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Vol. 22, No. 1
By Laurie Hansen Cardona, Vision editor
NACC member Marjorie Ackerman, of Bethesda, MD, changed careers from mortgage broker to chaplain after her husband’s death in 1997, when she recalls she “lost interest in helping people accrue material wealth and decided that, instead of saying to folks ‘tell me your problem, and I will solve it,’” she would say “tell me your problem and I will help you to solve it.”
Ms. Ackerman, founder of Life Skills Workshop, a now defunct program that for 12 years helped newly released women convicts, now lobbies for a national program that would help train ex-offenders to transition to new life outside of prison.
Currently on-call chaplain at Suburban Hospital in Bethesda, she is also a disaster spiritual care member of the American Red Cross, and part of the “A Team” at Red Cross national headquarters. Team members, who are located around the country, are working to reassess the role they will play in national and local incidents.
In an interview, Ms. Ackerman noted that California was her first home, but she grew up overseas. She met her husband, a foreign service officer, in Paris, France, and together they raised a family while he worked in embassies in various countries. With her children grown and having relocated to Bethesda, she developed a full-service financial planning company and, in that role, visited 65 American Embassies around the world conducting seminars to help people make decisions in the changing financial and real estate markets. Later, Ms. Ackerman, who became a board certified chaplain in 1996, received a master’s degree in theological studies from Washington Theological Union in May of 2003. She agreed to answer questions for Vision readers.
Q What led you to found Life Skills Workshop?
A I explored the many potential avenues of service. For a period of time I supervised seminarians who were honing their skills in hospital ministry at the Naval Hospital in Bethesda. Becoming an NACC supervisor interested me. That is, until I visited the jail.
People, especially women, who have been incarcerated are at a great disadvantage. They need guidance and encouragement more than they need help and money. I can remember the exact moment when I envisioned a program that would allow newly released women to learn how to transition to a life that most could hardly imagine. It would be a life of pride, success and example to others. That is how Life Skills Workshop was born. Then came the reality of organizing such a venture: finding interested volunteers, writing a business plan, clearly understanding the goals and aspirations, finding a location for the classes, making contacts in pre-release centers and shelters, involving area churches and the most difficult thing of all – raising money. I quickly found that helping women who are coming out of jail is not the most popular non-profit charity.
Most of the helpers were volunteers, but we needed start-up money for things like forming a 501c3 corporation and the million incidentals that I had not thought about. Later we would need to hire an executive director. The miracle is that the program happened with the help of hard-working, dedicated people. The mentors made the difference in helping to keep fragile human beings from falling, once again, through the cracks.
Q What challenges do incarcerated women face when trying to return to the workplace?
A Imagine this. You are going to your first job interview and you have to write on the application, FELON. Your address is a pre-release center. You have no references. You are very unsure about what to say or how to say it, and you know you look terrible. You gained a lot of weight in jail (the food is almost all carbohydrates) and the one pair of jeans you have are the ones you were wearing when you were arrested and you know they are way too tight. But you don’t have any money and the only friends you have are the ones who got you into trouble. You want desperately to be reunited with your children and say over and over to yourself, “If I can have just one more chance, I will be a good mother this time.” You pray a lot.
Now imagine this. You have just been released from jail. You were lucky enough to have been accepted in the pre-release center and you hear about Life Skills Workshop. It’s a program that meets every Saturday morning for eight weeks. You call and are welcomed, even though you have missed one class. You are greeted by your mentor and are given an outline of the classes. There is someone there who will interview you and work with you to write a resume and someone else who will help you pick out two or three outfits from the LSW Boutique that are appropriate for a job interview. You will be taught how to make an appointment, the importance of attitude, dressing properly and being on time…. For the first time in your life you are among people who care and treat you as an equal. You can’t wait until next Saturday. And you get a job.
The most exciting times came when “graduates” returned to tell of their successes. One former participant said, “Look at my dress, I bought it, I didn’t steal it.” And everyone clapped.
Q What happens to women who find themselves in similar situations but don’t have access to a program such as Life Skills Workshop?
A Some women make it without help, but more often, they end up back in jail. The reason is usually related to drugs. They may “medicate” themselves with drugs because of discouragement and depression from failure and then steal money to support the need that quickly becomes a re-addiction. Or they are caught when they are paid (money amounting to 10 times more than they would get all day at McDonald’s) for being a lookout for an hour to warn serious drug dealers if police are in the area. The money may be needed for food for their children but clemency is not in the cards for ex-offenders. Or sometimes they go back to the world’s oldest profession. Their children learn from them, just as they learned from their parents, and so, without help, the cycle continues.
Q What is the biggest challenge you encountered in your work?
A Trying to raise funds. People were quick to congratulate us on the great job we were doing but the money didn’t follow. Until there is a nationwide acceptance of the need for training ex-offenders who are transitioning back into society, the rate of recidivism will rise at a tremendous cost to the taxpayer. Michigan has a program called Michigan Prisoner ReEntry Initiative (MPRI). Why can’t there be a national offender re-entry initiative? This is my goal. It’s not a question of money. Everyone who works in this field knows that it costs a lot more to keep people in jail than it does to rehabilitate them. It is a question of interest and caring. My small, insignificant program gave over 400 women a second chance and it worked. Our budget was less than $100,000 a year, but it closed in spring 2009 for lack of funding.
Sen. Jim Webb from Virginia introduced a bill in 2010 to establish a national commission to “undertake a comprehensive review of the criminal justice system.” It passed the House vote but recently was defeated in the Senate (by three votes). It will probably not be reintroduced, according to information I received from Sen. Webb’s office.
Q In your view, what must Catholic chaplains strive to do to live out the theme of this issue of Vision, “to serve the poor.”
A The biggest reward is seeing the expression on the face of a woman who has given up, but after lots of role playing and dressed in business attire, she comes to us with the most wonderful news: she got the job, she will be reunited with her children and her brother is coming to her graduation. That’s as good as it gets! There is sadness in every aspects of chaplaincy but the ability to “find the rainbow” for women who are close to giving up is worth more than I can express. It is watching them take pride in what they have done for themselves that brings me joy and satisfaction.
Q In your view, what must Catholic chaplains strive to do to live out the theme of this issue of Vision, “to serve the poor.”
A I think we should add “and the poor in spirit.” So often we mistakenly think that money will fix a problem when it is more often learning to struggle without becoming discouraged, to accept illness and hardship without being angry at God, and loving those we don’t even like to help find peace in the world. The problem is often inside of us. It is attitude and caring for others that can change the problem into a challenge. As chaplains, we can be instrumental in causing positive things to happen.
If you have interest in working with Ms. Ackerman on a nationwide offender re-entry program, please e-mail her at ackerman.m@verizon.net.
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