3A
NEWS/^e Charlotte
Thursday, October 19, 2006
More black women inmates
Continued ftx>m page 2A
enter the prison sj^tem.
Scholars have several theo
ries, including the war on
drugs; crackdown on welfare
leaving single mothers with
out a safety net and a histo
ry of sexual abxise.
Peterson, who graduated
from N.C. Central and
received a two-year degree in
law enforcement in New
Jersey, worked over a year in
a N.C. Department of
Correction women’s prison.
“What is happening is more
black women are head of
their hquseholds, and they
have children they have to
take care of,” she said. “Most
of these women only get a cer
tain amount of money for
their children. Drugs are easy
to market and sell to gener
ate income for themselves
and their children.”
A 1991 Bureau of Justice
special report found that one
in 11 women are substantial
ly more likely than men to be
serving time for drug offenses
and less hkely to have com
mitted a violent crime.
Nearly six in 10 females grew
up in a household where at
least one parent was absent
and about half reported a
family member had also
served time. More than four
in 10 reported a history of
sexual abuse.
PearMe WiUiams spent two
years in prison for a parole
violation.
“It was hot. It was grueling.
It was degrading, but also it
was educational and very eye
opening,” said Williams who
now works at the Triangle
Empowerment Center in
downtown Durham.
Williams said going to
prison was a generational
problem in her family, but the
cycle can be broken.
“It.can be done, but it takes
a person to say enough of this
madness is enough and do
what you’re supposed to do to
help break the cycle,” she
said. “I had to say ‘Jesus 1
can’t do this alone, show me
how to do this.’ Christ was my
foimdation through it aU.”
Williams said the JobStart
program at the Raleigh
Correctional Center for
Women was instrumental in
turning her life around.
“Something about the pro
gram motivated me fiom get
ting into a deeper life of drug
addiction,” she said. “It was a
seed that was planted in me,
that even when I relapsed,
the tools that I had in me I
used them to get out of the
situation that I was in.”
Dr. Wdliam Farrell of the
UNC School of Social Work,
along with his colleagues, has
worked with a reentry pro
gram for inmates in Wake,
Durham and Orange coun
ties, said the community
needs to do more.
“I don’t think the African-
American community focuses
enough on this, because we
found tremendous coopera
tion with correctional officials
and superintendents of both
black and white prisons,” he
. said. “Many of them have
started their own employ
ment programs by tr3mg to
ease their reintegration into
society. More has to be done
by black institutions outside
of the prisons, the church,
sororities, fraternities and
the Uke.”
Sharonda James, who has
been in and out of prison
three times, said, the
Triangle Residential Options
for Substance Abusers, a two-
year residential program in
Durham, is making a differ
ence.
“I feel like I’ve got my hfe
back again,” she said.
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Mecklenbui^ County
f I Pait and Recreation
^ PUa-
reOPUE OF NOTE
Cody to lead sorority alumni
Cody
Antoinette Cody has been
elected presi
dent of Delta
Sigma Theta
sorority
Charlotte
Alumnae
Chapter.
Cody, a
Kinston
native, is a
semi-retired Charlotte-
Mecklenburg Schools educa
tor. The Charlotte Alumnae
Chapter has over 400 mem
bers and is the fifth largest
chapter in the coimtry.
• Matthew Scott was
recently elected to Davidson
a College s
Honor Council.
The council is
a student-led
disciplinary
body that is the
primary judi-
ciary organ at
Ma. Scott Davidson. It is
responsible for
hearing cases involving
alleged violations of the
Honor Code and Code of
Responsibility.
Scott, a junior, is a West
Charlotte High School grad
uate. He plays football,
serves as a resident advisor
and a member of the Black
Student Coalition. He is the
son of Leon and Odishi Scott,
both graduates of Johnson
C. Smitii University.
• Mordecai
Scott,. a
Davidson
freshman, was
elected a
Student
Government
Association
senator.
Davidson sen
ators bring concerns of the
college community to weekly
SGA meetings for considera
tion by the full Senate.
Scott is a West Charlotte
High graduate and younger
brother to Matthew Scott.
• Fifteen Charlotte-
Mecklenburg Schools stu
dents have been named
semifmalists for the
National Achievement
Program. The students are
among 1,600 African
American high school
seniors competing for
achievement scholarship
awards worth $2.5 million
based on their 2005
Preliminary SAT/N ational
Merit Scholarship
Qualifying Ifest scores.
The semifinalists are:
Jennifer Bower (East
Mecklenburg) Jaleeso
Ledbetter and Quentin
Robinson (Harding);
Frederick Evans and Arielle
Reid (Independence); Caryn
Wilson and Jonathan Wise
(Myers Park); Stephen
Bailey, Leanne Duhaney,
Marisa Eades and
Randolph Jenkins (North
Mecklenburg); Debra
Armour and Gary Chavis
(Providence) and Liaren
Harris and Sterling Scott
(Vance).
The field will be reduced to
1,300 finalists, then 800 will
earn achievement scholar
ships in April. The National
Achievement Program, is
privately financed and hon
ors academically promising
black students and provide
scholarships to the most out
standing participants.
Mo. Scott
PHOTO/CUFtTIS WILSON
Sharon Harrison, Miss South Mecklenburg High School
2006, is escorted by her father Charles during festivities at
halftime of the annual homecoming football game last week.
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