine here at Greenville, and I would not be as strong and prepared if it weren’t for our team who have gone through the system or just started the process.
Having a space that is safe and not being judged is essential to accept what is part of this “captive” experience. I’m sure each Camp/FCI has its own culture and set of rules, but I believe there is one underlying current that can help anyone to get through this journey. This IS a journey, and NOT a destination. Through Progressive Prison Ministries we create an environment, a trust walk, that gives you the integral skillsets to manage a system that doesn’t have readily identifiable rules and guidelines.. In order to get through this journey you have to MOVE and think FORWARD.
My best advice in these nine days is to develop a schedule that develops you into who you want to be. In my case, I am awaiting orientation which will be in 3 – 4 weeks. Programming is very limited so the best you can do is request to be wait-listed on whatever you can join. I wake up at 5:30 am, eat breakfast at 6 am, walk the track for 3 miles and then read until lunch. After lunch I go to the education center and volunteer. Yesterday I was able to help a young woman write her first resume. She’s scheduled to leave in two weeks. It was a great exercise and confidence booster knowing she now has some preparation as she has to get a job within fourteen days of leaving.
I’ve sat in on the PAWS program to learn more about the process and some of the GED classes. If there’s an opportunity to volunteer while you’re waiting to be considered for a job – do it! Stay active. While sitting writing this letter in the library I observed a woman crocheting. She’s been in the system 8.5 years. I asked if she would be interested in teaching me how to crochet, so now I have another project to fill up my time.
As we’ve all been advised, lay low, be humble and do not gossip. There’s plenty of opportunity to engage, but don’t do it! If you open up your mouth like I’ve seen many women do, it’s equivalent to throwing food in a koi pond – the fish are on top of one another waiting for the bait. Don’t be the bait!
There’s a PA system with announcements on the hour. I’m trying to decipher what it all means. Depending on where you are and who the announcer is, you can get a lot of “WHA WHA WHA WHA WHA!”
Some advice that I would share with someone preparing is continue to keep an open mind, don’t pass judgment – when you’re frustrated run or walk it out. Don’t vent to anyone, just write it all out or lean on your group. Navigating a system of unknowns only gives you strength and resilience for the next day. Don’t fight the system and be okay with hearing “I don’t know” from many people around you.
Make sure you have your contact list of friends and family. You can have up to 100 contacts – 30 of these you can only email. Make sure you mail a contact list to yourself the day before you report, with full addresses, phone numbers and email addresses.
Stay positive and take this time to read what you never had time to read. I’ve read 3 books in one week! You have a $90 budget for commissary, so plan the night before on your essential needs. You can plan on two different outcomes depending which route you take: Route 1: you can put on the pounds by purchasing extra snacks and sweets, or Route 2: focus on essentials only and budget your money on communication and development. Develop a plan to workout and lose those pounds that have developed through all the years.
Just as in any environment, culture eats strategy for breakfast. Don’t try to be a super hero or someone who thinks they can change the system. This doesn’t mean giving up. Create a culture within yourself to make yourself stronger, wiser and practical.
“Walk cheerfully and with a sincere and open heart as you can, and when you cannot always maintain this holy joy, at least do not lose heart or your trust in God” – Padre Pio
Love & Blessings,
Basia (or “Webster,” my new camp nickname!)
Guest Blog: My First Week at a Women's Federal Prison
Barbara (Basia) Skudrzyk reported to the Satellite Camp at Greenville Federal Correctional Institution on June 3, 2019 to serve a thirty-three month sentence. She has been a member of our White Collar Support Group for about nine months, and will be writing letters regularly for publication on prisonist.org.
Dear Jeff,
Thank you for staying in touch and being a tremendous guide during this life-altering experience. It’s day nine here at Greenville, and I would not be as strong and prepared if it weren’t for our team who have gone through the system or just started the process.
Having a space that is safe and not being judged is essential to accept what is part of this “captive” experience. I’m sure each Camp/FCI has its own culture and set of rules, but I believe there is one underlying current that can help anyone to get through this journey. This IS a journey, and NOT a destination. Through Progressive Prison Ministries we create an environment, a trust walk, that gives you the integral skillsets to manage a system that doesn’t have readily identifiable rules and guidelines.. In order to get through this journey you have to MOVE and think FORWARD.
My best advice in these nine days is to develop a schedule that develops you into who you want to be. In my case, I am awaiting orientation which will be in 3 – 4 weeks. Programming is very limited so the best you can do is request to be wait-listed on whatever you can join. I wake up at 5:30 am, eat breakfast at 6 am, walk the track for 3 miles and then read until lunch. After lunch I go to the education center and volunteer. Yesterday I was able to help a young woman write her first resume. She’s scheduled to leave in two weeks. It was a great exercise and confidence booster knowing she now has some preparation as she has to get a job within fourteen days of leaving.
I’ve sat in on the PAWS program to learn more about the process and some of the GED classes. If there’s an opportunity to volunteer while you’re waiting to be considered for a job – do it! Stay active. While sitting writing this letter in the library I observed a woman crocheting. She’s been in the system 8.5 years. I asked if she would be interested in teaching me how to crochet, so now I have another project to fill up my time.
As we’ve all been advised, lay low, be humble and do not gossip. There’s plenty of opportunity to engage, but don’t do it! If you open up your mouth like I’ve seen many women do, it’s equivalent to throwing food in a koi pond – the fish are on top of one another waiting for the bait. Don’t be the bait!
There’s a PA system with announcements on the hour. I’m trying to decipher what it all means. Depending on where you are and who the announcer is, you can get a lot of “WHA WHA WHA WHA WHA!”
Some advice that I would share with someone preparing is continue to keep an open mind, don’t pass judgment – when you’re frustrated run or walk it out. Don’t vent to anyone, just write it all out or lean on your group. Navigating a system of unknowns only gives you strength and resilience for the next day. Don’t fight the system and be okay with hearing “I don’t know” from many people around you.
Make sure you have your contact list of friends and family. You can have up to 100 contacts – 30 of these you can only email. Make sure you mail a contact list to yourself the day before you report, with full addresses, phone numbers and email addresses.
Stay positive and take this time to read what you never had time to read. I’ve read 3 books in one week! You have a $90 budget for commissary, so plan the night before on your essential needs. You can plan on two different outcomes depending which route you take: Route 1: you can put on the pounds by purchasing extra snacks and sweets, or Route 2: focus on essentials only and budget your money on communication and development. Develop a plan to workout and lose those pounds that have developed through all the years.
Just as in any environment, culture eats strategy for breakfast. Don’t try to be a super hero or someone who thinks they can change the system. This doesn’t mean giving up. Create a culture within yourself to make yourself stronger, wiser and practical.
“Walk cheerfully and with a sincere and open heart as you can, and when you cannot always maintain this holy joy, at least do not lose heart or your trust in God” – Padre Pio
Love & Blessings,
Basia (or “Webster,” my new camp nickname!)