Gloria is a resident in Chicago’s Genesis House residential program, a facility specializing in working with women who have prostituted. Genesis House is one of the few programs in the United States that focuses on women who have prostituted. Many of the women who participate in the residential program have been mandated to the program for a specified amount of time in lieu of serving time behind bars.

Q: How did you get lined up with Genesis House?

Well, first of all, I knew about Genesis House from outreach services on the west side of Chicago and that was over an eight year period. I used to come in to day services. They offered thing such as hospitality, meals, a place to take a shower, and something to eat.

At that time, they helped people such as myself with issues of prostitution and drug addiction. And both of them applied to me, so I went there and I found out about Genesis House from the ladies who used to do the outreach services on the street which unfortunately they discontinued due to funding. They can’t come around often because they don’t have the people to do the work anymore. I think that was a great program because it gave ladies like myself somewhere where they could come and get more informed about how safe sex- even though it’s risky, when you are a prostitute on the street and you don’t know the proper way to use condoms, or that a condom maybe should be used for oral sex and also all types of sex you should be protected, and they give you condoms and instructions on how to use the condoms.

And they also have a program for us called the “Unhooked Program.” Where you work with the courts. Say you locked up on a prostitution charge, they come and be an advocate for you, try to get you to Genesis House for residential services instead of the penitentiary, which I think is an excellent idea, because if you got to the PEN on a prostitution charge, nine times out of ten, you know I think ten times out of ten, most women return to the streets where they came from, because they don’t know anything, the prisons don’t educate you, so you come right back out with no employment, no money, and no skills. So you go back to the familiar and that’s prostitution and drugs.

Q: So did you ever go through the Unhooked Program?

Yes. I did it once. But I still returned to the streets. I did it because it was court-ordered. But it did plant a seed. I did return to jail again and from there I went to the penitentiary, but this time not just for prostitution, but a drug charge, and with that drug charge and the prostitution in my background, I mean, I made a decision while incarcerated that that’s not the life I wanted any longer. Fortunately, I did have some job skills because I hadn’t worked the streets all my life. So I started going to college there. Being a prostitute, it was the fastest way to get a fix. So what I did, was, I started to educate myself, brush up on my job skills. Even coming back into the world, into society, there was a brick wall that a lot of people hit, and I, too. I had nowhere to go, no job, no money… So I found myself right back in the same position where I was. Only this time I knew I didn’t want to go back to the same thing.

So I started attending church every morning. One morning when I was sitting there, I had a revelation come- oh, yeah, Genesis House! They have one down the street. I was out near 51 st Street. So I walked here and I came in and I still had all my bags in my hand because I had only been out of the penitentiary for about two weeks. I told the people here about where I came from and how I knew about GH from the South Side, even though this is the West Side location. I showed them my papers and told them I did the Gateway Program while incarcerated. And they let me stay here.

Q: When was that, that you walked in here?

January 12 th, 2004. That was January 12 th and I’ve been here ever since. I got out of jail January 2 nd.

Q: And you did Gateway?

While I was incarcerated- in Dwight Penitentiary. I had been to county and from there, I got sentenced to go to the penitentiary. My background alone, my extensive background of prostitution, and I got caught up on a drug charge and due to the fact of my background, they thought the only alternative was for me to go to state prison.

Q: That was for three years?

I served nine months because, see for that three year period, I went to school. I got credit for going to college and I also didn’t cause any problems. They gave me 120 days off the top after being there for three months and not causing trouble. And everyday I went to college, it was one day off my sentence. I went to college in the morning and I was taking sanitation and culinary arts. In the evening, I had to come back to the drug program.

Q: Looking back, how did your drug use start?

I been using drugs for 30 years. Recreationally. I mean, I had a job, I was working as a manager in a customer service department for a department store, so I had a nice job. Back thirty years ago, they didn’t think cocaine was addictive- well, we had no information about it. It was a party drug, it was in and people just did it. I never thought I would end up being someone who was hooked on it. I think nobody thinks they will. No one as a child wants to grow up to be a junkie.

It was a gradual process that led, that just went further and further and deeper and deeper. Until it was a point, I was so deep, what may seem normal to you… my normal was abnormal and normal- let’s say it like this; abnormal became normal for me. I had a twisted sense of reality because the drugs become more important, drugs for me became more important than anything else. Because it was surviving- not only was I using cocaine, but heroin. And heroin is not only mental but physical and if you don’t have it, you’re sick. You’ll go to any length to not feel that ill. I had been using so long, I didn’t see any way out.

