Each time I left prison, I left with the resolve to get my life together, to get a job, to get back on track. And each time, the task became more and more and more daunting. Susan Burton Read Quote
There are so many bright people who just need an opportunity to help others and pay it forward. Susan Burton Read Quote
One of the things about incarceration is that you’re deprived. You lose all of your identity, and then its given back one day, and you’re ill-equipped to actually embrace it and work it. Susan Burton Read Quote
I went to pick my son up from school and walked him back and was in the house preparing dinner, and he came in the house and gave me this flower of chrysanthemum that was full of ants. And he went back out to play and ran out into the street and got hit by a car. The car happened to be driven by a LAPD detective. Susan Burton Read Quote
Long before I ever got incarcerated, I should’ve been able to access services that help me deal with the grief and the loss of my son, that help me deal with the trauma, the abuse that I experienced as a child. Susan Burton Read Quote
It’s important the sheriff and the D.A. work with the community to realize real-world solutions. If they make decisions in silos, it will fall short. Susan Burton Read Quote
The person who has been convicted has served their time. Why would we continue to punish and exclude them from housing and jobs? Those are the primary areas that allow people to get their lives back on track. Susan Burton Read Quote
Everyone needs a place to live. Everyone needs a place to come home to every night. I don’t understand why our society, our government, can think that you can lock a person away for months or years… and then release them back after they pay their debt without any support and expect it to be okay. Susan Burton Read Quote
