Did it ever occur to you that you might end up going to jail?
Never. I was always under the impression that justice would prevail. I ended up signing a plea [agreement] because it becomes so much pressure when you see your name versus the United States government. There are limited resources available, and you become tired. My co-defendant signed the plea, and we were both saying, “Let’s just get this over with.” Our attorneys said, “Oh, you probably won’t have to do any prison time.”
Talk about the Been Down Project. Is it a nonprofit?
It is not a nonprofit. My sole purpose is to spread the word and talk about the inequities within the legal system, specifically the federal legal system. I specifically help them [women] by “coaching” them through this process because I had to do it blindly, I didn’t know anything, and there’s a lot of anxiety when you are in the process of being sentenced.
If you recognize that someone needs other types of support, do you have any community partnerships?
That’s what I’m in the process of working on now. My first phase is to push out information to destigmatize what [incarceration] is because many people don’t like to talk about being incarcerated, especially women. I’m in an entrepreneurship program right now at Georgetown. They provide me with community resources and different things to elevate my platform even more.
Watch the interview here.
