Table of Contents

PART I: THE JOURNEY IN

ONE
Sleepwalking

TWO
Party Bus

THREE
Personal Statement

INTERLUDE

FOUR
I Didn’t Have Any Tears

INTERLUDE

FIVE
I Thought He Would Take Care of Me

SIX
Baby Prison

INTERLUDE

SEVEN
Crossover Kids

EIGHT
Self-Medication

PART II: THE JOURNEY OUT

NINE
Halfway Is Just That

TEN
The Hope of Reentry

INTERLUDE

TWELVE
New Love

THIRTEEN
Love in the Time of Reentry

INTERLUDE

FOURTEEN
Redemption Baby

FIFTEEN
The Light

Acknowledgments
Notes
Index

About the Author

Jorja Leap, MSW, PhD, is on the faculty of the UCLA Luskin School of Public Affairs, where she also serves as the executive director of the UCLA Social Justice Research Partnership. She is a nationally recognized expert in gangs, community violence, and prison re-entry whose most recent work includes a five-year study of Homeboy Industries, which focuses on the life histories of program participants as they encounter the dual challenges of leaving gang life and re-entering mainstream society. Dr. Leap has also been the recipient of the UCLA Distinguished Teaching Award. She is the author of highly acclaimed books, including Jumped In and Project Fatherhood.

Reviews

“Devastating revelations that humanize statistics while calling for reform.”
—Kirkus Reviews

“In her book, Jorja Leap dives into the trauma that too many poor Black and Brown women face on the long and difficult road that leads to cycles of incarceration. The women she interviewed have given her and her readers the generous gift of their stories, so that those who have not lived similar experiences can begin to understand the criminalization of trauma, the harm done by the criminal injustice system, and the utter failure of society to provide support to women leaving incarceration. Let this book be a call to action to address that failure and to dramatically expand resources for women and girls exiting jails and prisons, particularly mothers striving to stay with their children. Let it also be a reminder of the beautiful resilience of formerly incarcerated women and a celebration of all that they have to offer.”
—Susan Burton, author of Becoming Ms. Burton: From Prison to Recovery to Leading the Fight for Incarcerated Women

“Jorja Leap illuminates the pain endured by Latina, Black, and all women who have been incarcerated and the clear solutions to address their suffering. The many stories offered in the book exemplify the harm done when society invests in the wrong systems. These failures hurt not just those on whom they’ve been inflicted but all of us. Leap’s book depicts what must be done to ameliorate the trauma inflicted and instills a sense of urgency among readers. I have been a longtime supporter of A New Way of Life’s Susan Burton, having seen her immense impact, and I am grateful to Leap for capturing her meaningful fight for justice and dedicating the book to my sister Dr. Beatriz Solis, who lives on in the work of those like Susan Burton. As the book’s title duly notes, these women are fighting for their place, their children, and their futures following incarceration. It’s time we fight for them.”
—Hilda L. Solis, Los Angeles County supervisor

“Compelling and gloriously written. Entry Lessons advances the criminal justice conversation from an entrenched ‘pathology model’ to a ‘healing in community’ one. Jorja Leap doesn’t just point things out; she points the way. Leap makes the case for a gender-sensitive, trauma-informed, and person-centered focus on healing and relational wholeness. In these pages, we are informed, inspired, and filled with zeal to stop punishing the wounded but, rather, to seek to heal them.”
—Gregory J. Boyle, founder, Homeboy Industries

“Every day in the United States, women, especially women of color, are locked up because they are poor. Family separation and generational cycles of trauma are the result. Jorja Leap tells the stories of these women and offers the promise of a new way forward. A must-read for all those who care about family separation and the future of this country.”
—Zach Norris, author of Defund Fear