Well, just re-iterating on what I said earlier on the penitentiary. I had nice jobs before, but coming back out, I had a felony background, and that’s my second time going down. So now, jobs and opportunities that would have opened up for me beforehand- all those doors are closed. Now, with the system and these new laws they have about felons not being able to apply for this job, or that job, what do you do when you come out?! You can’t get a job to sustain you even at minimal living. Even a simple studio apartment- you can’t afford it. I mean, you can go and work at McDonald’s- but you’re 47 years old and you can’t even afford to pay your rent or have a phone bill, a light bill, it just doesn’t pay enough. Jobs that would pay enough- even if you go and get skills- if they look at your record, when they ask you that question, “Have you ever committed a felony?” It makes my stomach cringe because I know that is the point I won’t get this job.

But I won’t give up. I am still trying. It’s a struggle. But I’m gonna keep on fighting. I just wish that some of these congresspeople and some of these advocates, these people that could reach out- like the upper class people or someone in government- if you really want to do something about the drugs out here, the way to do it is not to build penitentiaries. The way to do it is to get information first hand from the person who use them. Setting up services for people to get off the drugs. You can get someone off drugs, but what if you release them? They go back to the familiar. You have to nip it in the bud by eliminating the core of disease- that’s how you eliminate anything that festers- is by eliminate the core. Then, you work on the person.

I think it’s real simple if they’d only just listen to the average person. I know, because I’m living it. I know that the way I became drug free was that I had to change from the inside out. You can put me in prison, but if I don’t learn anything while I’m there about what drove me to use drugs, I’ll return to society unfortunately and do some of the same things and expect different results. So that’s what makes it a revolving door. That’s quite simple for me.

Q: So you have another 6-12 months here?

I have been here eight months. I’m the oldest not only by age, but I’ve been here the longest. I am a peer resident now. I try to help.

Q: What do you think about the drug problem in Chicago?

It’s an epidemic. Look at the streets. When you drove here, did you happen to come up on this scene a moment ago? With the detectives and the young kids- the drug dealer guys? That happened five minutes before you came up. It’s epidemic. Older generations down to the young kids. If they’re not selling they’re using and if they’re not using they’re selling. And if there’s not something did about it, they don’t need to worry about the wars over in foreign countries, they going to have wars in their own country. It’s time to look at what’s going on here. We need to do something about it before it gets any worse than it already is. Because it’s phenomenal. And it’s getting worse.

You got people scared to walk the streets at night because they’re scared somebody will come up and rob them and most of that is due to drugs. People got bars on their windows because they trying to keep, they trying to feel safe within and most of that is due to drug use in the streets.

Q: In your 30 years, how has the nature of the drug problem changed? How has the neighborhood change?

I’ve seen neighborhood go to beautiful, wondergul, two story homes to being abandoned drug buildings, infested from one end of the block to the next. From one main street to the next. All you have to do is stand on any street corner in any neighborhood, unfortunately now, even in the suburbs, and just watch the traffic.

As being an addict with experience like myself, all I have to do is just sit back, anywhere in this country, just watch the area, and in thirty minutes I can tell you where every drug house is. I been to more places in Chicago… and I always knew- all I had to do is sit back and watch, no matter if it was an upper class neighborhood or the slums. It’s just that obvious. Come on- “That place over there, they sure do have a lot of company, that’s a lot of in and out traffic in that area…” And it’s usually when the neighbors complain. It’s the nature of the people’s business. A lot of times, drug dealers purchase nice homes in nice neighborhoods, but they’re still trafficking drugs.

Drugs don’t discriminate. They get you whether you rich or poor. Doesn’t matter.

Q: What do you think about what Chicago is doing about the drug problem?

… Honeslty… I don’t want to be real negative, but- I’ll put it like this: They could be doing far more than they are today.

I mean, off the record, I’d say they not doing a damn thing because they could be doing much better. It’s obvious. In that penitentiary, I saw the same people coming back through before I could even get out the gate- and for the same charges. And with the state paying between $30,000 and $40,000 a head per inmate, each time they come through that gate!...We could be spending that money rehabilitating a person so they don’t come back in again.

Our courtrooms, our jails, the judges- all these cases stacked up. Litigation, paralegals, people such as yourself, hospitals, they just working because these boys just killing themselves out here for drug wars. We have a war right here in this country. We don’t have to worry about what’s going on over there in- where they got us now? Saudi Arabia or? They killing each other right here in the streets. Go to Providence Hospital or Cooke County Hospital on a Friday night- people are lined up. Young kids shot. Shoot outs. All I hear on 53 rd street, day-in and day-out- ambulances, fire trucks, detectives. And I mean 24-7. We all talk about it. God, is there anything on the street other than the police all day long? If they not in the ambulance, then they in the police car. This sounds like a war zone.

Q: In a given neighborhood, it sounds like a lot of people are either connected to drugs or they are afraid of that activity-

You can hide, but how long can a person hide in their house and be blind to this fact? Like I said, at first it was primarily a problem of minorities, but now you see kids coming from the suburbs to purchase drugs; you see politicians’ kids. You see mayors’ kids.

