My name is Mary Kruppe. I was one of the participants in cohort two of the Leadership Development Program offered by Sister Warriors. This program helped us to develop our leadership amongst system-impacted individuals. I wanted to highlight the community aspect of this program.
Community is defined as “ a body of people living in the same place under the same laws” or “joint ownership”. As an incarcerated individual, our community scope becomes significantly reduced as our connection to society as our connection to society at large is weakened due to our inability to be within it. This does not mean, however, that we are without community. This program helped to highlight how Sister Warriors continues to support us, how we created community within our cohort, and how we develop our community inside.
There is something powerful and hope-creating when I get to see one of my sisters who is no longer incarcerated come in to support me. I believe in my own freedom when I see the light at the end of the tunnel, that freedom is not out of reach. This support is abundant and it creates hope in the journey that I get to be on. I feel seen, that we matter to formerly incarcerated women enough to come back inside and support us. Knowing they have walked in my shoes provides a level of trust that is only found in that shared lived experience. Connection and community is bittersweet as I look towards the future. On top of this support, Sister Warriors is bringing programming to us that is comprehensive and transferable. What I learned in this program can inform not only my advocacy work within these walls, but also as I parole and continue this work outside.
Within this cohort, we built our own community. During our time together, we were able to share and feel safe with one another. This was a very intentional development, our facilitators spending time with us to set our norms. However, our group norms were not just another set of norms, they were instead a political framework in order to impact change. These accords were reviewed at each meeting with all of us taking ownership in their implementation and honoring them. I learned that these helped us create a space where we could talk about real issues like mental health and suicide without judgement and that all were welcome to share how they felt.
Through our community within our cohort, our ability to build community within these walls became a reality. We took our participatory action research project to our peers. With guidance, we learned how to give a voice to our peers and build awareness of the mental health situation within these walls.