When writing a recent feature for Curl Magazine, I got to learn about the work of Essie Justice Group, a nonprofit that works with women with incarcerated loved ones.
The Isolation of Incarceration
A 2019 study found that almost 45 percent of Americans have experienced the incarceration of an immediate family member. Despite this staggering statistic, those with incarcerated loved ones experience loneliness and stigma, as well as social and financial difficulties. Essie Justice seeks to build this common experience into a source of support and change.
Sisterhood of Support
Excerpt from Curl Magazine:
In Gina Clayton-Johnson’s first year of law school, someone she loves was sentenced to 20 years in prison. Suddenly, she inhabited a different world.
“I was sitting in criminal law classes, studying cases that had long since passed … and going home to write to a sentencing judge in California, pleading for leniency,” says Clayton-Johnson. “It was such a bizarre reality. I went to Harvard, where your professors know presidents of the United States and know federal court judges, and yet I felt incredibly isolated.”
Clayton-Johnson brings that dual perspective to her work as the founder and executive director of Essie Justice Group, a nonprofit organization dedicated to ending the injustices of mass incarceration. Since 2014, it has advocated for instrumental, systemic change.