I hope there is some way that people can put more money in places like Genesis House, to help women, to educate them about out prostitution can lead to drugs, destroy their lives and their families. Without places like this, some of us would have no where to go, some of us would have no place to get condoms. Free condoms so you can protect yourself against HIV.

They said the largest cases of HIV now are against minority black women and the Hispanic community. And now it’s reaching teenagers. If they reach all the teenagers, where’s our future? We’ll be like someplace like Africa where the majority have HIV. If there’s not something done about this prevention, if we don’t take preventive measures… what’s our future, our future looks very bleak.

And I would also like to say one other thing, I would like to thank Genesis House for giving me this opportunity to talk to you and Genesis House has given me another chance to start my life over again.

Also, I would like to say that I hope this can open some people’s eyes to the epidemic and how detrimentally we need help to keep places like this open. The people here are so dedicated that work with us- they work on a shoestring budget, but they keep saying, “Keep coming back.” They show hospitality and they really care- the staff here- they care about these ladies. Pattie goes out on the streets and tries to find girls… herself. Most places, I mean, you would think a Caucasian lady, upper-middle class, just looking for one lost sheep… That’s how I know it, because she helped me. Not only that, they helped me to a point where I am employed now. I have a job and I am in a job training program.

Q: What’s the job?

I am doing agriculture, horticulture and bee keeping right here in this area. We have an urban farm and a rural farm. We sell produce at the markets. Basically, I do the hands-on from beginning to end. We cultivate, plant it, make seedlings, I even kept and raised bees and extracted the honey. I learned how to bee keep. I learned how to look for the queen bee. I’ve learned about the soil and the earth. Everything we do is organic. You don’t harm the earth- everything you take from the earth you put back in the earth. It makes me feel like I am giving back what was so greatly given to me. Not only this program, but I am giving back to the earth what has been so graciously given to us. The environment starts from the earth to the people and everything around us.

I even want to thank my job because now that I leave this program I will be working at a café that feeds homeless people and I will be training to be in the culinary arts field. The director of that program is one who also helped to get me started back into society, to be an asset to society. We do barbeques and demonstrations for some of the four star restaurants. We sell them produce. They saw how I was always watching and liked it. I said that yeah, I wanted to become a chef. Now, I don’t only know about cooking, but I know where it comes from. I know what’s healthy and what’s not healthy. I want to own my own business.

I am just grateful to Genesis House opening the doors up for me to change.

Q: The Gateway Program worked well for you?

Yeah, it did. It made me aware that drug use is a disease. And that you have not only to stop using which leads to abstaining from drugs, but you have to change and that means total change- mentally, physically and emotionally. You have to learn what contributed to you using in the first place. You have to do some soul searching. I always thought once I stopped using, abstained from drugs- that was all you had to do. I didn’t realize you had to go inside. I didn’t realize you had to go inside yourself because there is something that resides in there, in your personality that makes you compulsive and excessive.

You may start off for recreation, but if you continue, you no longer control the drugs.

Q: Are a lot of the johns from that area or are they coming in from other places?

They come from all over. Some are out of state, some truckers, some come from the suburbs. Some just come in looking for drugs and they just want you to find them some drugs. So, working people, working-class men. You meet a variety and then you meet some who are just neighborhood guys.

Q: Do a lot of white guys come in from the suburbs?

Back, years ago when I first started, there use to be a large influx of white guys coming in to the west side, but as the crime rate rose that went on down. They don’t particularly come and solicit girls off of the street. They would be more likely to call an escort service or a phone line of that nature.

Even I had that great idea one time. I opened up my own phone service. Because it got like it was dangerous to be out there. I thought it would be safer if we could all get together and do what we knew instead of taking a risk on any Tom, Dick, or Harry that might drive up. There was a time when girls were getting killed at a large rate. You didn’t know if it would be a date or death. It was either one. Every time you stepped in a car, you might not come back again. At one time, it was real obvious because there was these serial guys going around and they were targeting prostitutes because we are easy targets. Because you can find someone that’s desperate to feed a drug habit, and you find someone very vulnerable and easy to lure in.

Q: Most of the women, did they have addiction problems out on the street?

It didn’t start that way. But now, I don’t know not one girl that works the street that doesn’t have some type of addiction. And don’t forget, alcoholism is a drug.

Q: Does it seem like there are more girls out there today than it used to be?

You said girls. You said the right word- there are more little girls. There are so many young girls out there- I was like, “God… the babies are out here now.” The old women are still out there, but the young women are caught up in drugs.

They’re young and they’re old. It’s a diverse number. It used to be the women were at least 21, 22, maybe in their 40’s. But now, you see girls at 13, 14, underage and the streets are no place for them to be. It’s hard and it’s cold.