Summary(0:22) Studying criminology and criminal justice beginning in 1979 -- (0:37) Incarceration in Utah in 2003 because of low-level financial crime -- (1:28) The shock of a jail sentence when the expectation was probation -- (2:30) The day-to-day degradation and shame of the incarceration experience -- (2:48) Being denied visits and unable to afford phone calls -- (3:30) Verbal abuse in the county jail infirmary -- (5:02) Constant negative treatment directed toward the already traumatized prison population -- (5:22) Having to go to a halfway house after her interim parole officer intentionally messed up her release paperwork -- (6:59) Being treated as a problem for asking questions about the release process -- (8:04) Issues in the halfway house -- (8:29) Fear of the mood shifts and abuse of the officers -- (8:50) Sexual harassment from the prison doctor -- (9:34) Problems with retaining positive prison employees -- (10:02) Early release from parole -- (10:30) Consequences of her prison record with employment opportunities -- (11:12) Going back to school for her master’s degree after the economic crash -- (11:59) Job at a residential drug and alcohol treatment center for women -- (12:52) Getting involved in advocacy work and public speaking -- (13:20) Ban the Box movement -- (14:27) Difficulty of being defined by a small aspect of her past -- (15:50) The guilt of leaving children behind while in prison -- (17:10) Planning a Mother’s Day dinner in prison and being punished by the guards for it -- (21:46) Restorative justice -- (24:44) Being punished for who she was rather than the crime committed -- (25:30) Ways in which the general public can educate themselves on the prison business and help improve conditions for formerly incarcerated community members.
NoteAudio interview conducted on November 25, 2016, by Carmen Lopez at Central Library. Collected through Our Streets, Our Stories, an oral history project of Brooklyn Public Library. This project is a partnership with Services for Older Adults and the Brooklyn Collection.
SubjectCriminology ; Imprisonment ; Prisons ; Utah ; Commercial crimes ; Sentencing ; Jail ; Parole ; Abuse ; Psychic trauma ; Sexual harassment ; Global Financial Crisis, 2008-2009 ; Social advocacy ; Public speaking ; Identity theft ; Depression, Mental ; Punishment ; Parenting ; Mother's Day ; Restorative justice ; Education
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TitleOral history interview conducted with Theresa Sweeney on 2016 November 25.