Our Purpose
Why?
Women in prison in Oklahoma have increased nearly 10x per capita since 1980, contributing to an expanding cycle of intergenerational trauma and vulnerabilities.
Magdalene House focuses on healing and reconciliation for women who have experienced incarceration, addiction, sexual abuse and exploitation, by replacing the following barriers with support, healing, and growth:
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Poverty and joblessness are leading predictors of reoffending and recidivism.
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People who have been in prison once are 7x more likely than the general population to experience homelessness; when in prison more than once, 13x more likely. When unhoused, they are likely to be arrested again.
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Women in Magdalene have an ACE (Adverse Childhood Experiences – a measure of early trauma) score 4x that of women in general. One study showed that as many as 43% of mothers in Oklahoma prisons met criteria for post-traumatic stress disorder.
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61% of mothers in Oklahoma prisons reported substance use weekly before arrest; 43% used daily.
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84 cases of sex trafficking were reported in Oklahoma in 2020 alone, and the unreported number is likely much higher.
