She beat the odds to get a college education while in prison. Now free, she seeks to make the process easier for others

CHICAGO — Sandra Brown walked gingerly down a walkway to the side door of Decatur Correctional Center.

She wore jeans and a hooded sweatshirt that said “The Reclamation Project,” and her hair was styled into a thick, high frohawk. Brown is tall, and moves with grace and elegance, so her hairstyle only added to her regal demeanor.

It had been 21 years since she first walked into an Illinois prison and five months since she walked out.

Correctional staff gathered at the security station to greet Brown as she and her group went through the slow, procedural process of checking into a prison. She was there with a film crew to lead a discussion with prisoners about the links between gender-based violence and incarceration. One by one, IDs were logged, and bags and audiovisual equipment examined.

As she waited on a wooden bench for the process to finish, a guard at the desk motioned quietly to Brown to come back over. She walked over and bent down to the small gap in the partition so she could hear the guard.

“Breathe,” Brown said the officer told her.

Brown, who had been cautioned about how unsettling a return to prison can be, sat back on the bench and raised her arm. Her hand held the slightest tremor.

“But I think it’s more from excitement,” she said with a smile, feeling relieved. “Not so much anxiety.”

Brown, against huge odds, earned a bachelor’s and a master’s degree and started a Ph.D. program while she was locked up in the Illinois Department of Corrections. The staff, both high-ranking and front-line guards, knew her and were genuinely happy to see her.

Since her release from prison in January, Brown has become a full-time education advocate, joining a number of formerly incarcerated women working