Becoming Ms. Burton: From Prison to Recovery to Leading the Fight for Incarcerated Women

Susan Burton’s odyssey began when an unmarked Los Angeles police van ran over and killed her five-year-old son. Consumed with grief and without access to therapy or antidepressants, Susan self-medicated and became addicted to crack cocaine. Living in an impoverished black community under siege in the War on Drugs, it was but a matter of time before she was arrested and cycled in and out of prison for a series of drug-related offenses. Fifteen years after her first arrest, Susan was finally admitted to a private drug treatment facility and given a job.

Once clean, Susan dedicated her life to supporting those facing similar struggles. She began by meeting women right as they stepped off the prison bus, welcoming them into her home, and urging them to stay as long as necessary to put their lives back together. A tiny program run out of a single home she purchased by scraping by has now blossomed into five safe homes for formerly incarcerated women in Los Angeles. Her organization, A New Way of Life, supplies a lifeline for women released from prison. But it does much more: it is also fueling a movement of organized formerly incarcerated people who are demanding restoration of their basic civil and human rights.