Trading cellmates for nuns. Some women leaving Missouri prisons say a place called Journey House, one of the programs under Journey to New Life, is life-changing.
Now the people who run Journey House as well as other Journey to New Life programs hope next year’s state budget will replace part of the funding they say they suddenly lost in January.
Kristie Meeks leaned over the stove.
“We’re making Tuna Helper with corn and mashed potatoes,” she said, lifting lids off pots. “Last week I cooked salmon patties, oh my God, melt in your mouth!”
Meeks and the other women living in Journey House after they get out of prison take turns with their share of the cooking and cleaning while living with four nuns.
“You think nuns?” laughed Crystal Stevens about her time waiting to come to Journey House. “It’s like you’re gonna be in prison all over again!” But now, she said, “The sisters, the nuns, they are amazing people.”
The women can stay for up to three months while looking for jobs, and often get therapy or treatment. The funding that was cut paid for transitional housing and assistance for the women when they leave Journey House.
While the women stay at Journey House, pitching in like cooking dinner is part of the process.
“I really love it when it’s my day,” Meeks said. “Because I show up and show off!”
Meeks has been staying at Journey House since December after her release from prison.
“Robberies,” she said. Meeks added that it wasn’t her first incarceration, but she is hoping what she learns here will make it her last. “I did 15 years the first time.”
Meeks’s three months are almost up.
Stevens only got to Journey House a few weeks ago. “Assault,” she said, describing what sent her to prison. “Theft charge and a trespassing charge.”
“My kids are my motivation to go, you know, to stay out,” she said while chopping green peppers for that night’s salad. “I cannot be away from my kids any longer. They’re my life and it’s like this place is giving me a new chance at life.”
“We are looking for the good in them until they see the good in themselves,” said Georgia Walker, a Journey to New Life staff member and former nun who lives at Journey House with the recently released women. Four nuns live with the women offering guidance and support.
Now they’re working to replace some financial support from the state.
“Shock,” said Walker about getting an email in January that their current grants from the Department of Corrections were cut. “I can’t let people down that I’ve made promises to.”
“We started getting all these frantic calls from the prisons with clients saying, you know, ‘Can I still come?’” said Walker.
In January, Governor Eric Greitens made more than $146 million in cuts to the 2017 budget. The Department of Corrections confirms that more than three dozen contracts were cut for ‘Community Re-entry funding.’ Journey to New Life had several of those contracts for programs including Journey House.
A few weeks later in February, Greitens released his proposal for the 2018 budget and included $2 million for initiatives aimed to help prisoners once they get out. His proposal states the money would go to agencies and community organizations to help with re-entry, rehabilitation, and reducing recidivism. A Greitens spokesperson said in a statement that Director Anne Precythe and the Department of Corrections would be responsible for choosing which groups get that money.
“She has a lot of experience getting results in this space, and we believe that she will do an excellent job working to make sure that if people leave prison, they do not victimize another family,” said Greitens’ press secretary Parker Briden.
Walker just hopes some of that money makes its way to Journey to New Life and Journey House. Journey House staff say they used the money from the grant to pay for three months of rent, food, phone service, and bus passes after the women leave.
Meeks, who has been out on her own after prison before, admits she is nervous for that day.
“I’m comin back to see them every day but don’t tell them!” she laughed. She had heard about the funding cuts that impact the phase she is about to take on. “With God, it’s gonna be alright.”
“We give them a chance and when people have the chance, sometimes for the first time in their life, they won’t go back,” Walker said.
Journey to New Life staff claim in the more than three years since the organization started, less than five percent of the people who completed their program returned to prison.
The women who cooked dinner at Journey House that night brought hot food into the dining room as the rest gathered around and prayed. Though these women live with nuns, the nuns themselves say this is not a religious organization and the women have no religious requirements. That being said, if any of the women ever want to discuss faith, go to church, or pray with them, they say their doors are open.
Talk at the dinner table was about the day’s highs and lows.
“Everybody guess what? She got a job today!” Walker said pointing to one of the residents as the rest of the room erupted in claps and cheers.
More than one of the women called this a family.
Now more than ever, the people at Journey to New Life are focused on their upcoming fundraiser this week. You can find more information and ways to donate here.
Missouri lawmakers have until May 5 to deliver their budget plan to the governor. Greitens can fully or partially veto that plan. The budget will take effect July 1.
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Lindsay Shively can be reached at lindsay.shively@kshb.com.
