By Emma Bracken

Since the 1980s, the number of women in prison has skyrocketed. As mass incarceration continues to sweep the nation, this once narrow population has risen by over 500% over the past 40 years, according to a study from The Sentencing Project. As the population grows here in Northwest Arkansas, resources and productive facilities for these women are struggling to keep up.

For 17 years, Northwest Arkansas Community Corrections Center was a beacon of hope for the community as a valuable facility for incarcerated women. Beyond a traditional women’s prison, NWACCC offered rehabilitative programs to prepare these women for reentry into society. From treating substance abuse and addiction to therapy and education, this facility prepared women to rebuild their own lives rather than be thrown back into the environment that led them to prison in the first place. 

In the spring of 2024, Washington County Judge Patrick Deakins announced NWACCC would be closed by the end of the year. Instead, Deakins planned to use the space as an expansion for the overcrowded Washington County Jail. While addressing one issue of overcrowding in our local prisons, a great resource has been tragically taken away from the community. 

Lowell Grisham, the former rector of St. Paul’s Episcopal Church and co-founder of Magdalene Serenity House, a program that worked with NWACCC to provide support to incarcerated women, said he feels that this is an immeasurable loss for the community. 

“I can tell you those programs worked,” Grisham said. “It was a really strong, healthy place that allowed women to change their lives in a positive, productive way.”

Grisham said the constant struggle within the county quorum court to come to a decision about financing programs focused on creative solutions to reduce crime and rehabilitation over prison space. Though some support the initiative, many people seem to be more comfortable with a punishment approach rather than these alternative facilities, Grisham explained. 

“This kind of prison is constructive and humane,” Grisham said. “The warehouse form of prison is inhumane and is destructive to people’s very being. People aren’t built up in prison, they’re broken down.”

With the lowest recidivism rate in the state, NWACCC was an irreplaceable haven in a world of traditional warehouse-style prisons. Grisham described incarceration as a way to be punitive, yet NWACCC was a way to be rehabilitative. Beyond serving time and taking accountability for their mistakes, he explained it is crucial for people to have access to education, family and friend support, job opportunities, and overall healthy environments if they are expected to stay out of jail in the future. 

“Sometimes people don’t need to just be incarcerated, they need help,” Grisham said.

Grisham recounted a story of a young woman he saw through St. Paul’s work with NWACCC succeeded in these programs. According to Grisham, she seemed to have really been supported by and learned from them during her time behind bars. However, as soon as she was released, she had no choice but to return to the toxic environment that landed her in prison in the first place. He saw the way a toxic home environment can reverse the progress made in prison in an instant. A woman who he had seen turn her life around in prison fell victim to the same drug abuse that landed her there, and tragically lost her life to an overdose. At the young woman’s funeral, held in part by St. Paul, Grisham’s colleague Reverend Suzanne Stoner turned to him and said, “We have got to do something.”

Grisham and Stoner worked to establish Magdalene Serenity House here in Fayetteville, a two-year program that provides services to women who have been trafficked, incarcerated, and struggled with substance abuse. By providing resources for women after their release from prison, it hoped to stop them from being stuck in toxic environments and build new lives for themselves after incarceration. 

Takama Statton-Brooks, executive director for Magdalene Serenity House, described the essential work of helping formerly incarcerated women face the barriers they are presented with once freed. 

“It’s one thing to hear about it, but witnessing it firsthand is a whole other ballgame,” Statton-Brooks said. 

Statton-Brooks explained the difficulties women in her program faced with seemingly simple tasks, such as getting their IDs renewed, finding a job and searching for a place to live. For convicted felons, there are an endless amount of hurdles to jump on their way to being integrated into society. 

“There’s an expectation that once you are released you start paying your fines and fees, but you have to find a job, and very few jobs will hire a felon,” Statton-Brooks said. “Very few housing places will accept applications from felons. It’s expensive to be poor is really what it boils down to. It’s expensive to have a criminal history.”

Having programs such as Magdalene Serenity House are vital for supporting formerly incarcerated women to rebuild their lives, but alone, it cannot meet the demand that the Northwest Arkansas population demands. The loss of NWACCC as a resource has certainly stunted progress toward this initiative, however, these resilient organizations are fighting to give incarcerated and formerly incarcerated women a voice. 

Statton-Brooks explained the resourcing for rehabilitation is taking a significant hit with the closing of NWACCC. She feels the loss for the community as she witnessed firsthand the way the women were able to heal from their past trauma and establish tools, knowledge and strength to create a life they are happy about. 

“I don’t think there’s enough resources for the growth in this area,” Statton-Brooks said. “The growth in this area would dictate more mental health services, food banks and different resources. It really takes a community effort to support a population that needs it.” 

Statton-Brooks said some resources are out there yet are not widely known to the public, so those who need them do not know where to look. It is crucial not only to support these programs when voting but to raise awareness about the topic in general in order to build a more supportive community for these women and incarcerated individuals in general. 

“We keep punishing people who have felonies by making it hard for them to rent, get a job or make it impossible for them to vote,” Grisham said. “There’s just a lot of dehumanizing things that happen to people when they fall on the other side of that line.” 

Beyond St. Paul’s and Magdalene Serenity House, NWACCC worked with numerous programs to provide a wide scope of opportunities for its inmates. From religious services to drug rehabilitation, NWACCC was bursting with volunteers and organizations willing and excited to help them rebuild their lives. 

Though its loss rings through the community, action can still be taken to hopefully rebuild more of these organizations in the future. It is important to remember the attitudes toward incarcerated community members when voting season comes around and continue to support those suffering from our carceral system.