“Since I’ve been home, I’ve been fortunate enough to be in a position to form an organization known as The WIRE, Women Involved in Re-Entry Efforts. And The WIRE is basically a group of formerly incarcerated women who have successfully re-integrated back into the community after release. We work together to mentor one another,” explains one of the characters in “Returning Citizens.”
Our exclusive clip from Saffron Cassaday’s new documentary focuses on the experiences of women who have completed their sentences and are left figuring out what life looks like now that they are no longer behind bars — a daunting prospect that’s hopefully a little less overwhelming thanks to The WIRE.
“I thought that when I came home [everyone] would be so welcoming and happy. Nobody was willing to accept where I’d been. It just broke my heart,” recalls one woman. She and others are determined to offer the support they weren’t necessarily given. “We can give back what wasn’t there for us to help and save the youth,” she says.
“Taking place in Southeast Washington, DC, the film offers a humanizing perspective on a community that has been negatively impacted by mass incarceration,” “Returning Citizens’” official synopsis details. “From freshly returning individuals struggling to rebuild their lives, to community leaders working to end the ongoing cycle of crime and violence, the stories unveiled in ‘Returning Citizens’ offer proof that change is possible when the right opportunities are presented.”
Check out the clip to see The WIRE discuss the rising population of girls and women in prison and to hear what they’re doing to help.
“Returning Citizens” will be available on iTunes and VOD platforms July 25. Cassaday previously helmed “Cyber Seniors,” a 2014 doc about senior citizens being taught about computers by teen mentors.
