This story is part of the Marshall Project’s “We Are Witnesses: Chicago” series. In 15 direct-to-camera testimonies, this collection of videos gives voice to Chicagoans affected by the justice system. Watch the videos at themarshallproject.org/chicago.
At age 12, Colón witnessed her mother’s boyfriend beat her so badly that she was left unconscious. The incident led Colón and her family to flee from Florida to Chicago, where her grandparents lived. But the six-unit apartment in South Chicago they moved into turned out to be a gang headquarters. She told some of the local girls what she had been through.
Colón says she was lucky to participate in the Women Helping Others hospice care training at Dixon Correctional Facility, which “changed her life” and helped her return home with a new mind-set. But when she was later out on parole with a new job that allowed her to travel the world, she felt unsettled.
Transformation is the goal of Colón’s outreach, and she says it’s the only thing separating her from the women and men who remain behind bars. “Because of all the trauma, a lot of our dreams are buried inside of us under our pain, under our mistakes,” she says. “We forget how powerful we are.” v
