With being an intern with Helping Ourselves To Transform I learned a lot, from working alongside the great Dr. Carmen Johnson, I was able to meet a lot of people in very high positions such as Congressman Glen Ivey. Dr. Johnson was very welcoming from the beginning and still is to this day, she has taught me so much about the things people who are incarcerated go through from beatings to being killed by the hands of fellow inmates or even worse the correction officers who are supposed to be there to protect them. Not only that but I was also taught about the struggles that ex-offenders go through once they are released, a lot of men and women once released from prison or jail have a tough time finding a place to work or even a place to sleep at night which then leads them to be incarcerated again because they are struggling to make a life on the outside so they go back to their negative ways and land themselves locked up again. Dr Carmen Johnson is one of the most genuine and honest women you will ever meet and her main goal is to try and make a difference in our community so that it can change for the better.
-Jayden Lassiter
