Rebuilding Lives. Strengthening Communities.

Margaret M. is a 55-year- old Latino woman.
Real Life
Margaret grew up on Chicago’s
south side with an abusive,
alcoholic mother as well as her
father and older brother. Her
mother “abandoned” the family
when Margaret was four, and
she was raised by her father and
her father’s relatives. She ran
away for the first time when she
was 12 years old at which time
she began drinking, “imitating
what I saw growing up,” she
explains.
She dropped out of high school
as a freshman, and started
experimenting with drugs. Her
parents died when she was 14
years old. “No one stepped up
to take responsibility for me,”
Margaret recalls. “I lived in an
assortment of places during my
teenage years, in relatives’ and
friends’ living rooms, shelters, I
even would ride the trains at
night for somewhere to stay.”
She got married when she was
17 years old to a man who was
violent, schizophrenic, and not
on medication. They moved
across the country. “I had four
children, continued to drink
heavily, had no job, and was
repeatedly ‘tormented’ by my
husband,” she says. “We moved
to California to start fresh.” It
did not work.
Margaret eventually left her husband,
but then immediately got
involved in another abusive relationship.
During this time, she
completed a nursing program,
became a licensed vocational
nurse, and worked three different
jobs in health care settings.
“I wanted to escape the abuse
from my boyfriend, so I decided
to give up my jobs and move
back to Chicago.”
While in Chicago, she became,
in her words, “a welfare mom.”
Although she was surrounded
by relatives, the majority of
them also were struggling with
alcoholism and provided no
positive outlet for her drinking
problems. “My life was unmanageable.
I was running from situation
to situation, changing my
environment, but never changing
my behavior,” she says. Margaret
got involved in yet another abusive
relationship. “It was all I
knew, and I accepted it as a way
of life.” Her family and friends
tried to help her, but she recalls
“I was too ashamed and embarrassed
that I was in another
abusive relationship and I just
couldn’t rely on them as a way
out of the difficult situation.”
Although she had a job and her
own apartment, she moved into
her boyfriend’s house, away
from her family. Margaret finally
built up the resolve and courage
Margaret M.
to leave this boyfriend. The day
she packed her bags, she had
been drinking heavily. Her
boyfriend returned home from
work,“yelled at her to get out of
his house,” a terrible fight
ensued, and in the midst of the
altercation, Margaret shot her
boyfriend.
During her time on bail,
Margaret bounced around to
different family members, some
of whom took care of her
youngest daughter. Although
she got a job at a grocery store
and was involved in counseling,
she was still drinking heavily and
her relatives kept throwing her
out on the street. “Everyone
was distant. One relative even
told me, ‘This has never happened
in our family.’ No one
wanted me around. They were
afraid and I didn’t know what to
do,” she explains. Her other
children were older, and living
on their own at this point; as a
result of what had happened,
she had conflict with them, too.
“I was desperate. I didn’t know
what to do. I just wanted to be
together with my daughter. I
thought she needed me,”
Margaret says. Finally, Margaret’s
attorney took her into her own
home and, as Margaret
describes,“saved my life.”
Margaret pled guilty to seconddegree
murder and was sentenced
to six years in prison.
Her attorney took responsibility
for her youngest daughter while
she served her time, and told
Margaret about the treatment
programs available to her during
her incarceration at Lincoln
Correctional Center. She
“surrendered” and enrolled in
one of the treatment programs
that her attorney had described.
Initially she did not think she
needed it. But on the first day,
her counselor told her that
“[she] was not going anywhere”
without it. She began taking
every class and every group session
that she possibly could.
“After I got focused, I obtained
many certificates in prison, took
GED classes and completed my
treatment program.”
MAYORAL POLICY CAUCUS ON PRISONER REENTRY
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