Maryjoel has been working with people who are incarcerated for almost half a century. That vocation involved founding Alternative Directions Inc (ADI) in 1979, and as part of that organization, the Turn About Program (TAP), which was at the cutting edge of reentry services. Maryjoel served as executive director of ADI until 2009. She was once referred to by the then director of OSI-Baltimore as the ‘mother of reentry.’ As well as helping with civil legal services, reentry support, and parole preparation Maryjoel has worked in prisons teaching positive thinking.
Over the years Maryjoel has carried out multiple roles including serving on Governor O’Malley’s Task Force for Reentry, and has received many awards, including an award for outstanding advocacy from the Maryland Legal Services Corporation.
In 2009, upon ‘retiring’ she founded Second Chance for Women in order to provide parole hearing support to women incarcerated in the Maryland Correctional Institution for Women (MCIW). This she has done tirelessly, motivated, as she always has been, by Matthew 25:36 I was in prison and you visited me. When Second Chance for Women began, Maryjoel was serving a dozen women with life sentences and histories of being subjected to domestic violence, who were struggling gain traction with the parole process. The need for such support grew and grew. Maryjoel took many more cases in house and sent still more to various university law clinics and yet still demand for services outstripped supply. It was out of recognition of that ongoing demand that PREPARE was born.
Maryjoel’s role in PREPARE is a continuation of her decades long vocation; she serves as a mentor and guide to those who are at various stages in their journey, whether right at the start of incarceration, nearing release, or already on the outside.
Over the years, many people have testified to the significance of the role that Maryjoel has played in their lives. The following testimony sums up the general sentiment. “I have prayed endlessly to have just one person believe in me enough to deem me worthy of a second chance and God sent me you.”
