Barbara Mahon Fund
The Barbara Mahon Fund supports women in York CI who wish to enroll in undergraduate college courses and certificate programs by paying for tuition, books, and supplies. Emphasis is on women serving long term sentences of five years or more.
For more information: barbaramahonfund@gmail.com
From Heartbreak to Legacy
In 2004, John and Bette Mahon, East Lyme residents, turned a most heartbreaking situation into a legacy of hope for the incarcerated women of York CI. Their daughter, Barbara, incarcerated with a 40 year sentence, tragically committed suicide after serving only three of those years. In order to proffer tangible hope to the incarcerated, the Mahons turned their tragedy into an honorable venture. Significant donations to A Sacred Place were made in Barbara’s memory.
Rev. Laurie Etter, a co-director of A Sacred Place at the time, approached the Mahons for ideas on how they wanted this money to be directed. John Mahon created The Barbara Mahon Fund as a means to deliver college credit courses and certificate programs to the women of York Correctional Institution. With the help of the Liberty Bank Foundation and the Bodenwein Benevolent Foundation, enough money had been raised to launch a pilot program to fund workshops for 17 women due for early release.
After John Mahon’s death in 2015, his wife, Bette, continued to administer and oversee The Barbara Mahon Fund. In 2020, Bette transferred its oversight to the Board of A Sacred Place. We remember, however, that it’s John’s words that continue to ring true. “Children are inmates too,” he said. “If they know their mothers are pursuing degrees, the results show these students get into fewer conflicts, stay in school longer and are more likely to go to school themselves. The reason this holds up is that so many of these families have no one to look up to, and didn’t have in the past.”
During the past 18 years, the fund has helped more than 130 women to develop employable skills which often lead to greater economic security. Employment alone reduces recidivism by increasing women’s sense of competence and self-worth.
Statistics have shown that people who receive an education in prison, have only a 7-percent chance of returning, while the statistics for those who do not, skyrocket to a 67-percent chance of returning! John Mahon had been quoted as saying: “College in prison gives the women self-esteem, responsibility, dignity. They have this lingering anger inside of them. But college in prison makes success stories all over the place.”
Taking college courses in prison is beneficial to the women at York and their families: these women are less prone to violence, become better prisoners, and live more fulfilled lives.
The effects of the Barbara Mahon Fund reverberate across Connecticut. The changes begin while the women are incarcerated at York CI, then filter out to their families and to society itself.
Author Wally Lamb has held writing classes for the women at York CI and believes that college in prison is crucial. He has said, “It’s called the Department of Correction, and one of the best ways to correct past behavior and rehabilitate people is to equip people with an education.”
Access to higher education enhances the possibility that women will find strength, satisfaction, self-respect, and joy in lives that are crime free.
I recently completed the program and received my certificate diploma. Now that I am done I am eligible to continue with their program of an advanced paralegal program. I am extremely grateful for the opportunity to continue my education while incarcerated.
A Sacred Place, Inc. is a 501(c)(3) charitable nonprofit organization dedicated to providing rehabilitative programs and educational opportunities for incarcerated women in Connecticut.
Click on AMAZON SMILE and designate A SACRED PLACE as your charity and Amazon will make a donation.
Contact
A Sacred Place, Inc.
P.O. Box 48
Niantic, CT 06357
Information regarding the Barbara Mahon College Fund:
barbaramahonfund@gmail.com