Jessica McCreary
Jessica works as an Executive Leadership Coach for the Equity Department at the San Diego County Office of Education. As a mother who works to maintain care, dignity and agency for her incarcerated daughter who suffers from a mental illness, Jessica believes there is a way to approach justice through restorative methods that help repair harm and damage done by a fellow community member. She believes that when harm is caused, our justice system should primarily employ strategies that rehabilitate both the victim(s) and the harm-doer(s) in authentic and healing ways while protecting the community as a whole. Today, she shares her definition of beauty and connection to the criminal justice reform movement.
DEFINING BEAUTY
“Beauty to me is about honoring and dignifying the physical, mental, emotional and spiritual brilliance each person holds. I believe every person has the innate need to have our brilliance seen and when we feel seen only good comes from it.”
WHY CRIMINAL JUSTICE REFORM
“The criminal justice reform movement is important to me because I have personally witnessed how the way we attempt to correct and punish behavior in this country only exacerbates societal problems and causes further harm to marginalized communities.
We have lost our way in this country with our criminal justice system. We are removing and caging people at rates that are unfathomable in any other country in the world, and for reasons that frequently cannot be helped by those being criminalized. We are torturing those who already have been harmed and traumatized using extreme methods and we are not tackling the root of the problems. We are causing further harm to the families of those who are incarcerated and breaking down communities who are trying to thrive.”
WHY BEAUTY BEYOND BARS
“For me, Beauty Beyond Bars is a light at the end of a very long and dark tunnel. The dedication towards dignifying human beings, even those we accuse of wrong doing, along with the youthful energy and drive to make a difference is exactly what we need more of in this country to reform the hard wired system we have created. Beauty Beyond Bars brings hope where hope has been obliterated.”
PERSONAL EXPERIENCE
“My number one challenge is trying to cope with the fact that my daughter is incarcerated for 16 years due to behavior that was induced by severe mental illness and various traumatic experiences. It’s painful as a mother to see your own child suffering under extreme conditions behind bars, and not receiving all the help that she needs. She is demonized by those who are charged to take care of her, she is villainized by society that doesn’t understand her circumstances and she is criminalized by our justice system that does not take into consideration how untreated mental illness transpires in human behavior. Basic self care supplies, such as feminine products or a bar of soap, are not easily obtained in prison and this only exacerbates the lack of human dignity my daughter experiences.”