The majority of Vermont’s  incarcerated women struggle with serious drug and/or alcohol addictions.  These stranglehold addictions fuel criminal activities and prevent them from creating healthier lives.   Even doctor-prescribed drugs such as Suboxone and Methadone, used to treat their addictions, increasingly become abused substances.

Here’s one incarcerated woman’s reflection from last evening’s writinginsideVT circle.   K.H. writes about what her addiction has cost her:

It’s hard to believe I have two beautiful babies.  Who would ever know considering that I, their mother, do not care for them the way mothers do.  I, a selfish, rotten, junky, drug-addicted mother, care more for drugs than my children.  I know what you’re thinking, “How can a mother be so heartless?”  And I can’t answer you!  I know it’s a awful thing, but at least I can admit it.  I wish it were not true.  I have lost everything and didn’t care, but I tell you now–there is only time left to care about my children and not myself, and that means doing what it takes to keep my family together.