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" Life has took me on a journey, and through much of that journey, I didn't feel whole, connected, and grounded. So as a kid, everyone called me Sue. My daddy called me Susie Q. But through this journey, I've sort of risen to a place that I get this level of respect of Ms. Burton. "

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" The person who has been convicted has served their time. Why would we continue to punish and exclude them from housing and jobs? Those are the primary areas that allow people to get their lives back on track. "

Susan Burton

Why

People

Housing

" It seems like I was born into trouble. "

Susan Burton

I Was Born

Born

" One of the things about incarceration is that you're deprived. You lose all of your identity, and then its given back one day, and you're ill-equipped to actually embrace it and work it. "

" We know that the environment and political information is important, and we expose and teach the women about some of the environmental factors that lead to their incarceration. "

" When you get locked up, you get locked out. "

" Unless we address those that are leaving prisons, we can't begin to repair the damage of mass incarceration and make our communities whole and healthy once again. "

" Everyone needs a place to live. Everyone needs a place to come home to every night. I don't understand why our society, our government, can think that you can lock a person away for months or years... and then release them back after they pay their debt without any support and expect it to be okay. "

" Morning meditation is important to start every day on a positive note. "

" Insulin is a crisis medication. "

" The Thirteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution abolished slavery other than in prisons - but it was a lie that you regained your freedom once you left the prison gates. "

" People are released from prison so unprepared. They give you $200. We call it gate money. And you have to pay for a bus ticket back to L.A. You get off the Greyhound bus, downtown Skid Row, and you're supposed to make a life from that. "

" It has to be about more than punishment. We need to rehabilitate people. We lock up far too many people in America today. We lock them up as if locking them up is gonna solve the problem. And locking them up does not solve the problem. Did locking me up make me better? No, it did not. It made my struggle harder. "

" When I see a woman make it over all the obstacles, my heart just sings. "

" At the age of 46, in my sixth prison term, it was the second prison I was in - California Rehabilitation Center. The California Civil Education program kind of opened up all of the experiences that that I had dealt with in my life, that I had experienced. "

" Each time I left prison, I left with the resolve to get my life together, to get a job, to get back on track. And each time, the task became more and more and more daunting. "

" Telling your story is transformative. For both the storyteller and their audience, a new bridge to understanding is created. "

" I got caught back up in the underworld because the upperworld really doesn't have a place for people with criminal histories. "

" If you don't have a new door to walk through, the only thing is the old door. "

" Most incarcerated women have stories that are similar to mine. They suffered great trauma as children. "

" Our ancestors went through so much in a fight for us to vote. So I believe that we should engage in all civic participation. It's healthy engagement. "

" We all make mistakes. Sometimes people slip, but that doesn't mean they're not worthy of the support. "

" Because a woman goes to prison doesn't mean she's a bad mom - doesn't mean that she shouldn't have her children. "

" In prison, you're issued a number of sanitary pads per month. And many times, even when you're issued a number of sanitary pads, the guards will just come in and rip your room apart, rip your locker apart and take them. "

" We keep a woman in prison for decade after decade at a cost of $60,000 a year, and then give them $200 when they hit the gates for release. And, adios. People have to get their IDs, Social Security cards. They have to get clothing, housing, apply for benefits and services, and it's impossible to do with 200 bucks. "

" Many times, I left the prison thinking, 'I'm smart. I can make it. I won't get caught up again.' But you get off downtown Skid Row, and you're a target for all of the environmental harms in that area. The pain and trauma in that area is so thick, you can almost reach your hand out and touch it. "

" After six prison commitments, at the end of those, I was more broken than when I went into the system. "

" I went to pick my son up from school and walked him back and was in the house preparing dinner, and he came in the house and gave me this flower of chrysanthemum that was full of ants. And he went back out to play and ran out into the street and got hit by a car. The car happened to be driven by a LAPD detective. "

Susan Burton

Flower

Dinner

" I knew hundreds and hundreds of women like me, who had traveled in and out of prison in a revolving door. They needed support and help just like I had received. And it could make a difference, just like it had made a difference in my life. I wanted to see them come back to the community and have a chance at a different life, too. "

" It's important the sheriff and the D.A. work with the community to realize real-world solutions. If they make decisions in silos, it will fall short. "

" Long before I ever got incarcerated, I should've been able to access services that help me deal with the grief and the loss of my son, that help me deal with the trauma, the abuse that I experienced as a child. "